STATS
- NAME: Eden, and Edie for short. (Fun fact! Both dogs have names that come from origin stories: Pyrrha, from Greek mythology, and the Garden of Eden.)
- FULL NAME: Eden Loretta Pratt
- BREED: German shepherd dog
- DATE OF BIRTH: 5 July 2013
- DATE WE ADOPTED HER: 15 January 2014
- HISTORY: From Southeast German Shepherd Rescue, after she was surrendered by a young family who didn’t have time for her.
BACKGROUND
This fantastic little puppy was surrendered to SGSR through no fault of her own. Eden was purchased from a Maryland breeder by a family with young children. After a few months with Eden, they decided that they didn’t have time for her and gave her up.
When she came into the rescue, she was evaluated for police work, but she failed the police test because her drive was deemed not high enough, and because she was too friendly. Which is not a fault in our book at all! The evaluator did feel that she could be perfect for therapy work, however, owing to her strong orientation toward people.
Eden’s parents were imported from West Germany and are both titled in schutzhund; her father holding Sch3, the highest level of schutzhund accomplishment. It’s hard to believe that a puppy of this caliber could come into a rescue, but it does happen! And boy are we glad that we found her, owing exclusively to the rescue VP, who was looking out for us and knew that we were looking for a “bombproof” puppy. And there she was.
OBEDIENCE REPERTOIRE
- Sit (Verbal: “Sit” / Signal: Index finger raised)
- Lie down on the ground (Verbal: “Down” / Signal: Palm moving downward)
- Target a palm (Verbal: “Touch” / Signal: Open palm facing her)
- Drop it (Verbal: “Drop it”)
- Going to her crate (Verbal: “Go to your house”)
- Go to your mat (Verbal: “Go to your mat” / Signal: Pointing)
- Shake (Signal: Open, expectant palm)
Working On
- Sitting or standing when people enter (instead of jumping and trying to kiss/maul their faces)
- Bravo! (take a bow)
More to come as we continue to get to know this sweet girl!
Health Notes
- 9 January 2014: Gradually switched her from Blue Buffalo Freedom Puppy to Taste of the Wild Wild Boar.
- 22 January 2014: Started her on fish oil (Welactin; dose: 2 capsules per day).
- 10 March 2014: Scratchiness update: She seems to be less itchy than we she arrived, and we’re continuing to give her 2 capsules of Welactin at night with her dinner.
- 19 March 2014: Started her on Flagyl (Metronidazole) and Fortiflora, with hopes this will clear up her GI issues and help her gain weight. She weighed 44.4 lbs. at the vet on the 19th; she should be almost 60 lbs.
- 1 April 2014: TLI blood test for EPI and cobalamin (B12) blood test sent to Texas A&M University.
- 2 April 2014: Fecal test for giardia confirms that she has lots of giardia; starts on first round of Panacur.
- 3 April 2014: TLI and cobalamin tests come back in the normal range!
- 10 April 2014: Start mixing her kibble with the prescription Royal Canin High-Energy Gastrointestinal kibble.
- 14 April 2014: Goes into her first heat.
- 17 April 2014: Starts second round of Panacur.
- 23 April 2014: Tests all clear for giardia! But she gave it to Pyrrha.
- 24 April 2014: Urine analysis normal (suspected UTI).
- 8 September 2014: In heat again.
- 2 December 2015: Spayed. Vet also noticed a small skin infection, so put her on antibiotics for that.
- 12 February 2016: HESKA allergy test results come back, showing her to be negative for every allergen. Which seems hard to believe.
- February-March 2016: We suffer through a Royal Canin Ultamino food trial.
- Mid-March 2016: Starts on Apoquel. Goes back to Taste of the Wild Wetlands.
Doggerel 
Congratulations on your new pup!
I love the name, and the fact that she has a middle name! Good luck expanding her obedience repertoire!
I really love your name theme for the girls. My previous dogs were both named for goddesses (I used to call them the doggesses) and I considered staying in the myth realm for Ruby – my runner-up name for her was Echo, but Ruby stuck.
Thanks! I love name themes for dogs. 🙂 More acceptable to do with pets than with children.
How are you training her to stop jumping? I have one that constantly jumps and we have tried to get to stop but nothing seems to be working.
We’ve been working on treating/giving her attention when all four paws are on the ground. It is still definitely a work in progress! Another recommendation from our trainer was to actually entice her to jump on us and then warmly reward her for resisting the temptation. Good luck; it takes a lot of patience!
Eden looks a lot like my Brin – “Lima vom Osterberger-land.” Brin has hip Dysplasia, a roached back, a “herring gutt,” & she’s slab sided (very thin rib cage). When I got her, she had round worms though she never tested positive for them. She was treated with Panacur and lo worms appeared. She too was tested for pancreatic enzyme deficiency, and the tests came back low normal. I have her weight and digestion stable on Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream and Honest Kitchen Embark (freeze dried food). I add a little free-range organic ground turkey and probiotic dry goat’s milk. 😉 Periodically, i have had to treat her with Panacur again. She’s almost 3 and I’ve treated her probably 2-3 times. With her very thin rib cage, she pants more than a normal dog, her lung capacity is low. I think too much beef makes her a little queezy. This all sounds terrible – she also has the best fur, fine pasterns, nice dark almond shaped eyes, a great bite, and the prettiest head you’ve ever seen. Like Eden, she has a very happy, “let’s party!” nice personality. I tell people she has all she needs to succeed in High School. She has SV paper work – A warning about Flagyl (Metronidazole) – it is a great anti-inflammatory however it can cause odd seizures. I had a dog who has small intestine issues and was on flagyl for maintenance. She started to have very odd behavior attacks, which I believe to be a sort of petite maul seizure caused by flagyl. I finally got her stabilized on raw ground turkey (it cannot be department store ground turkey – she’d lose patches of fur and have bloody spots if I gave her ground turkey from the butcher), steamed potato and a bit of ultra low allergen Science Diet- for vitamins. Sweet potato for a change. I know SD isn’t the best food, however, when your dog is very ill – and a food “works,” you go with it. Also, some skin issues can go away with a table spoon of high quality oil in their food. She was a very thin pup, the vet recommended this to get some fat on her – and her skin cleared as a result.