This is Jethro, Spike's son (more on Spike in a minute). Susan and her family have always had German Shepherds, from the time that Sable was born. I never did get a shot of Copper, their female and the mother of Spike.

This puppy *lives* to torment Tristan. He'll grab the kid by the arm (gently) and literally pull him around where he wants to go. Or casually "bump" into him and make him sit down hard on his butt. He's a really sweet thing, though - very even tempered even in the face of much ear-and-tail pulling.

He's decimating Susan's chicken population, though. What was a flock of two dozen is now down to eight. And then seven, while I was there - Jethro caught one in the driveway and gave it a thrashing right in front of us all. Looks like Susan will have to go back to keeping them in the coop, but she likes to let them roam because they keep the insect and tick population down. They certainly are fat things - which is probably why Jethro likes them so much.