About Vega

Vega Vega is a healthy, friendly, bright, energetic and recently neutered 63 lb, 21 month old German Shepherd . We adopted him from Friends of the River Rouge Animal Shelter. He originally lived in a family with young children who could not take him to their new apartment. Vega has learned many commands and, as a result of a lot of training, now walks well on leash and can meet and greet people on the street fairly well. He does have moderate reactivity with other dogs, but is not aggressive and should be able to get along well with other dogs with more training. He is very friendly with people and wants to greet them eagerly, but does tend to jump. This can be corrected with more training. With the assistance of a weekly trainer, he has greatly improved his ability to respond to commands such as sit, down, stop, stay, cross (the street), walk with me, leave it, come and no chase. After two months of training, we decided to follow the recommendation to start Vega on fluoxetine (Prozac) so that he will be able to follow commands when he gets overly anxious - usually this is due to the presence of other dogs. We did have a big breakthrough on Tuesday, July 13th. Vega successfully met our trainer's dog, went for a peaceful walk with her and then played off-leash with her in our backyard. This was a tremendous step for Vega! Vega needs a family or individual who can give him significant time for exercise and learning new skills. German shepherds also need a lot of mental stimulation. We were looking for a tutor dog - a position that involves sitting in on sessions and meeting lots of new people daily. This is not a good match for Vega, but it is obvious he will be a great match for a special family or individual.

Washtenaw County
Ann Arbor, Michigan