Meet My New Pen Pal, Shadow

Here's a picture of my new Pen Pal, Shadow.

Shadow is starting to become more comfortable at the shelter, but it's a pretty stressful place.  He knows some basic tricks like, "sit," but I'll be working with him to give him more of a foundation.  I'll also be doing my best to promote him.  Due to his coloration, folks simply don't notice him in his kennel.  This is due to what's commonly called Black Dog Syndrome or BDS.  Many animals with black coats simply go unnoticed in shelters.  I'll be adding some pictures to his kennel door to make him stand out a bit more too!

I've also started to train for a new role at the shelter!  I've been a member of the shelter's behavior team for a year and those of us on this team have been asked to assist with dog behavior intake evaluations.  I'm learning quite a bit due to this!  You have to take on an entirely different attitude though.  It's not a let's play and snuggle situation.  Essentially you have to be robotic as to not influence the dog's basic mood state.  In addition, you have to be careful while assessing behavior for personal safety reasons and you certainly don't want a dog with negative behaviors to slip through the process.  We have to keep the shelter staff, volunteers, general public and animal population at large safe.