BeerBorg

Lindey is the dog that was thrown off of the overpass a while back. She went through extensive medical treatment and rehabilitation. She has been adopted out. This is from the adopter:

Lindey UPDATE!!! This girl is living the dream, snuggling and playing with fur-sister Roxy and human sister Tessa! FYI, we're moving Lindey updates to the MoGS page - please Like https://www.facebook.com/MissouriGermanShepherdRescue to keep up with Lindey, and SHARE this post!

Outstanding!

Great to see her doing well!

I'm glad she is doing well and found a nice family!

But to be totally honest, the last picture (with the little girl) she looks a bit anxious to me, and not comfortable with that situation. If she was my child I'd tell her to stop doing that. I'm basing this on body language (ears, eyes, and what I can see of her muzzle). These things are fluid, and I wish I could see a video of that interaction (EDIT: and/or a much higher resolution / uncropped picture).

I just mention this because not understanding this leads to more dogs getting "sent back/to the pound" or abandoned, or possibly tossed out of a car by some asshole when it's not really their fault.

This is what a very relaxed/happy dog looks like (also see pictures you posted of Ralph with your kids, he's a happy dude).

I'm seeing what Mashani sees in that pic as well.
Just a warning story for folks:

I was at a wedding that was held in the backyard of the couples' home and that yard had been "converted" from yard with chairs, tables, decorations etc. to a wedding venue.

On wedding day as everyone gathered into the seating the couple had let their dogs out within the crowd to share in the celebrations. As everyone took their seats a best friend and neighbor of the couple, who was intimately familiar with the dogs in everyday surroundings, was sitting in a chair in the front row had one of the dogs sitting in front of her and was putting her face into the dogs and scruffling his brow as she had possibly done on many previous visits. But the dogs owner admonished her not to do so (hold the dogs face to hers); while she still had the dogs face in her hands and was looking up to reply to the owner, with a "hey it's okay we're buddies" look on her face the dog made a short noise and in an eye blink had bitten her on the lip.

I try to describe it here but it took only a nano-second before the dog moved and she came away bleeding; a dog she new well and was fond of.

So I post this as a warning: the couple did not realize that the dogs would be totally stressed out that not only had their domain been transformed but it was also filled with strangers, that makes them stupid IMHO.

But the person who got bit was familiar and friendly with the dog but did not recognize that the animals posture/demeanor was different and hinted that it was not comfortable with the surroundings.

All adoptive/foster/rescue persons need to be aware that a dog can find itself in what it feels is a stressful situation in a heartbeat so the humans MUST not be complacent in the assumption that these dogs are totally okay because they respond well in adapting to the their new "regular" home environment.

Body language is everything if an animal has a questionable past.

END RANT

Before this goes too far off topic, I can see your concern but agree that a better pic or video would be warranted before saying she isn't comfortable. I've been watching her FB page since the issue (and donated to help her out). I also have Shepherds, my wife trains dogs for Search and Rescue and general obedience, as well. Enough of my "credentials".....

I know her rescue family was well vetted and I've seen other pics IIRC of this child hugging her without the same body language. I think it's more the kid squishing Lindey's ears than anything

But you guys raise good points about being dog-aware.

In staying on topic - I'm so glad to see her doing well in her fur-ever home!

Yeah Kealia, that's why I said I wish I could see more. I feel better knowing you've seen other images. For the unaware, all it takes is to do the wrong thing at the wrong time for just an instant for something bad to happen, and in my parts way to many dogs end up getting a bad rap (which typically leads to extermination unless someone like me rescues them and works hard on reducing triggers and re-homes them and trains their new people on what to look out for and what to not do). I am just overly paranoid when it comes to this, I hate it when people cause good dogs to do bad things because they are clueless, or kids get hurt because their parents are clueless. Sounds like this is *not* the case here from what you are saying, which is good.

@BrewBirds:

>I try to describe it here but it took only a nano-second before the dog moved and she came away bleeding; a dog she new well and was fond of.

All it would have taken is for her to look directly into the other dogs eyes at that distance as she was raising her head if it was very stressed. To a dog 1/10th of a second of body language is communication, and that is aggressive communication. Slight variations in body language can be significantly different (direct stare vs slightly offset or shifting gaze are totally different). And stress levels can escalate something that would have just caused one type of stress/fear reaction normally into something bigger/worse. We call this the "threshold". You can't train a behavior once over it. It's just instinct at that point until it's over.

>Body language is everything if an animal has a questionable past.

Body language is everything always when it comes to understanding your dog and why or why it is not doing something or happy/relaxed/stressed/fearful/etc. It's hard for people to see just how fast dogs communicate this way - the best way is to watch slowed down video of dogs.

Even most dog-vs-dog issues in my area are caused by owners who do stupid things with their dog on leash and/or because of their OWN body language, which dogs happen to be very good at noticing, but can misunderstand when human and dog concepts do not jive. IE 2 big dudes walking straight at each other at a rapid pace, looking each other right in the eyes the whole way, perhaps in their minds just to shake hands, with two wound up/stressed out dogs who they have been jerking around on leash... Who are being forced to observe this insane aggressive behavior of their owners (in their own terms thats what it is)... and participate it... and wonder what they should do next...

That or dogs that have never spent enough time with other well socialized adult dogs for a long enough time at an early age (IE lots of puppy mill dogs that tend to later end up in shelters/abandoned). My herding dog can tell those dogs from normal dogs from 200+ yards away. It sets off what I call her "dumbass" alarm.

And sorry if I derailed the thread a bit, but like I said, I fall into the "be paranoid it's safer" side of the spectrum on these issues. Just because I see them too often. Brewbirds/anyone, if you want to talk more we can open up another thread all about this topic.

Anyways, so to be back OT, I'm really glad she is with a good family who loves her and has a friendly canine companion.