Sugar came to us with her sister when they were both four months old. They were brought up from the south, and we agreed to help out to place then. Unfortunately, when she was about 6 months old, we started noticing some tell-tale signs of fear aggression. So while we were able to find a good home (with our Vet at the time) for her sister, we knew Sugar would not be going anywhere.

We started Sugar on an intense behavior modification program we designed, and within two weeks we were starting to see very positive results. Over the next several months, and years, we continued to train Sugar to give here the skills to help her feel comfortable around other animals and people.

One of the best tools was teaching Sugar the "target" game. In our version of the game, Sugar would receive a reward when ever she touched our had with her nose. This is a very useful tool for any dog, but with Sugar, it helped reinforce the idea people were good. When ever we were out, we always made sure we had yummy treats, and when Sugar walked up to a stranger and touched their hand with her nose, she would get a treat; either from the other person if we were in a class or from us if we were out and not in a class.

The game Sugar loved the best was when her Mom would toss her Chuckit! for her to run out and catch. She never tired of this, and we had to teach her what it meant when we would say "one more". She learned this fairly quickly, and when we said it, she would come running in to the house proudly holding her toy in her mouth.

Unfortuately, we were devastated when Sugar passed away suddenly. I had just come back in to the house after running some errands, and when I went to let the dogs outside, I discovered Sugar had collapsed on the floor. When I checked, there was no heart beat or respiration. Although we did not check, several of our Vets said it was most likely some cardiac issue which had gone undetected.

Fly and catch your Chuckit!, little Sugar Ray Sunshine,
Until we meet again.