Dog visits

A young, good looking, already neutered shepherd lands in my local shelter and no one bothered to come claim him.  Either he was dumped intentionally, or some ignorant Fluvanna asshole was too stupid or lazy or simply didn't care enough to make even a minimal effort of find his dog.  Stupid, lazy, and uncaring are about equal possibilities around here; it could be our county motto.

His hold period is up and I went to meet him today.  Good looking dog.  Someone had obviously played fetch with him with a tennis ball and he liked it but wasn't obsessed.  He was fine being leashed, led, and handled.  My one concern, however, and it's a big one, is whether he's good with other dogs.  He ignored dogs in the other runs as we were walking to the door.  But outside when he saw another leashed dog he gave some signals that gave me some concern.  It may just be interest and he might be fine when actually introduced, I wasn't sure.  The only way to be sure is to try it and I'll go back in the next day or so with another dog to try it.  I'm not sure yet who I'll use.  Our late Molly was the best at this sort of thing.  Sparky could obviously handle him, but Sparky will escalate any slight challenge from another dog and kick his shepherd butt.  That might be just the attitude adjustment he needs, if he needs it.  Cabell is too old really.  I don't usually use Trooper as a test dog because of the need for other people to be involved, but we have to this time.  Stay tuned. 

When we first arrived, that tail was tucked,
but she relaxed pretty quickly.

Maddie is a natural climber, no fear

I had Maddie along for the ride and we were intending to go someplace for a confidence building walk.  I ended up texting and dropping in on Erica of Green Dogs Unleashed and I'm glad I did.  Erica is very good with shy, scared dogs and won Maddie over in a very short time.  Plus, she's starting an agility class next week and we were invited to come.  I think that will be very good for Maddie.  When she's active she's less scared and it will build her confidence and her trust in me.  She will also be exposed to other new people in a fun environment.  Maddie should excel at agility.