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ShadowThe Story ContinuesAt the start of 2006, Shadow had been with me for 5 months. We'd had our ups and downs but he was a far different dog to the frightened boy that had arrived in July. We'd made progress with his self-control and he could now sit whilst a toy was thrown, although the toy did still have to be held out of his reach, but this was a huge improvement as he no longer snatched toys from hands. I still had to work on him not snatching if I went to pick up a toy off the floor, but the situation was manageable as long as I had a toy in reserve. He was still quite possessive over toys, and as long as I had one toy, he would happily drop the toy and sit waiting for the next one to be thrown. Something to work on this year.The effects of his castration continued to develop. He stopped using his teeth so readily, was happier around people and rarely felt the need to resort to his previous aggressive displays when people walked towards or passed him. He seemed able to concentrate for longer periods of time. It was amazing. By the end of March 2006, the chain mail glove had gone into storage and I had a 6 month old puppy in an adult GSD's skin. Shadow was really enjoying life and was bouncing about like a pup. Lovely to see and so worth all the time invested in him. His true self was starting to appear, and what a wonderful dog he was turning out to be. We had a small amount of snow in March and Da Boy seemed to enjoy that as did the other dogs.
Shadow had grown in to a truly handsome dog, and was well up to normal weight for a dog of is size (to be honest, he was a bit porky and was on a diet). He no longer barked in the van or barked at people that passed us, or those that stopped to chat (yes, people could finally talk to me when I was with Shadow). His self control was improving, but he still couldn't contain himself all the time and just had to leap up and give me a sloppy kiss. I was more likely to receive kisses than bites and the butcher's glove was no longer needed as he was now happy for his collar to be held in all situations. He had taken to clicker training and had learned to hand target. I found this particularly useful as if his focus was going or he was getting too excited, a few hand touches would focus his attention once again and calm him down. His basic training still left a lot to be desired, but although he was still very much 'work in progress' he had travelled a long way from the dog that had first arrived here with all his issues. But we still haven't reach the end of the story......... To find out what the future held for us both click here or go back to the start of the story
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