Shade in Leicestershire

Shade is a poor boy who does not understand the world or his place in it. Consequently he has issues of fear and dominance and his reactions can be found somewhere, differently from moment to moment , along this continuum. He is frightened by strangers but he will growl to warn them off. He shows both fear and aggression and the latter would doubtless escalate with provocation. His owner has health issues and feels that she can no longer cope with this challenging behaviour.

He lives currently with two other dogs. He has known his female companion from puppy hood and he is better with her. Recently , however, an adult male husky was added to the household due to a domestic crisis and he struggles with this. The two of them, not surprisingly, have fought.

According to his owner, Shade is dog aggressive out of the home. However, our assessors did not find this to be the case. Shade is clearly unsocialised but his reaction to other dogs seemed to be one of curiosity rather than aggression. It is possible that, when exercised by his owner, he is protective due to her weak leadership. Perhaps he senses that she is vulnerable due to her health condition? He has never been let off lead and has no recall but walks fairly well on lead. His training has been rudimentary at best.

Shade would need a committed experienced GSD owner to rescue him. Our assessors said that he is not the worst dog that they had seen. It was possible for them to make progress with him in the short period of the assessment. However, we would like any potential adopter to do several meets with Shade, in his home environment, before contemplating adoption. It would not be possible to adopt at an initial meeting. Anyone interested in this boy would first need to gain his trust.

Are you experienced and dedicated to the breed? Can you offer a dog and child free home to Shade? We do feel that he would repay the investment. Are you up the challenge?