Mister Mooi

Mooi is a highly intelligent dog. He's also very obedient if you reward with either food or toy. A fun faq, I named him Mooi after the word for "pretty" in dutch. Later I found out it means many more things in other languages (such as Marijuana in Mexican slang, beautiful in ukraninan, or hi/goodbye in finnish).

I am first going to list the "negative", then some "positives so you know what to expect.

How is it walking with him?

We moved him from Rome to Nijmegen in February 2022. Before that, he was 3 months with my parents and as they have a big garden they did not walk him out as often. Thus, he is now struggling to go on walks without pulling (he used to walk perfectly fine). Now, he barks to cats, shady people and certain dogs when on walks. Me and my partner are re-training him, however walks with him are not as chill. Also, many people are scared of german shepherds (and also dogs) so you need to be a bit more attempitive.

Is he friendly with other dogs?

As for playing with other dogs, he was always in contact with other dogs and he lived with a male husky since he was born. However, sometimes he does not know how to approach dogs (or at least that is what I believe) so some dogs get threatened by him and attack. It happened already 3 times with small dogs, Mooi never attacked back... he actually ran away. However, I never let him play with other male dogs as he is not neutered (however, he only has one testicle so I am not sure whether he's hitting puberty right). On a last note, he is not gentle. He is not even 2 years old and he behaves like a huge puppy. We call him big cow because he behaves like a chihuahua but then he's 40 kgs, so be careful. Also, if he gets too excited, he could jump on you and by mistake hurt you. Of course, you can tell him to sit and he would do that. However, for this reason it is not wise to make him play with small dogs as if he runs over them they could break something. Also, do not feed him with other dogs nearby, that's the only time where he could snap if another dog tries to eat his food. I never trust him 100%, he is an animal and his behaviour is not fully predictable (even if he listens very well) , I expect that you also don't trust him 100%.

Something else you need to know?

He likes women more than man and German Shepherd are guard dogs, thus it would go against his nature to not guard from time to time. Please keep that in mind. He is protective when he gets attached.

Why would you enjoy sitting Mooi?

He loves playing soccer and he has a special ball that never breaks. He also brings the ball back, however he actually likes when you and him play passing the ball to each other (he does it with his nose and paws). I would provide you with everything necessary, we have a lot of other toys and food.

If you like, you can teach him tricks (as long as we discuss before hand how to do that or whether he already knows commands).

I think it is good to know if you sit him what commands he knows.

So, he knows the following commands; sit, down, come, no, spin, bang (play dead), high five, bark, dance (jumps on you), back (goes backwards), front (puts himself in front of you), home (puts himself in between your legs), side (heel on the right), next (heel on the left), find (finds pot or other scents), people (finds people- he got trained for search and rescue but didn't get his certificate), cuccia (goes to his bed), pappa or cibo (he knows he's gonna get his lunch/dinner), play (used for when we play dog intelligence board games). He is conditioned to 4 sounds. Clicker sound and "yes" have the same meaning, and I give him the reward in less than 2 secs. "Good boy" is a buffer, to indicate that he will get the reward if he keeps performing well. "Free" is to free him from anything he is doing and he has to get the reward himself (throw the ball and he has to get it, stays in sit and he has food as a reward 5 meters far that he can get if you "free" him).

I created Mr. Mooi an Instagram account to keep track of all his pictures. Feel free to follow if you pet sit him :see_no_evil: @mister.mooi :bomb: