Gatsby Is Adopted!
Gatsby a young male German Shorthaired Pointer was left tied to a pole outside a local animal shelter. Over the past several months, there has been an increase in the number of young GSP’s being surrendered or showing up as strays in shelters, but when California GSP Rescue learned of Gatsby's story, we didn't hesitate to help.
Young GSP’s at animal shelters get a lot of attention from visitors looking to adopt, and those unfamiliar with the breed that choose to adopt may soon find they are overwhelmed. Young German Shorthaired Pointers require a lot of time to exercise and train, and if a GSP isn't adequately exercised, undesirable behaviors may develop and are often returned.
Brandi and her family previously had very active dogs requiring patience and lots of retraining. They also do quite a lot of running and walking, running and biking with their prior dog when it was younger. They very much met their dog when it needed them. We knew they could handle a younger dog and felt Gatsby could be a really nice fit for them. They met Gatsby and adopted him renaming him “Vin”. Below is an update on how he is doing since they adopted him:
“We’ve had Vin (formerly Gatsby) for four months now. Things are great! We renamed him Vinnie and he is already responding to it when called. He is very smart and is picking up training quickly. He is so sweet and wants so bad to please us. He’s got puppy energy we are adjusting to, but discovered he was definitely house trained and has slept all night in our room without getting up from night 1.
He is very affectionate, which I love because our last GSP wasn’t. I’m absolutely loving the night time snuggles on the couch! Since the first week it was like we’ve known each other for 5 years. We originally named him Vinnie to keep our doggy Dodger theme going, but he answers mostly to Vin so we settled with what he wants.
His favorite thing in the world is walks, as soon as we say the word he goes crazy around the house. We have loved incorporating him into our outdoor adventures with lots of walks along the beach and hikes all over the place. He can go for endless miles, some days we do 10 miles and he still plays another 2 hours at the dog park!
He is a true bird dog, they catch his attention the most out of all small critters. He has been really receptive to training and easily picks up commands. He loves to chew on anything he can get ahold of (yes he is still very much a puppy at One and a Half), so we keep an endless stock of Benebones and a Chuckit! Ultra balls because they are his favorite.
But what we love the most is his couch cuddles and that he loves us so much and wants to be with us all the time. We are trying to teach him to give kisses but he just doesn’t get it yet, I’m not going to give up hope :)
Thank you GSP Rescue for giving us another family member”!
