Rolfie (renamed Henry)

Rolfie's Playlist

Roflie was found as a stray dog, running in the streets of Stockton, He was picked up by Animal Control on April 11, 2023.  He was not microchipped and his owners never called or came into the shelter to reclaim him.   At the shelter, they named him “Hunter” but he has been renamed “Rolfie” aka “Rolf” or “Rolfio”. He learned his name after just a few weeks in foster care.

Although Rolfie was in the shelter for over a month, friendly and happy easily sums up this handsome lad.  In his foster home he is crate trained and housebroken.  He loves being able to run, play, and stretch his legs in his foster home. He loves other dogs, people, and food.  He takes correction well, has learned the commands "sit" and “wait” and has great eye contact. He loves treats and will be easy to train because of this. He takes them gently and is not pushy.  

Rolfie is both energetic and laid back. When playing with the foster’s dog Heidi, who is a similar size and age (Rolfie is approx. 60lbs), Rolfie has puppylike energy. He loves to spar with her and they have a great time. However, Rolfie backs off when Heidi has had enough playtime and he is very willing to just lie around in the yard. He has made himself a “canine cave” under the orange tree in the back of the yard and one of his favorite activities is just hanging out back there by himself.  Rolfie also gets along great with Matilija (Mattie), a 40lb deaf dog. Matilija loves to play but her doggy social manners are poor, probably because she is deaf. Rolfie doesn’t have any problem with Mattie; he never gets exasperated with her the way Heidi does. Rolfie also tolerates Tiki, a 10lb feisty chihuahua. However Rolfie is not good with RootyTooty, another 10lb chihuahua, who is mostly feral. He tends to push RootyTooty around so if Rolfie is going into a home with smaller dogs it would be wise to test his interaction with them first.

Rolfie’s foster says, “Rolfie is by far the easiest dog to care for of all of the five GSDs she has fostered” for Golden State German Shepherd Rescue. Rolfie does not need to be doing something all the time, he is very chill and fine with just lying around. He does not seek out items in the house or garden or porch to play with (e.g. destroy). While certain things should be put out of reach, e.g. garden gloves, he doesn’t try to grab stuff on higher shelves. He does not try to escape out the front door or back gates. He’s supremely content to be just hanging out with his doggie buddies and foster person. Rolfie does not play with toys (except chew toys). He probably didn’t have any real toys in the past. Rolfie easily goes into his crate and does not try to escape. He does not have separation anxiety. He typically goes into his crate at 9-9:30pm and is let out to do his duty at 6:30am. He has his breakfast around 7am and dinner at 6pm. He eats everything.

Rolfie is fine when new people come to the house. He will happily ask them for pets out on the patio. However when some rather screechy kids (ages 8 and 11) came over Rolfie declined to come near them - he stayed out in the back yard rather than come onto the porch where the kids were. He may not have any experience with kids.

Rolfie is a classic looking GSD, although on the small side. His Wisdom Panel DNA results are 88% shepherd (84% GSD, 2% White Swiss Shepherd, 2% Shiloh Shepherd) which is quite high. 7% is husky with the leftover small percentages Inuit, Malamute and Xoloitzuintli. Yeah, the last one is the Mexican hairless 🙂. Not sure how accurate these DNA kits are once the percentages are in the 1-2% range!

Rolfie is the perfect dog for almost anyone - family, couple, single person. Active hiking/running or just a walk/playtime each day. He is so accommodating and flexible that whatever his person/people want to do is fine with him. If you are looking for an “easy” GSD Rolfie is a perfect fit. While he is eager to please and will learn commands quickly he does not need an actual “job” as some GSDs do.

He loves to play with other dogs, whether they live in the same home or are visitors. Watch his videos to see his delight when playing with the resident dogs and the lively Golden Retriever visitor dog “Bailey”.

FOSTERED IN MODESTO