Shelly is the coolest dog! I'm very proud of the work I've done with her since I rescued her in 2005. She was an absolute mess.
When we brought her home she didn't know how to handle things she hadn't seen before. For instance she was terrified to walk on the white tiles in our kitchen and hallway, but was ok on the carpet, it took her about a week to approach my husband becuase of her fear of men. If I shook a plastic bag she would freak and take off. I would have had my work cut out for me more if it weren't for my amazing German Shepherd Mikey whom I lost in December 2007. He was the most amazing dog!! I could write a whole book on him and the wonderful 10 years we had together, I still come to tears when I write about him so will have to pick my time to introduce him in this blog. And anyway this is about Shelly.
One of the things I am most proud of is her loyalty to stay by my side and her recalls when she is not. For instance, she likes to sit on the front verandah at home so she can see what's going on in the street, she can see me inside and she gets to sunbake or lay in the shade. Across the top of the stairs I have put a flimsy fold up wooden barrier that just gives her the sense of a physical barrier but would be of no use should she wish to push through and take off. And that is my point, whether there is a dog walking past on lead or even one that is on the loose and ventures up the stairs itself, she has made no attempt to push through, and she knows she can, sometimes I dont pull it far enough across and there will be a gap big enough for her to fit through and she will lay right there with her paws and nose under the barrier and will go no further.
And what is even more amazing is that on occasion we'll be out the front together, I will come inside, leave her on the verandah and forget to pull the barrier across, I'll go to check on her and there she is, at the top of the steps as happy as larry with the perfect escape route if she wanted it. This is how I found her yestrday afternoon so I just had to take pics and mention it here.
Shelly, the well trained and balanced "Blue Dog"
This is how the "barrier" should be
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