Belgian Laekenois puppies and dogs in Palo Alto, California

Stewie is a charming, devoted and affectionate two-year-old boy with folks he knows and trusts. He completed a month-long training through Canine Purpose's Board and Traning program in Loomis and currently attends group classes with his foster families. This handsome boy has the brains and a big heart to match. He can be handful with a cheeky side making significant progress in impulse control while his handlers have learned that he's a boy who needs structure and thrives when his people give him clear direction. Stewie has two foster homes, switching between the households regularly.  Stewie's affectionate nature once he establishes a relationship with you means that you'll always have a best friend nearby, preferably leaning into you or snuggling while you watch TV or read and if allowed in bed with you. In his foster home with doggie mates, he sleeps free starting the night snuggled right in bed next to his humans to move off to a dog bed later in the night. In his foster home where he's a solo dog, he sleeps in his crate easily; knowing each households rules and following them.  Stewie has been working hard in his training sessions, mastering meeting strangers with an easy hi, learning a solid place command, working with multiple handlers on the desired heel position, and maintaining his learned skills in increasingly distracting environments. At the same time, he loves his trainers with his vast capacity for joy and loves to please them. Stewie has a natural shepherd stranger danger focus around strangers requiring an experienced handler whom he trusts at which time he'll cede those decisions to his handler.  With his intelligence, eagerness to please those he loves, and love of treats, it's been lovely to watch Stewie heal from the repair of his fractured leg that required months of crate confinement, followed by rehab, and the vitality of a young shepherd who finally could run and play and join his multiple foster families (he had four during his crate confinement) in long walks, play with the resident shepherds and learn to swim with them, then evolve into a potential candidate for Dock Diving since he loves to leap into the water, dunk his head in completely to fetch his toys out of the water.  Suppose you love training your dog, have excellent handling skills to provide structure and experience with shepherds or similar breeds, and are looking for a shepherd to continue developing your dog's obedience skills. In that case, Stewie is ready to be the devoted companion you have been searching for. In return, he would love a steady supply of balls, toys, especially squeaky ones, and many swim opportunities. Stewie's entirely crate and potty trained, has earned the right to sleep free, and shows himself trustworthy while his people are away without being crated. As months have progressed, he's even settled in the car, snoozing on the way to destinations for hours long rides. He's generally a quiet boy in the house, leaving it to his mates to bark at preceived critter prowlers in the yard at night and loud noises in the street.  Stewie enjoys many fruits and vegetables, including blueberries, bananas, oranges, apples, nectarines, cucumbers, and carrots. Generally, he's game to try any food you offer, including fan favorites of pumpkin, cottage cheese, and yogurt, to name a few. He had many filled Kongs, Toppls, and other enrichments during his long crate confinement. A slim and trim boy, Stewie loves his kibble and eats his meals with the resident dogs, sitting for his meals before eating from his bowl. Before heading to Canine Purpose for training, Stewie generally could honor sit, down, stay, leave it, come, wait, in bed, hop in, no.  Those skills were further refined during his training.  Stewie also started the initial stages of NACSW nosework training for enrichment during his long healing process. He enjoyed finding treats and kibble in boxes and other containers and on natural lawn objects like rocks, tree limbs, and lawn furniture.  We are grateful to UCDVMTH's Fracture Program for Rescues for allowing us the opportunity to repair his leg and to the shelter vet who brought his case to the attention of this program to avoid amputating his leg. Despite the pain of his fractured tibia at the ER and in the shelter, he was such a good-natured boy.  Stewie's care meant coordination amongst an extensive team, beginning with the ER staff at the hospital that treated him immediately after being hit by a car, the shelter vet and staff when he was surrendered for lack of funds to repair his leg, UCDVMTH veterinarians, and staff, and our rescue volunteers managing many details regarding transportation, medications, surgery and follow up visits including rehab consult with Integrative Medicine to develop the plan to ease him into full use of his leg.  All accomplished, a success story for everyone involved, including his multiple primary and relief foster homes, who have loved and cared for him.  Stewie is an active, energetic, and, at times, handful shepherd, so he'll thrive in a home where he can enjoy regular exercise and play. He'll be a great companion for someone who enjoys outdoor activities like hiking. He's loved hiking in Tahoe and is happy to put in four-plus miles on trails. He lives with multiple resident shepherds, adores the foster puppies who come through his foster home including them in play with his balls and mouthy games that go on forever, and has a couple of BFFs at Canine Purpose who match his play style. Stewie can be pushy/rude  in play and if paired with another dog will need a neutral dog as a companion. His current mates are very dog savvy, he respects the older dogs and plays well with the younger ones. Stewie has been adopted twice by folks who found his looks captivating, fell in love with and yet returned him within weeks before he could settle. They admitted to overlooking his true shepherd personality and guidance from his foster families and trainers. If you're interested in Stewie, please note that his fosters will be very selective after Stewie's two adoption experiences and will want to meet multiple times including with his trainers before commiting to launch Stewie to a forever home. He is very loved and would remain with his foster families permanently except one frequently travels for work and the other is at the permanent dog limit set by their animal control jurisdiction.  Take advantage of this opportunity to see if you are a match for this beautiful shepherd. Please select the adopt button and fill out an application for us to connect about Stewie.  As a foster-based rescue, ShepHeroes is always in need of fosters. An overwhelming number of shepherds in our local shelters need our help for a fresh start. Would you be willing to share your home and part of your summer to help shepherds find new families? You provide the love, and we’ll provide everything else! Saying “yes” today truly saves a life. Complete this  https://www.shepheroes.org/foster-form, and we’ll be in touch ASAP! We appreciate your consideration. ##1641104##

Mia is a wonderful 4.5-year-old female GSD with a strong loyalty streak and social drive. She is high-energy, highly intelligent and empathetic. Mia loves her family and always seeks new friends. Mia loves meeting new people and does so with ears down, tail wagging, and a desire to create a bond. She views each new person as a new member of her ever-expanding pack.   She also loves meeting new dogs and is really excited about the possibility. She wants to play with every dog she sees, so she asks new dogs to play with her, using powerful play bows, lunges, little barks, and even porpoise pokes to get the new dog to play with her. Occasionally, the new dog rejects her pushy initiation, and the process can escalate temporarily.  Mia has never tried to hurt another dog, but she does stand her ground when things escalate. She has become great friends with some of the dogs with whom this has happened. She is also excellent at adapting her play style to the other dogs' to maximize their enjoyment. As a dominant female, she can be very pushy with some submissive dogs and is better suited to live with neutral or confident dogs. Interestingly, Mia's fine with some submissive dogs. From the many canine friends she has made, she learned to chase a ball, which is her primary game for fun and exercise. She loves chasing a well-thrown ball at the park. Mia needs daily mental and emotional stimulation. She is very smart and needs to figure things out regularly or have a job that challenges her mind. She also needs to bond with her family daily and will let you know with direct eye contact (another trait she loves). Mia would be a terrific addition to a household that's into dog sports like nosework, tracking, and rally or an active family that enjoys outdoor activities.  Mia feeds free, which works well for her as an only dog. That may be different in a multi-dog environment. She lived with two shepherds in her current home before they passed away. Mia also shared her foster home with three dogs, one tiny but mighty female Yorkie,  a male dominant shepherd, and a female lab-ridgeback mix,  before she was adopted. Mia loves having a pack; the larger the pack, the better or good friends she can play with. Mia's fantastic when she visits homes with a dog or dogs and gets sad whenever her pack shrinks, needing extra support and attention from her people to transition back to a solo dog.  Her perfect home would have another dog or dogs, knowledgable and experienced owners, and kids (she loves kids of all ages). Her foster home also had two kids. She needs a strong leader, or she will constantly push boundaries and take over. She knows more commands than we can remember and picks up new things continually (her latest thing was hearing me ask her to stay on the sidewalk or get on the sidewalk, and now those are commands for her). With a high prey drive, Mia is a fan of chasing squirrels and birds, which could translate into an inability to live with chickens and cats.  Mia has been fantastic in every situation we have put her in, including riding in any vehicle, learning new rules for different houses, and adapting to other people and dogs. She has excellent household manners.  Mia is with her adoptive family in Arizona, where they moved last year. We're seeking a qualified adopter in the Phoenix area, and if an appropriate match is available in Northern California, we can arrange for her to return for a meeting.  ##891796##

My people have settled on Ollie Bear for my name.  I'm very kid-friendly as I live part of the week with two kids whom I adore. Potty training is dialed in, I understand the assignment and rarely have accidents and my people know my needs now.  On the other hand, I'm finally reliably crate trained and go in for naps on my own. Although protesting is part of the evening ritual since I just don't see why the door needs to shut and inform my people of my opinions. Then I settle down for about 4-5 hours of sleep and the last few nights have been about 6 hours. Progress they say!!! My two foster families who co-foster me have persevered through this same fuss with prior foster puppies, they're definitely  determined with lots of humor. Have you seen my entry for Trupanion’s “Tricked Out for Treats” campaign? I'd love your votes, each vote through this link (link is coming) is worth two entries. And you can vote every 24 hours.   I live with two shepherds in my foster home with the kids and three shepherds in my other foster home where everyone is adults. I get along with all the dogs and play with the ones who are puppy willing but my first loves are my human pack. I adore being with my people, settled near them even when they're working from home rigth under the desk where I fit comfortably. Sometimes they share vidoes of me, puppy snoring.  I ride nicely in the car and learning all about sit, down etc. I also hang out in shopping carts when my people take me out shopping with them, I adore meeting all the people who love to pet puppies. My foster families are so intriqued by my possible breeds that they donated funds for a DNA test which is pending, they both say that I could possibly be a theraphy dog when I grow up.   It's soccer season so I spend part of every Sat at my kids' games, hanging on a blanket and giving loves to everyone spies a puppy and comes over to meet me. During the October heat spell, the kiddie pool came out and boy did I have fun. I'm hoping my forever family will have one too.  I was part of a large and sad hoarding situation where the local animal control intervened to help us. I'm a shepherd mix and lucky to be healthy, chunky, and sweet. My coat is so soft and shiny now after baths and great nutrition with goodies like chesee, eggs added in to my kibble.  My journey from the shelter to ShepHeroes' foster home was exciting. It started with a long car ride from the shelter, multiple shampoos at Pet Food Express to rid me of the stink of my prior life, and lots of love.The first stop was ShepHeroes' adoption event in Citrus Heights, part of Pet Food Express' month-long Adoption Fair.  I received a much-needed bath, my first ever, which required multiple shampoos due to my 12-week-old super-smelly body. The ride to the event was a breeze. While I hung out in a crate, my ride said we had to roll down the windows to cope. After the refreshing bath, I lounged in my own Xpen and took long naps during the event. Although puppies require time, energy, patience, and love to raise, shepherd puppies require an extra commitment to raising neutral adult dogs. We ask adopters interested in me to have experience with shepherds or similar herding or working breeds and the time and resources to commit to structure, environmental exposures, and training.  As a foster-based rescue, ShepHeroes is always in need of fosters. An overwhelming number of shepherds in our local shelters need our help for a fresh start. Would you be willing to share your home and part of your summer to help shepherds find new families? You provide the love, and we'll provide everything else! Saying "yes" today truly saves a life. Complete this  https://www.shepheroes.org/foster-form, and we'll be in touch ASAP! We appreciate your consideration. ##2190345##