Shadow

The story begins.

Shadow is one very lucky dog. He was picked up by the dog warden after he was spotted straying and he was barking at the children on their way to school. He was so frightened by everything that when the dog warden eventually caught him (by leaping on him), he bit her. He was taken to a pound and his future looked very uncertain as he had bitten and it looked like he might be pts. A plea was posted on DogPages forum, and I volunteered to foster him until he could be found a home. So one July evening in 2005, I found myself driving across to Ferrybridge services to meet a fellow dog lover that had helped to transport Shadow to me.

When I got there and met Alex and Shadow, I was shocked at the condition of Shadow and at the haunted look in his eyes. He was also terrified, which meant he was lunging and barking at me and no amount of sausage was going to get him to let me near. Alex put him in the back of the van and I nipped into the services for some tea, wondering if Shadow would allow me back into the van or whether he was going to eat me and wondering how the hell I was going to get him out once I'd got him home! Luckily he let me back into the van (thank goodness Transits have high backed seats) and we travelled home safely.

Once we arrived home, Shadow allowed me to get him out of the van, but I wasn't allowed too close and I certainly wasn't allowed to touch him anywhere near his neck, which made taking his lead and check chain off very difficult. He met the rest of the crew, who welcomed him with open arms (or is that paws?). Our long journey together was just beginning, but neither of us had any idea what a journey it was going to be. There would be tears, frustration, bites and threats of being pts as well as a dog that blossomed into a stunning GSD, trust, love, dedication and finally a home to call his own.

Early photos of Shadow showing how thin he was. The expression in the middle photograph makes me want to weep, he looks so sad.

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