She's one year old....
Lilly came to us as a rescue dog. Totally a wild child as my wife likes to say.... Her original owners bought her as a breeding female, but soon relised that GSD's are a handful and need to be properly trained. First, they tried to re-sell her. No one was buying. Then they tried to give her away. By then, everyone knew the story and didn't want a dog they needed to train. So, he decided to take her to the woods and simply shoot her. That's when my daughter's boyfriend heard about her impending doom and stepped in and offered to take her and so he came home with her. She came to our house that very same day. We ended up babysitting her for several weeks.
A cutie for sure at around 5 months of age, but totally un-socialized and with no training, and afraid of everything that existed in her world. I'm sure she had a rough go at her first several months of life with her original owner.
Not quite sure of her background history, and not quite sure if we wanted another dog..... we already had a well mannered dog, we agreed to "babysit" her for my daughter's boyfriend. We ended up with Lilly at our house more than he was keeping her at his.... (another long story involving 3 dogs and his mom) We stated to fall for little Lilly and I started to work with her on basic things, like sit, come, don't chew the rugs, don't dig to china...... you know, the basic stuff....oh yeah, and how to walk on a leash. After the summer was here, and vacations were done, and Lilly came back again for another "babysitting" period of more than a few days, we approached Matt about keeping Lilly. No pressure, of course she was his dog but if he decided that raising and properly caring for a high energy, hands on dog breed like a GSD was going to be too much for him, we would like to adopt her officially as ours. He thought about it, and realizing that fire academy, work, and the fact that she would be relegated to living her life in a pen in the backyard alone, he decided to place her with us. Since then, she has been our dog.
I have been very hands on with Lilly for every day of her life since she became our dog. She lives to chase a ball and took to some of the basic training I was doing with her. Recently, I enrolled her...and me.... in a private training class so that I can learn better skills for her more advanced training. I have been carrying her with me everywhere I can take her. I have a list of stores that are pet friendly and we visit those stores and the bank quite often. She used to shake like a leaf on a tree in a storm just riding in my truck.... now, she gets in the truck willingly and without a leash. I have a nice "IN TRAINING" working dog vest that she wears when we're out, and people just love to come and pet her.... she's still shy, and a bit nervous, but nothing...and I do mean nothing like she was 5 months ago. She now loves to ride and go places, and we're looking forward to the summer with it's various festivals in the local towns and hitting the lake camping and kayaking at the lake. I've even got her a life vest and have been teaching her to "get in" and sit in the kayak. And I know she loves water..... just not at bath time.... I found her stanind in the fish pond and one day while chasing her ball...also known as exercising, she walking through a puddle and stopped in the middle and ..... plopped right down in it and sat there looking at me as if to say... "are you gonna join me or what?"
Look at that smile..... She has come so far.... She no longer chews the rugs and no longer tries to eat the potpourri from the den coffee table. I leave her loose in the house (currently limited to the kitchen, laundry room and entry hall) when I'm off to work and at night she has the same run of the house. She is normally kept out of the bedroom at night because my wife is a light sleeper and a dog tends to toss and turn and scratch..... but we did do a "pack sleep" one night and Lilly was very well behaved.... until about 6:30 as it started to get light.... then it was nose in the face and ears, and licking... a GSD alarm clock.... she won't let you sleep in.... trust me on that.When she's in the other room, or in her cage at night, ( we cage her and the other dog when they are both in the house at night to keep them and her out of temptation to mischievous actions. .... the other dog is normally an outside dog) her loud yawning starts at 6:30 when my wife gets up.... and when she can get into the bedroom.... it's up on the bed and "GET UP... COME ON, I WANNA PLAY"
I think she's coming out of her shell nicely and she has become such a sweet girl. Protective of the house and yard and if she doesn't know you...and sometimes like last night when my sister in law came in, even when she does know you, she lets us know "someone's here"... We walk now without her pulling me at a nice heel position and her understanding of things I say and commands is coming along nicely..... of course, with a GSD, there is never any end to the training or the chasing of the ball..... and we're now working on frisbee.... OMG does she love that thing too.....
Anyway.... this was just a post to update on Lilly's progress.... since I did post some time back when she first became a part of our family.
Did I mention that I can't go anywhere....and I mean that in the most literal sense, no where, without my shadow following me.
I'll likely post again in the future as she gets a bit older.....she still has some growing to do to grow into those ears.
post edited by Guitarhacker - 2015/03/07 10:41:04