Chico and chaos

I'll start off by saying that the chaos that ensued following Chico's arrival was not his fault. He's actually a very nice dog.

I drove out to Staunton to meet a transporter who brought him from a shelter (on his last day) from down in Galax, VA. He was an owner surrender, turned in because the owner had bought him and didn't have time for him. He's young, between one and two years old I think. A German Shepherd that age has a lot of energy and a lot of potential, but only if someone develops it. 

He rode home nicely in the crate. The woman who had drove him up from the shelter offered me some ear plugs that she had bought and apparently needed on her part of the journey, but he was fine on the drive home. He began to vocalize a couple times but I made a sound and cut him off and he didn't persist. He could see out of the crate in the back of my van and that may have made the difference. I left him in the crate in the van when I first got home so I could get our crew out and into the pasture so they could get some exercise because there were puppy people coming before long. 

I put him into the far end of Daneland with Kaiya and they got along without any trouble. I let the puppies out and quickly realized that he could, and would, climb the section of the Daneland divider that was only 4 foot high. I stopped him before he got over, hustled the puppies back into the shed, and then rigged up another kennel panel to make it all six feet high. Puppy people came, he was fine through the fence with Holly and the puppies, but Max and Elvis were still out in the pasture. I got Elvis back in but Max has never been one to come when called, even though I knew he was tired and probably wanted to be back in the house. Anyway, Max was on the pasture side of Daneland and Chico wanted to join him, and he did so by rather easily climbing up the corner of the six foot chain link kennel. I ran out to the pasture and was able to get Chico back on a leash -- he was easier to get than Max. After the second trip over the fence I put him back in the crate in the van until I finally got Max back in the house.

With the dogs back in and some of the people gone, things quieted down a bit. I rigged up something to keep him out of the climbing corner and so far it seems to be working. I fed him and included a nice dose of trazadone with his dinner to help mellow him out, I hope. I'll get better pictures in days to come, but he is a gorgeous, young, sable shepherd. 

Crating him inside tonight will be another adventure, wish us luck.