Shelby 06-194 [1]

4/28/06: Shelby, the lovely, has arrived! Shelby joined our family on Sunday after spending her entire 6 years of life in a garage with a doggie door out to a run on the side of the house. Shelby is 6 years old, UTD, spayed, and she truly is the epitome of a Golden – gorgeous, sweet, kind, funny, loyal, thrilled to please you and currently a little confused. My husband described her as a dog in overload - just put you in her shoes (paws), she comes into the house for the 1st time and think of all the new things there are to be afraid of! After about 24 hours of being overwhelmed things settled down and she is adjusting quite nicely.

Her surrender dad was concerned about her fear of men (most likely some teenage boys teased her while in her outside run) and other dogs. Well, she has had NO problems with either. She loves my husband to the point he wanted to rename her Shadow, appropriate name since she is at his feet whenever she can be. She has also done well with men walking by, and teenaged boys that let her come to them on her time frame. She and our Tillie get along GREAT. Tillie can be a snot and has been known to cop a little attitude with some fosters, but I have not seen that with her and Shelby. She also has been fine with neighbor dogs. In the time we have had her, the initial fear she displayed has subsided, new events bring new fear but she gets over it - fast. She does have a DEEP fear of crates and being confined. The crate thing has presented an interesting problem for this foster home as we don’t have great places to confine her with baby gates. So we improvised and now we baby gate her into an area when you walk into the house from the garage – most dogs would hate this, but it is about the same size as her garage space in her 1st home, so I think it is comforting for her.

Shelby is going to be an awesome dog for the right family! Her forever family will be one that understands she needs time to acclimate to this new world. She needs a family that will take pleasure in her steps forward while not being frustrated if it doesn’t happen tomorrow. She has had obedience, but a refresher will be necessary. A fenced in yard would be a plus. Right now I think she will do best in a family with no or older kids – she loves kids, but sometimes quick motions around her head scare her (probably stemming back to the teenage boys who teased her). If you are that family that will enjoy watching her realize the world is a wonderful place full of wonderful people, let placement know as we will start looking for forever homes in the near future.