These pictures were taken in the first few days after we brought him home. I can recall the first full day he spent with us at home...he explored around the flower beds and yard that I was raking, apparently sampling various tidbits as he went. That evening his stomach started making all sorts of growling noises and I ended up sleeping on the bedroom floor next to him, all the time somewhat worried over the non-stop intestinal noises coming from this puppy. All was well next day, but as a precaution he made his first vet visit with us for a good checkup.
Another interesting thing: from his experience with the breeder, he apparently had no stairs to climb there, and didn't know how when he first encountered them around our house. That lasted only a day.
Hobo is now 7 years old. How time flies! I'll have to get some more recent pictures of him on the website here. He's developed into the most intelligent (sometimes too much for his own good!) German Shepherd Dog we've ever owned ... and we've had many over the past 40 years. It was interesting that he never cared too much for toys (except tennis balls) when he was a puppy, but developed a liking to them when around 3 years old. As with most German Shepherds, he seems to never tire of playing with a tennis ball, his other toys, and a favorite squeaky little football. He seems to go through a tennis ball every week or two; the football has held up over a year although my last visit to Tractor Supply store netted a spare one.
I've been asked by others about GSDs (German Shepherd Dogs) ... we got Hobo from a breeder a little east of Des Moines, Iowa. We picked this breeder for several reasons: temperment (of the dog!) was quite high on our list along with a German bloodline background. You see, the Germans are quite picky about such things as hip dyplasia and maintaining the breed. So Hobo's back and rear end is not "angulated" or sloping like the typical American breed, which incidentally has been fighting hip problems for generations. His daddy was a 115 pounder who often went to various children's schools for demonstrations, etc. and had a very good temperment.
Fortunately, Hobo has turned out to be a very healthy dog. And a very loving dog -- who says a male dog cannot be affectionate? Yet, he is quite protective of our household.