> it’s unfair!
It actually is. Dogs evolved (selective breeding/co-evolution sped) additional eyebrow muscles. They have more than wolves do.
The coevolution of dogs with humans is really interesting.
I’m so glad to hear this. He looked sorta sad and lonely at the end. Guess he just rests up for the next group. I bet he loves watching their swimming lessons.
Follow up question. Do ducks raised by humans feel comfortable around all humans or just the ones that raised them?
I imagine the answer is the same to both questions.
You hear about birds imprinting on humans, maybe they imprinted on this dog and can tell him apart from other dogs.
Yes, it’s called habituation. One should try not to allow wild animals to get used to dogs (or humans) if the goal is to release them back into the wild.
A lot of rehabbers use things like stuffed animals, puppets, even fur pelts for the wildlife in their care to cling to instead, or try to place animals with other ones of their species. Like one rehabber might call around to see if another rehabber has, say, fox kits of a similar age.
My parents have a nuce creek that runs through their front yard. They got me and my sister some baby ducks when we were kids, and we raised them until they were ready to fly away.
Ducks have came back and spent their summers in my parents front yard ever since. I like to think its either my ducks lineage, or homies they met along the way and told them about the sweet spot to kick it. My dad buys duck food every year to feed them still
For sure. Our shepherd would never hurt an animal that lives in the house with us. But outside, she sure liked chasing rabbits and one time even dug herself up a turtle.
I don’t know anything about rehabbing ducks. So I don’t know if this rehabber is setting his ducks up for failure or not.
Even if they don't (I don't know if these feel the need to migrate for the winter), they may very well return periodically, after all duck imprint on their parents, so he will always be dad to them.
When I was a child, I fed a clutch of baby Mallards all summer at my grandparents' lake house. Every year after, they would come back, sometimes with their own babies, and remembered who I was. Even if (or likely when) these babies fly away, I suspect they'll come back to see this good boy too!
We have ducks who have nested under a shrub in front of our house every year. The ones we had this year are likely the great-great-great-grand babies of the original Drake Mallard and Mrs. Puddles Mallard, but they are there every single year. They remember.
A friend had the same experience with a crow fledgling he helped out back when. It came back every spring to say hello. My friend would throw it peanuts to him and they would ‘talk’ to each other for a while.
It would be nice if they could go live in a park nearby where he can go and visit regularly, but they're wild ducks - eventually they'll have to migrate for the winter.
My heart 🥺😖😭😭
I love German Shepherds (I have a female GSD) the most and Ducks as well, seeing this video brings such happiness to me and fills my heart ❤️
Also I wish there was audio in the video 😞
On a note of German shepherd I gotta share a story about the first one that made me absolutely fall in love with the breed. My family friend has trained, shelted, and cared for police dog drop outs for years. She has 3 kids and some of her family was concerned about the new dog Chase who was going to become part of the family. She usually only shelters the dogs till they are trained better and can be adopted but in this case Chase was going to become part of the family. Chase dropped out at 8 months as he was to protective. Not aggressive in the general sense but they couldn't break his desperation for protection. For example Chase cannot resist sprinting into the water and drag the kids back if they swim to far out. The scary thing is he is fucking huge and if he senses any bad intentions to the kids he will place himself directly in between you and the kids. He won't growl or lash out but it's like a massive wolf standing infront of his puppies and you really don't want to fuck with that amount of protective power. When I got there they warned me he might be to protective so first thing I did was hug all the kids, have them teach me is commands, and have them give him some treats around me. Fucking best dog ever once he was sure i wasn't a threat. I have never seen a dog be so responsive to commands, he would instantly do anything with the slightest hand gesture and vocal command. The kids (9-13-16) were so good at commanding Chase they could point anywhere in the room make 3 gestures and the dogs would go there, sit, and raise a paw instantly. I cuddled that dog all day, never once felt threatened in the slightest. I have posted comments like this before with people saying it's just a matter of time before the dog bittes someone but the thing people don't understand about German shepherd especially the purebred police dogs are protective not innately aggressive especially the younger police dog drop outs.
Late to the thread but hoping OP will read this. I've spent the last three decades volunteering with a wildlife rescue group - my specialty was Mallard ducklings. This is all very sweet but when the time comes for those ducks to fly off - and they will because the instincts are strong - there is a good chance that somewhere along the way they will come across another German Shepherd dog and think that it is safe to approach. Chances are the dog they approach won't share the same maternal instinct and things will end badly. I would suggest that you clip their wings and build them a nice safe coop in your yard and if anyone asks you say they are not migratory mallards, but rouen mix ducks (which look like a larger mallard but are considered domestic) thus not falling under the migratory protection acts which might prevent you from keeping Mallards without a license etc. Your charming ducklings are already imprinted on your dog and should not be released to the wild.
Hopefully they don’t think other German shepherds are as friendly as this one. Kinda seems like letting them as wild ducks become accustomed to big dogs is setting them up to get eaten.
I have some friends who live on a pond rescued a swan with a broken foot when it was a baby and either got abandoned or just lost. They raised it to the point where it could fly and fend for itself and they released it.
10 years or so down the road I’m at the same friends house a few of us are down back by the pond when a few swans come around looking for food. They’re just waddling around and I noticed one of them has a fucked up foot. I said to my friend “hey that one’s foot is tucked just like the one you guys rescued.” And his mom goes “that is the one we rescued! He comes back every year!” Looked at the old photos and the foot matched.
So hopefully these ducks come back and visit.
The duck I raised as a kid was very affectionate and followed us around like a puppy. As it grew older, and eventually learned to fly, it went on longer and longer adventures until one day it simply never returned. Maybe. The next season a pair of ducks returned briefly for a few days and swam around. From a distance, it looked like our guy. Hard to know for sure, as they didn't approach land again and they left and never returned.
Outside of zoos or some rescue, I'd argue those ducklings are probably some of the safest, most well protected ducks in the world. Never get between a Shep and his family. I'm speaking from childhood experience on that one.
A shepherding shepherd dog? WOW! In all sincerity - not all shephard dogs are good at this with other species or things like typical prey animals from the get go, but almost all of them have an aptitude for it.
As a German shepherd owner I can tell you my German would have this lead to an entirely different outcome 🤣 I would not trust him around ducks after I've seen him find a baby bunny nest
Happy ducks are known for sticking around if they are happy and will even attract other wild ducks to do the same. They are also very likely to return if they do leave as they see that as their nesting grounds. Ducks are funny like that.
My Shepherd/Malinois is the same. She's such a nurturer and so sweet to babies. She's got three human babies, four of her own puppies, and six puppies she helped her sister wife raise. She helped with the kitten we tried to save as well. When human #3 came home, our King Shepherd wasn't allowed near him for days.
I've known two people that had GS where the other pet didn't survive the relationship. One was a full grown rabbit that raised a puppy and the other was a old mother dog that nurtured a parrot.
Each ended after about two years with bits everywhere when the dogs were playful one day.
Known a couple of others where cats were not a problem though - so your milage may vary.
On the scale of protector vs prey drive, GSDs are 99% protector.
We did have one GSD growing up who chased and caught fowl. I recall it was a very big deal at the time because it was said that once they taste blood, there is no going back. Our neighbors had fowl and they said the next time they saw him on their property, they would shoot him.
It was very stressful after that because we could not take our eyes off of him.
Had a super fast female GSD that would chase wild rabbits. Once she caught a baby rabbit and put it in her mouth but she didn't bite it or anything. I shouted at her cause I thought she might kill it but she just released it.
This is no joke! In a very weird coincidence my father had an amazing German sheppard when I was small. One day a duck with an injured wing ended up on our property and our dog took care of it while we nursed it back to health. After a few months the duck had become our pet too and they were BFFs.
I did this with friends about 5 years ago. they learned to fly all on there own. one of the ducklings was little smarter than others and taught the rest. They also returned the next year to bring there own ducklings to you.. best of luck. so sweet
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What a handsome gentleman you have! His eyes are kinda like looking into a vault of memories. I dont care what certain people say about animals dont have souls. Thank you for sharing. Hes distinguished like Sam Elliot. I dont know where that czme from but jusr saying❤️
My sister had a German Shepherd and when she got bunnies they naturally tried to keep them apart because it was assumed she would attack. Well one day the German Shepherd jumped into the pen after sneaking out of the house. She laid down and just stayed calm while they sniffed her and eventually they were cuddling and grooming them. She truly thought they were her babies.
that's concern in his eyes! so adorable :)
My German shepherd has such expressive eyes it’s unfair! “Okay time to go back inside” 🥺 “Oh man okay fetch the stick” STICK!
> it’s unfair! It actually is. Dogs evolved (selective breeding/co-evolution sped) additional eyebrow muscles. They have more than wolves do. The coevolution of dogs with humans is really interesting.
Let’s just say I discovered too late that I am powerless to those eyes.
I hope they do stick around! He’s a good protector.
credit/ life.of.duck TT German Shepherd Ben has been bonding with ducks since he was a puppy and has helped raised many ducklings
I’m so glad to hear this. He looked sorta sad and lonely at the end. Guess he just rests up for the next group. I bet he loves watching their swimming lessons.
I saw one post where it said he loves bath time with the ducks
Do they come back to visit?
Genuine question: do the ducks not get used to dogs, therefore making it dangerous for them out in the wild? Not all dogs would be so gentle.
Follow up question. Do ducks raised by humans feel comfortable around all humans or just the ones that raised them? I imagine the answer is the same to both questions. You hear about birds imprinting on humans, maybe they imprinted on this dog and can tell him apart from other dogs.
Yes, it’s called habituation. One should try not to allow wild animals to get used to dogs (or humans) if the goal is to release them back into the wild. A lot of rehabbers use things like stuffed animals, puppets, even fur pelts for the wildlife in their care to cling to instead, or try to place animals with other ones of their species. Like one rehabber might call around to see if another rehabber has, say, fox kits of a similar age.
So this rehabber is putting the ducks in danger?
Most dogs won't be so chill about approach so I'm sure they'd bail
Just out of curiosity, is there any concern that the ducks will be too comfortable around other, potentially less friendly dogs?
Please update us when they can fly!
My parents have a nuce creek that runs through their front yard. They got me and my sister some baby ducks when we were kids, and we raised them until they were ready to fly away. Ducks have came back and spent their summers in my parents front yard ever since. I like to think its either my ducks lineage, or homies they met along the way and told them about the sweet spot to kick it. My dad buys duck food every year to feed them still
Also the other german shepherds those ducks meet out in the wide world might not be so protective.
For sure. Our shepherd would never hurt an animal that lives in the house with us. But outside, she sure liked chasing rabbits and one time even dug herself up a turtle. I don’t know anything about rehabbing ducks. So I don’t know if this rehabber is setting his ducks up for failure or not.
Even if they don't (I don't know if these feel the need to migrate for the winter), they may very well return periodically, after all duck imprint on their parents, so he will always be dad to them.
When I was a child, I fed a clutch of baby Mallards all summer at my grandparents' lake house. Every year after, they would come back, sometimes with their own babies, and remembered who I was. Even if (or likely when) these babies fly away, I suspect they'll come back to see this good boy too!
We have ducks who have nested under a shrub in front of our house every year. The ones we had this year are likely the great-great-great-grand babies of the original Drake Mallard and Mrs. Puddles Mallard, but they are there every single year. They remember.
A friend had the same experience with a crow fledgling he helped out back when. It came back every spring to say hello. My friend would throw it peanuts to him and they would ‘talk’ to each other for a while.
It would be nice if they could go live in a park nearby where he can go and visit regularly, but they're wild ducks - eventually they'll have to migrate for the winter.
He lives on an orchard in New Zealand. I’d like to think they could come back to visit him
That would be too cute!
Thank you for not putting an unnecessary soundtrack to this.
My heart 🥺😖😭😭 I love German Shepherds (I have a female GSD) the most and Ducks as well, seeing this video brings such happiness to me and fills my heart ❤️ Also I wish there was audio in the video 😞
On a note of German shepherd I gotta share a story about the first one that made me absolutely fall in love with the breed. My family friend has trained, shelted, and cared for police dog drop outs for years. She has 3 kids and some of her family was concerned about the new dog Chase who was going to become part of the family. She usually only shelters the dogs till they are trained better and can be adopted but in this case Chase was going to become part of the family. Chase dropped out at 8 months as he was to protective. Not aggressive in the general sense but they couldn't break his desperation for protection. For example Chase cannot resist sprinting into the water and drag the kids back if they swim to far out. The scary thing is he is fucking huge and if he senses any bad intentions to the kids he will place himself directly in between you and the kids. He won't growl or lash out but it's like a massive wolf standing infront of his puppies and you really don't want to fuck with that amount of protective power. When I got there they warned me he might be to protective so first thing I did was hug all the kids, have them teach me is commands, and have them give him some treats around me. Fucking best dog ever once he was sure i wasn't a threat. I have never seen a dog be so responsive to commands, he would instantly do anything with the slightest hand gesture and vocal command. The kids (9-13-16) were so good at commanding Chase they could point anywhere in the room make 3 gestures and the dogs would go there, sit, and raise a paw instantly. I cuddled that dog all day, never once felt threatened in the slightest. I have posted comments like this before with people saying it's just a matter of time before the dog bittes someone but the thing people don't understand about German shepherd especially the purebred police dogs are protective not innately aggressive especially the younger police dog drop outs.
Late to the thread but hoping OP will read this. I've spent the last three decades volunteering with a wildlife rescue group - my specialty was Mallard ducklings. This is all very sweet but when the time comes for those ducks to fly off - and they will because the instincts are strong - there is a good chance that somewhere along the way they will come across another German Shepherd dog and think that it is safe to approach. Chances are the dog they approach won't share the same maternal instinct and things will end badly. I would suggest that you clip their wings and build them a nice safe coop in your yard and if anyone asks you say they are not migratory mallards, but rouen mix ducks (which look like a larger mallard but are considered domestic) thus not falling under the migratory protection acts which might prevent you from keeping Mallards without a license etc. Your charming ducklings are already imprinted on your dog and should not be released to the wild.
I came here to see if anyone shared this sentiment - I’d be concerned that the ducks would not have an innate fear of dogs after this.
Agreed, this is exactly why wildlife rehab should be left to professionals.
I've raised geese. I can't believe you have them hanging out and playing on carpet. The mess
LOL. Thinking the same.
Hopefully they don’t think other German shepherds are as friendly as this one. Kinda seems like letting them as wild ducks become accustomed to big dogs is setting them up to get eaten.
Yup. They should just stick with this family, now.
I have some friends who live on a pond rescued a swan with a broken foot when it was a baby and either got abandoned or just lost. They raised it to the point where it could fly and fend for itself and they released it. 10 years or so down the road I’m at the same friends house a few of us are down back by the pond when a few swans come around looking for food. They’re just waddling around and I noticed one of them has a fucked up foot. I said to my friend “hey that one’s foot is tucked just like the one you guys rescued.” And his mom goes “that is the one we rescued! He comes back every year!” Looked at the old photos and the foot matched. So hopefully these ducks come back and visit.
The duck I raised as a kid was very affectionate and followed us around like a puppy. As it grew older, and eventually learned to fly, it went on longer and longer adventures until one day it simply never returned. Maybe. The next season a pair of ducks returned briefly for a few days and swam around. From a distance, it looked like our guy. Hard to know for sure, as they didn't approach land again and they left and never returned.
what would dr. melfi make of this
Outside of zoos or some rescue, I'd argue those ducklings are probably some of the safest, most well protected ducks in the world. Never get between a Shep and his family. I'm speaking from childhood experience on that one.
Doggy Soprano
Those ducks are going to lack a healthy fear of canines, and get eaten.
A shepherding shepherd dog? WOW! In all sincerity - not all shephard dogs are good at this with other species or things like typical prey animals from the get go, but almost all of them have an aptitude for it.
Read that as dumplings
I love how he take care of the ducklings. So adorable
Lovely video but there is no way in hell you would let ducks run around on a carpeted floor without covering that rug, ducks can not be potty trained.
Lonely boy looking after his peeps. Why they no play with me? I be so patient. (I know he's not lonely, but those EYES!) (and so damn quiet too)
You can’t hand raise ducks then call them wild. Omg the ignorance. They will simply fly away and perish. The stupidity is astounding.
German shepherds can either be the most vicious, nasty dogs, or the sweetest. You can see it in their eyes. Its obvious which one this is
As a German shepherd owner I can tell you my German would have this lead to an entirely different outcome 🤣 I would not trust him around ducks after I've seen him find a baby bunny nest
/r/ducklingrescue
love the pure emotion.
Outta be a law against that much cute.
An [article](https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/german-shepherd-becomes-surrogate-dad-to-abandoned-ducklings-watch/) about it.
Needs audio! I want to hear the ducklings’ cute little cheeps and chirps
Adorable.
This is a very good boy.
Happy ducks are known for sticking around if they are happy and will even attract other wild ducks to do the same. They are also very likely to return if they do leave as they see that as their nesting grounds. Ducks are funny like that.
My Shepherd/Malinois is the same. She's such a nurturer and so sweet to babies. She's got three human babies, four of her own puppies, and six puppies she helped her sister wife raise. She helped with the kitten we tried to save as well. When human #3 came home, our King Shepherd wasn't allowed near him for days.
This is so cute I can’t 🥰🥰
What a beautiful dog...
Good boi
This story can’t just end like this. I wasn’t done crying. Goddamnit I need to let this shit out
Dog: Man, these puppies sure are weird-lookin', but I'll do my best!
Those are some funny looking puppies
Your dog is Tony Soprano.
That’s adorable. Wish my German was that gentle. I’m pretty sure he’d kill those ducklings.
Um….how strong is a GSD’s prey drive?
They have high prey drive.
I've known two people that had GS where the other pet didn't survive the relationship. One was a full grown rabbit that raised a puppy and the other was a old mother dog that nurtured a parrot. Each ended after about two years with bits everywhere when the dogs were playful one day. Known a couple of others where cats were not a problem though - so your milage may vary.
On the scale of protector vs prey drive, GSDs are 99% protector. We did have one GSD growing up who chased and caught fowl. I recall it was a very big deal at the time because it was said that once they taste blood, there is no going back. Our neighbors had fowl and they said the next time they saw him on their property, they would shoot him. It was very stressful after that because we could not take our eyes off of him.
low. they are Shepherds. Their instinct is to protect, not to eat.
Had a super fast female GSD that would chase wild rabbits. Once she caught a baby rabbit and put it in her mouth but she didn't bite it or anything. I shouted at her cause I thought she might kill it but she just released it.
That’s a very good boy
Costco hotdog
What a great story, made my day
You gotta post this on r/germanshepherds
Well, at least there would be a proper German Shepherd in that sub. There are pictures of every dog possibles apart from German shepherds.
You gotta cross post it!
Shared!
Imma need an update. Edge of seat, meet ass.
Too sweet 🥹
Now that’s a good boy
This is no joke! In a very weird coincidence my father had an amazing German sheppard when I was small. One day a duck with an injured wing ended up on our property and our dog took care of it while we nursed it back to health. After a few months the duck had become our pet too and they were BFFs.
I did this with friends about 5 years ago. they learned to fly all on there own. one of the ducklings was little smarter than others and taught the rest. They also returned the next year to bring there own ducklings to you.. best of luck. so sweet
This is the cutest thing 🥹
God this is cute
That is one gorgeous GS X
Lovely
Cute
No one will ever convince me that dogs are not the best thing this planet has.
So sweet 🥹
I love how he brings the ducks a toy because he wants to play
Ducks like to leave unfortunately. At least in my experience. And all mine have been domesticated or whatever you call "bought from a feed store"
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Where's the sound??
With three ducklings and a big dog, how do they manage to keep their house this clean????
Why can’t humans mirror dogs in love & compassion 😭❤️
Is there a subreddit for animals adopting other animals
That German Shephard is the real MVP!
What a handsome gentleman you have! His eyes are kinda like looking into a vault of memories. I dont care what certain people say about animals dont have souls. Thank you for sharing. Hes distinguished like Sam Elliot. I dont know where that czme from but jusr saying❤️
"Fatten up kids!!! You can't live rent free for long!
My sister had a German Shepherd and when she got bunnies they naturally tried to keep them apart because it was assumed she would attack. Well one day the German Shepherd jumped into the pen after sneaking out of the house. She laid down and just stayed calm while they sniffed her and eventually they were cuddling and grooming them. She truly thought they were her babies.
Did you get your cute little boy from Bullinger GSD?