Rocky's Story:

Rocket (also known as Rocky) is a seven-year-old bi-black Shetland Sheepdog belonging to Clif and Terry Gary. A rescue dog from NorCal Sheltie Rescue, Rocky was two years old when adopted. He spent the first two years of his life living with his breeder and thirty other Shelties in a rural kennel prior to being donated to Sheltie Rescue. When adopted, Rocky was very shy, to the point of refusing all food unless it was placed in his crate and avoiding all contact with humans.

Once in the Gary home, he went to the Granberg Training Center for doggie day care once or twice a week in order to socialize with other dogs and interact with other adults. Although he showed significant progress, he remained aloof and unresponsive to most attempts at play, work, or even basic affection.

To further his socialization, Rocky enrolled in agility classes, where he learned to navigate the various obstacles while working as a team with his owner. Over a two-year period, he mastered not only the basic agility skills but also gained much-needed confidence around his classmates, both canine and human.

Rocky didn’t seem to enjoy the agility venue, however, performing by rote rather than with enthusiasm. So the next logical step in his socialization was to work on earning his Canine Good Citizen certificate. This test requires a dog to perform ten exercises representative of a well-behaved dog in public, and Rocky passed it with flying colors. From there, another few exercises were required to earn his certification as a working therapy dog. He is now a registered therapy dog with Therapy Dogs International, providing support to the residents of Gold Country Health Center and Retirement Community in Placerville.

Rocky’s journey from adoption to Certified Therapy Dog took three and a half years. Changing behavior of a dog requires commitment, patience, perseverance and lots of positive reinforcement.