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Adopt a GSD

Shadow (now called Brio)

 

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Shadow is 2 years old, micro chipped, black and tan entire male.  A very nervous but lively lad when he gets to know you.  He travels well in a vehicle but has trouble entering at the start.  Good with adults and children and other dogs, as he has lived with another dog.  He lacks self confidence and training, although he knows some basic commands and with continued training he will excel.

 If you think you can offer him a good home then please contact us.

Shadow is now in his new home.

Shadow is now called Brio - here are some pictures from his new owners:

Brio – a bright new start at Barnabas House B&B.

"In May this year we lost our beloved GSD Rolf at the age of 10.  We also had a 12 year old GSD called Bailey who had been given only a few months to live.  So we knew we’d soon be dogless – not happened since 1988!

Running a busy B&B in Yelverton we knew that we wouldn’t be able to give a puppy the best of starts so we decided to try and adopt a rescue dog – breed was a no-brainer of course!  Luckily we passed the home visit, checked out available dogs on the website and were soon on our way to meet Shadow.  The first thing that struck us was how small he was, how he had long hair (a no-no previously!) and how attached he was already to the lady at the kennels.  He took to my husband straight away and after a stay at foster to check out any obvious bad habits we picked him up two days before my birthday.

First thing – a new name – and we wanted him to move from the darkness of his previous life and name, into the light, so we called him Brio, after the musical notation “Con Brio”, meaning “play with brilliance”.

Never having had a rescue dog before, we were unsure of the best thing to do but we started socialising him straight away, introduced him to Bailey and our cat Pumpkin and booked him in for his health check and some training lessons. Two weeks after that we had our beautiful Bailey put to sleep so Brio has brought us much comfort since he’s been with us.

So, three months later, how’s he doing?  Physically he’s doing really well - he’s grown about 2 inches taller, his fur is magnificent, his tail is up and bouncing around and he’s put on 4 kilos.  Mentally he’s also much better than he was.  He was extremely frightened of nearly everything at first, cringing and sneaking away on his belly, and as time went by it became clear that he’s been really walloped in the past.  Strange things spook him, like people coming down the stairs, or bin bags.  He’s definitely got some problems with separation anxiety but we are working on them, and his general training is going very well.  The constant coming and going of different people in the house would be a challenge for any Shep, but Brio is coping well with that and can be introduced to guests under controlled conditions, which under the circumstances is pretty good we think.  It’s been a privilege to see this little lost and frightened dog relax, get to know us and learn the routine (no barking during breakfast!), play with toys for the first time and most brilliant of all, roll over for a tummy tickle with not a care in the world.

Are we besotted?  Probably … but as they say … he’s worth it."

Another welcome update from Brio is below:

"He has spent his first time in kennels since we adopted him while we were on holiday. He was generally a good boy and they're having him back next week while we go to a funeral so I think he got on OK. He and Pumpkin are now the best of friends in a cat/dog sort of way. Brio keeps nosing Pumpkin to get him to play and then is chuffed when the cat chases him up and down the stairs or round the house. It is quite hilarious to see the cat in charge! I have taken numerous pictures of course but have a couple from the snow which I thought were nice so hope you can put them on the website. You might notice he's filled out a bit, has a more confident look about him and is now a really handsome dog (though I am biased)."

An update from Brio’s owners:

Brio is doing very well, he's grown (again), and is now the correct size and weight. He's now settled in - it did take a while.

In the last month or so he's learned to swim!