Greta 9 months old

Here is Miss Greta at 9 months old. She has gone through her first heat now and has definately made a change in her. She is much calmer and seems to know that she is not the alpha female of our household. We have grandchildren and they have been over more than usual these days. It appears that she ended her heat cycle just about the same time the grandchildren were visiting/sleeping over more than usual. The combination has helped her develop into a calm, maturnal, obedient, beautiful German Shepherd dog.

My husband and I would highly recommend any dog owner to let their female dogs to go through AT LEAST one heat. Miss Greta did emerge from her heat cycle with a “bark”. She has become somewhat protective also. Previously, she would see people walk by the house and would just be appear to be only curious. Like a puppy should be. Now when she sees someone walk or ride their bikes past our  house, she will bark. And certainly not viciously. Just making herself be heard :).

We continue to feed her Eagle Pack dog food mixed with ground turkey, rice and cottage cheese. She still gets her daily walks and is played with quite a bit. She also still sleeps in her crate, that she and my husband and I appreciate.

One thing that we have noticed with Miss Greta, is that she is not very tolerant of the heat. Our last German Shepherd, Baron(male), could tolerate the heat very well. In fact we had a pool for Baron which we still have for Greta. Baron loved it and would play and actually lay down in it to stay cool. Greta just “stands” in it. She will not lay down in the water. So needless to say, when we are outside and it is too warm for her, she goes right to the door and we let her in to enjoy the airconditioned house.

We had our 4th of July bash which was hampered by rain all day. Most of the guests called to say they wouldn’t be venturing out. But some did still come and we continued to have good food with great friends and family. We had the garage and some tarps set up outside that seemed efficient for the day. Greta was kept in her crate most of the day, as we were all in tight confines for the most part. We did finally let her out later that night. My husband kept her on the leash to avoid her “relentless jumping”. When he did eventually let her off her leash, I was surprised how well she behaved. So she is on her way of being the well behaved, obedient dog , affectionate dog we had hoped for.

Well, that is the current update on our Miss Greta. I will be back to update again……