Shadow's Story
Shadow was born in the LA City pound in March of 2003, but was rescued along with his mother and siblings shortly thereafter by a private rescue group. He had first been adopted by someone else with another dog that didn't get along with him, and he was returned to the private rescue group. I found him at a pet store adoption day and immediately fell for him.
I wasn't actively looking for another dog at the time, but I knew that my first dog Sophie was getting old and Cooper needed a play companion. [Sophie had doggie Alzheimer's and arthritis.]
Everyone expects a dog named Shadow to be black. Shadow came with that name so I kept it. I think he got the name because he follows you everywhere like a shadow.
Early Days
The first few months with Shadow were hectic because I was puppy-training while giving geriatric and ultimately end-stage care to Sophie. Sophie could barely walk around the block, so I had to walk her separately from Shadow and Cooper. (Thank goodness Cooper was so even tempered throughout.)
Shadow is very sweet natured, a quick learner and very obedient. I soon discovered that the best training motivator for Shadow was any type of ball. The retriever in him is dominant in his behavior, as he is totally obsessed with the ball.
But he remains extremely apprehensive of new situations and new people. To this day, I don't know what caused his initial fear, but it continues to trigger in new situations.
Shadow runs away
The biggest drama in Shadow's life came in 2006 when an off-leash dog lunged at him while we were out walking one Sunday. Shadow panicked in terror, pulled out of his halter-type leash and collar, and took off running at full speed in the vague direction of our house.
Unfortunately, he kept running past the house and across busy streets. I put Cooper back in the yard, and jumped in the car to search for Shadow. But there was no sign of him. Within the next two hours, I had plastered neighborhoods with signs about Shadow's disappearance. Because Shadow had pulled out of his collar, he didn't have any identifying tags. One of my fears (other than the worry that he would be hit by a car) was that he would end up back in a shelter, where he could be euthanized if I didn't find him fast enough. I had microchipped Shadow, but I had heard that some shelters were haphazard about checking for microchips.
Within the next few hours, I received several calls from people saying they had seen a dog matching Shadow's description heading for the Mormon Temple, and running faster than any dog they had seen before. I put up more signs in the area of the Mormon Temple, talked to people on the grounds, and walked around calling Shadow's name. But there was no answer.
For the next two days, it poured rain... And no further word on Shadow's location. But then on Tuesday, someone called to let me know that they thought they had seen Shadow huddling near a construction area on the grounds of the Mormon Temple, but he wouldn't let anyone approach. I drove over in the rain, jumped out and called Shadow's name... and he came crawling out from under some bushes where he had been hiding. Remarkably, he was unharmed other than having ripped up the pads on his paws from running franticly on concrete -- and being extremely hungry. He was lucky that he found an area to shelter in away from busy streets.
Favorites
Did I mention Shadow loves his ball? He invents many games with the ball, including experimenting with gravity as he figures out how to roll the ball down the stairs so I can catch it. Or push the ball towards me, using gravity. He will also drop the ball into holes that he has dug, or holes that he finds, just so he can retrieve the ball.
And he is a circus dog when it comes to catching the ball, or doing flips to catch the ball. Incredible eye-mouth coordination.
A day is not complete without at least one game of ball.
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