Mayissa: Of course, you have to be a *itch -- the Alpha *itch!!Sounds like you're making progress with Zorro. There are a couple of informational things I'd just like to add about approaching strangers and line of sight: Whenever two strange dogs approach each other, have you ever noticed how the heads and tails go straight up and they seem to lift onto their toes? Same principle as why they hike as high as they can on things -- I'm Bigger Than You. Now, just apply this concept to the dog's thought process and you'll see that when someone comes toward him and looks him in the eye, he probably perceives them as challenging him in size and eye contact dominance. Come to think of it, this might be some of the basis of Zorro's aggression -- whoever breaks eye contact first is the "lower" pack animal. If people look at him, he growls, and they not only look away first, they back away, he's won and considers them "lesser mortals" (so to bark, uh, speak). Of course, it doesn't help much that we have almost all been brought up to distrust large black dogs from early on -- look at the reputations of Rotties, Dobies and the other large black dogs. They've almost all been portrayed as mean, evil, "I'm going to eat you up" dogs and since people can barely see them at night, they surprise most everyone. Add to that that Shepherds have been portrayed as guard dogs for the police and in wartimes and we have developed a populace that is trepidatious around a black Shepherd at best. You are doing an excellent job from the sound of it and I applaud your efforts. Far too many people with the same situation would have sent the dog to the pound/shelter, put him down, or driven him to the country and dumped him. Kudos and commendations for taking an active and proactive role in this dog's life and working on making him a good citizen of the world.
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