Boyd (Zeus) German Shepherd Dog Van Horne, IA

Boyd is a young German Shepherd estimated to be about 11 months old. He was used to being tied up outside prior to coming to Iowa so when he arrived at his new foster home it was clear he would need to learn some house manners. Luckily Boyd is a very smart boy and is easily redirected and catches on quickly. He has adjusted to his foster home very well and his manners are already much improved. He is primarily housetrained with only the occasional accident. Boyd has been crate trained at night and when his foster parents are not home and he does great, no crate accidents ever! Boyd gets very excited when it is time to eat and tends to eat very quickly so his foster parents have been using a puzzle bowl to feed him to help him slow down.

Boyd is in a foster home with two elementary age kids and does very well with them. He enjoys their energy and the extra pets and attention. Boyds foster home also has several cats and Boyd does well with them overall. The cats do not typically want to play with Boyd like he wishes they would, so he has learned to just leave them be while they are taking their cat naps. Boyds very favorite part of his foster home is his slightly older foster sister, Arya, a 2-year-old German Shepherd. They both have a lot of energy and love to play and chase each other around the house and the yard. When they get tired, they like to lay down together and rest until theyre ready to play again, which usually does not take long. They share their toys well and can often be found sharing the same chew toy or swapping toys with each other, even when there are plenty of other toys to choose from. At times Boyd and Arya can get a little too excited while playing together and rough house a bit. It is always done in fun and is never aggressive or mean. When this happens, their humans redirect them and tell them to play nice or theyll have to separate and go to puppy time out. They dont like to be away from each other so theyre both learning better manners when it comes to playing together.

Boyd has shown that he is a smart boy and while he will need to continue to work on developing his manners and learning more commands and tricks, he has responded very well to verbal redirection and treats as a reward system thus far. He is very polite when taking treats and hasnt found a type of treat he doesnt like yet. Boyd does well on a leash overall with minimal pulling but this isnt something he has worked on much in his foster home. Like a typical young dog Boyd loves to chew. He does well with sticking to chewing on his toys, bones, and rawhides for the most part but sometimes he likes to find things that the human children have left on the floor. Like a young child, he does fine as long as you keep an eye on him and give him plenty of things to keep him busy and entertained.

If you are looking for a sweet, smart boy who is pretty laid back but also has plenty of energy to play to add to your home then Boyd just might be your guy.