Shadow

The Story Continues

His first night at home was a learning experience for us both. Luckily he took to my husband without any issues, and he took to the other dogs. I had to leave the collar and lead on that first night as I couldn't get near enough to take them off, and he would have bitten me if I had tried to push it. The initial days went well with Shadow being well behaved, playing with me nicely and getting used to the other dogs. He did have a dodgy tummy to sort with and very sore feet. However, I'm a great believer in letting time heal, so just left Shadow to get used to the other dogs and to me, after all a lot had happened to him in the last 24 hours, and he had yet to realise that he was safe now. He did allow me to remove his collar the morning after he arrived and was giving me cuddles and his paw.

I discovered the following morning that he was aggressive around his food, so he was fed separately to the other dogs to save any issues. He had also decided that I was 'safe' and allowed me to remove the lead and check chain which were replace with a half check and short trailing line. He went to work with me from then on, partly so that I could get him out and exercise him and partly so that I could expose him to people in a safe environment. I'm lucky in that I work at an Agricultural college and fortunately that it was the summer break, so no students to worry about, only the staff. Everyone was warned to keep their distance from him if they saw me out with him, and they had been made aware of his story. All were shocked at his appearance and were willing to help him recover his confidence in human nature.

Three days after his arrival he met Marion (my work colleague) and was happy to play with her. Everything seemed to be going well and I was optimistic that Shadow wouldn't be here too long.

For the first few weeks, he was exercised in a secure grass compound along with some of my other dogs. He struggled to walk the short distance from van to compound as his feet seemed very soft and sore. He even struggled to walk on the grass! He couldn't exercise for long, but as the days passed and he gained in strength, I discovered that he adored playing fetch and tuggy. In the first few weeks, he would happily give the toy back, but as he got fitter and stronger, he began to get a little more possessive.

By the beginning of August, only a couple of weeks after arriving here, Shadow was looking much happier (still thin though) and was starting to meet other people.