Brighten Your Day

In 2005 I decided to adopt a dog through my local German Shepherd Rescue. After an official meeting with the host family to see if my family would meet standards set for the adoption, we were allowed to take a beautiful 2-year-old female Shepherd home with us. She was gentle and smart as a whip! However, one day on a walk, a neighbor's dog crossed the street toward us in an aggressive manner and attacked her as she stepped in front of me. After that, whenever she saw any other dog she immediately transformed into a vicious animal! When I checked with the previous host family, I was told she'd also been attacked badly while at a dog park with them!

Quickly I searched for and found an amazing woman with her own dog - a team who would help my sweet German Shepherd to shed her terrible fear. The other dog was an Australian Shepherd. My shepherd met the new "canine counselor" without her helper dog, at first. Then we stepped outdoors and were told to walk to the end of the street. Once there, I saw her open her car door and out came this off-leash, obedience trained "partner"! As we slowly approached them I stopped as soon as my dog became agitated. Her dog was calmly sitting, simply watching for directions. As weeks and months passed, these two dogs gradually walked side-by-side because of this quiet, steady and painstakingly careful process! A calm and steady Australian Shepherd erased the fear of a seemingly vicious German Shepherd and finally erased her invisible scars.