Casper, the NOT so friendly dog

It's been awhile since I've written. A lot has happened, but I guess I should start from the beginning. Casper, our new addition to the family. Our 14 mo. old White German Shepherd.

We brought Casper home, not knowing what to expect since he is a rescue dog, and we did get some conflicting stories about his past. The first thing we learned was he does not walk on a leash, at all.

The second, he gets car sick!

Once we got him home, Charles walked him through the house, showing him which rooms he was allowed in, and which ones he was not. (yes, we got this from the Dog Whisper) Then we let him have free roam of the house, he explored everything, and I do mean everything. Shepherds being taller than boxers, and with the added nose, he could get into things that Katie never could, so it was compared to putting things up when your friends come over that have babies. Finding that "no touch" zone.

Then came the dogie door. It was soon obvious that Casper had never seen one before. Charles went outside into the 20 ft. dog run and would call Casper outside as I would try to push him through the door AND hold the dogie door open. Another thing we learned - - Casper does NOT like the area around his tail to be touched!! He finally would go out, only if you held the door open for him, but would not come back in. He didn't want to push his nose on the door. Leaving him outside for awhile, thinking he would get the idea sooner or later resulted in a quiet, strange high pitched whine. Yep, I caved. I thought some more practice was in order, and maybe some treats. It worked, after a few hours. But, we learned he is housebroken. YES, a plus!!!

Food was next. We were told to get him on a feeding schedule of some type to put some weight on him. He is 14 mos. old and only weighs 47 pounds. He needs to gain 30 pounds. Ok, forget the schedule, just feed him, right?

More abuse is showing up as we look him over, and he looks us over. One of his ears is ripped, by the previous owners dogs we were told. Both tips are cut up, by what, we don't know, but it almost looks like fly bites, yet the owner said he was always kept inside. We didn't realize at the rescue how his ribs stuck out so much, you can lay each of your fingers inside each one of them. His backbone is sticking up and out of his fur, along with both of his hip bones. You can't really brush him because of the pain it causes when you touch all the bones. It's so sad really to see him curled up in a ball, and you realize that it's all his bones that are sticking out. My mind just can't grasp the idea that people actually do this to animals and children...I know that they do, I see it right in front of me, but I can't comprehend it I guess. That they are real people? Why do they do it? What do they get out of it? Do they NOT understand this is painful??? I am not sure what I am searching for here..

I guess he has decided he likes us and wants to stay. After a few days and my son came over. He sat on the couch doing the right thing by letting Casper come to him, sniff and check him all out. Everything seemed just fine until my son moved, then we both heard a very low growl. Neither of us moved for a moment, making sure we heard the same thing, my son sat back and everything seemed fine. Casper then leaned against him begging for a belly rub. Odd?? So, he rubbed him, talked to him, and everything seemed fine again. I was sitting on the couch just opposite of them, so Casper was on the floor between us, wondering if that wasn't the problem, but as long as he kept giving him attention, it seemed fine. Finally Casper went to sleep at our feet, but, my son bent down to scratch his own leg, Casper snapped at him. We were so surprised!!! We don't know what happened to cause such a reaction.

The next episode was with Charles' friend. He came over and was at the dog run door asking Casper to come out. From what I heard was, he did the "oh, aren't you so cute" thing, and shaking his head, petting him on top of his head. Seems Casper took this fine, but only for a minute or two, then when Doug stood up to walked away, Casper tried to take a chunk out of his butt. Thank God it was only a scratch, but still the same, he tried.

I guess we can make all kinds of excused for Casper, he was being defensive sitting between me and my son, he felt cornered, yada yada yada...
The facts are the facts..he is growling and has snapped at 2 people in less than a month. I am not sure if it matters why, but what are we going to do about it.
At the rescue, we were told he was great with children, and the previous owner told me that she had 2 teenagers and all their friends were over all the time playing with him. Hmmmm, not sure I believe that story either.

Other than that, he is doing fairly well. He sits, stays, lays down, shakes..all the normal commands. We bought a leash that goes around his nose to stop the pulling, and it works like a dream. (the whispers tricks did not work at all) I can even walk him every day. I spent a good part of the day putting the leash on his nose and taking it back off, giving him a treat..repeat...and trust me, this was not something I would like to do again. Casper might be an abused underweight Shepherd, but let me tell you, he can out muscle me any time, any day of the week. But, it worked. Now if you get his leash down, he starts that very strange whine he has, rubs up against you, flips over a few times - - still up against you, with that high whine, then finally will sit and let you put that leash over his nose, and walks to the door. Ahhh, success! He is getting walked about 3 times a day, and sometimes he also plays outside in the fenced in yard. Sad to say, but I am not wanting him to play too much, he needs his calories right now.

Playing is another sad topic. I don't think Casper has ever had toys before, because he doesn't seem to know how to play. We have purchased numerous toys, and for the longest time, he wouldn't do anything with them. Finally, after much prodding, he began to put them in his mouth and I would squeeze them until they would squeak. He would drop them! This went on for days until he started to figure out he could make that sound himself. He did find one of Katie's old stuff toys and ripped that to pieces. He was very proud of himself, bringing every little piece to show me. Yes, he loves to chew! He still will not play tug of war. He will drop everything you touch in his mouth and act like he has done something bad, but we are working on it. He loves to chase a Frisbee, then rip it into as many pieces as he possibly can when he gets it. I think once he gets over that ripping stage (ha ha) he might be good at Frisbee. He runs good, jumps for it, and brings it just within your reach, then starts destroying it, all while wagging that huge tail in joy.

It had to be decided early on who was the "alpha" in the house, and Charles was going to win this battle. It was hard to watch since Casper was abused so much and you really wanted to see him get some of his pride back, but that wasn't going to happen here. He is a very strong willed dog, and every day it is a test. Charles wins, and Casper loves him for it more and more. He has learned the sounds of the Truck and the Harley when Charles comes home. I make him sit and stay until Charles comes through the door, and it almost takes an act of God to get him to do it. He wiggles with his high pitched whine out of excitement, but he is learning. He is figuring out that if he jumps on Charles, a knee in the chest isn't as much fun as a treat or even a belly rub, but some days all that pent up excitement just takes over and he forgets.

One morning after Charles left for work, Casper must have thought he had the house all to himself. First I heard him running through the house, in and out of the dogie door, back through the house again, then I hear him running down the hall, full speed, and before I could scream "STOP", in one bounce he was on my bed, flipped over with all 4 legs in the air, his head up against my head just like he was expected to be there. But, with one snap of the fingers, he jumped right up and out of that bed and bolted back through the house and ended up at the front window, panting, waiting for Charles to come home. I guess he was just as surprised as I as was finding me in that bed, as I was seeing him make one leap from floor to his back next to me.



Casper and me, well our relationship is different that Charles and his. When Charles corrects him, he comes running to me and rolls over on his back and whines. If he is hungry, it's me he comes running to. When he vomits, he's hurt, scared, etc...it's time for me. Otherwise he is Charles' dog, pure and simple. He follows him everywhere he goes, and if he can't go with him, he waits at the door for him to come back. If he is gone too long, he comes to me with that quiet whine, stares at me with those big amber eyes and when I tell him Daddy will be home soon, he curls up on my feet, and I know he has found a safe place to call home.