One of the biggest drawbacks that goes along with having a highly intelligent beast like a German Shepherd is that they tend to express grief when they lose a friend.

Last Saturday, I had to put our 13-year-old German Shepherd, Apollo, to sleep. That leaves me with our 4-year-old Shepherd, Aradia.

Aradia on my 365 Project

Aradia has always been around another dog. When Apollo didn’t come home from the vet last Saturday, she wasn’t quite the same happy-go-lucky-dog she has been. Adjusting to being a lone pack member, for her, has been difficult. There were several days that she didn’t really want to do much of anything at all. However, in my attempt to be a “better mommy” to my now single pup, I am implementing “The Dog Project”.

This is a yearlong trek into behavior modification for Aradia using different methods, tricks and positive reinforcement.

Each day, she is walked, groomed for 15-minutes, and we work on a training command. This week, it’s “sit” which she has pretty much down, when she wants to. As we progress on “The Dog Project” I am going to write about her development, take photos and let you in on any new-found doggy knowledge I pick up along the way.

So, I bring you Aradia and Week 1 of the “Dog Project”, starting Monday. Stay tuned!

Aradia