The Story of Our GSD Odie

by Ken S.
(Ontario)

This is our GSD Odie . Odie is a very special dog to us . He arrived to us as a 14 week old pup . Right from the start I should have refused him .

Odie was not a socialized dog by any stretch . He hid in corners , ran from any noises , cars , kids , bangs . We tried to take him to obedience school . They put us behind a welding curtain so he would not upset the other dogs with his anxiety issues .

He was a sad dog . Never did he show signs of anger or aggression . Time went on and Odie grew into a handsome young dog but he started to frustrate us as he refused to walk or even be a good pet . I considered strongly of getting rid of him sad but true .

One day my wife was walking down the street . A lady was walking the other direction with a very well behaved GSD. It turns out this lady just moved to town and previously trained search and rescue dogs . She
offered to come over and see what Odie was all about .

This lady has changed Odie into a happy well behaved dog and us into handlers that can help him in his rehabilitation process !

My intentions here are not to bore a reader , but to raise awareness to the fact that it is so very important to find a dog that has been handled in a positive way right from birth . That price should not be a contributing factor .

Things that seem easy for other dogs to grasp take much longer for an animal with issues , if they get it at all. The shelters are full of dogs like Odie . Its up to us as future possible owners to do our homework .

We were so lucky with our dog . He is still developing his confidence but is a much better dog . We get a pet to make us happy not frustrate us to no end.