About eleven years ago I was at the NCDL looking for a dog and came across a German shepherd dog that was barking aggressively at everybody that came within 10’ of her kennel. Despite her aggression, there was something about her that was appealing, so i sat down on the grass close to the kennel so that my head was more or less at her level, and “chatted” to her, after about fifteen minutes she calmed down and decided she was wasting all her shouting on me
I chatted to one of the girls about her and she said that she was going to be hard work as she had been removed from a family where she had been beaten and shouted at by the family (prosecuted for cruelty) and even the neighbours for all of her eighteen months of life, so her natural response to anybody approaching her was to think that they were going to beat her etc, so she would become aggressive to the approaching person
NCDL brought her to the house to see how she got on with the other dog at that time, all was well so her life here started. She went to training classes and was told she was too disruptive to the others. Through NCDL she went to a rehabilitation specialist, but just treated it as a shouting match with other dogs, and after five weeks the specialist advised it was just lots of patience and time required. It was four years before she actually trusted us, and anybody who came to the house had to wait till she was let out, they came in, then she was let in. That way, she was approaching them, and not them approaching her. Those first four years were hard work, but totally worthwhile. She became a loving dog, but mistrusting of people. If it was a windy day, she was in her element, she loved to run in the wind.
Last night at nearly thirteen years old she stumbled as she walked and i could see from her eyes that something had happened, but she settled down again. This morning she was lay in the middle of the floor instead of on her bed and she had great trouble getting up, when she did get up she walked five paces then fell to the floor, she did this a second time, so about one hour ago she joined Caddy and Blade in doggie heaven
