Jon (Author's Website)
I am the proprietor of ShaynaTheMiracleDog.com, and the luckiest guy in the world to have been Shayna's "dad" since adopting her in 2002. I'm also the author of the upcoming e-book, "Saved By Shayna: Life Lessons from a Miracle Dog."
To learn more about me, please visit www.jonsutz.com.
January 7, 2008: Shayna gets a new toy for her birthday
(This is the second video we shot today; see the first one here) It is hard to believe that it’ was six years ago today that Shayna was brought into this world. I thank my lucky stars for her, every single day. So today, we spent the afternoon in a park… in the middle of […]
September 23, 2003: First video of Shayna swimming – ever
As described here, Shayna had severe water-phobia for the first 18 months of her life. It took a lot of patience (on both our parts) and courage (on her part alone) to overcome it. What you’re about to see is the first video ever captured of Shayna swimming, soon after she overcame her fear of […]
Nov 20, 2002: Shayna’s last moment in doggie day care
In the early autumn of 2002, I was in an accident that ended up turning my life upside down. Most of the ribs on my left side were broken, and I sustained various other injuries. As I was unable to give Shayna the exercise she needed during my immediate recovery, I found out about “doggie […]
Fall 2002: A morning on Carter’s Mountain, Charlottesville, VA
This is the highest point in Charlottesville, atop Carter’s Mountain, adjoining Monalto, overlooking Thomas Jefferson’s beloved Monticello. What could be better than throwing the ball around with my favorite girl atop this mountain, overlooking the only town in which I feel totally at home, on a beautiful, crisp fall morning?
Summer 2002: Shayna up to her elbows in water… but still afraid to swim
When I adopted Shayna, the intake form said that she and her twin sister had been rescued from having spent three days in a storm drain (which would be in March 2002, Charlottesville, VA). It must have been a cold, wet, terrifying experience for a 10-11 week old baby like she and he sister were. […]
July 15, 2008: Shayna learning to ‘count’: “One ball, two balls…”
This is a skill we’ve been working on for some time – learning to essentially “count.” Shayna loves to go retrieve two tennis balls in her mouth at the same time. But from what I’ve read, teaching a dog the concept of “one” and “two” is a fairly big deal – as I found out, […]
March 18, 2007: Shayna retrieving two tennis balls at the same time
Practically since I adopted her, Shayna has been tennis-ball obsessed. That’s not particularly uncommon among dogs. But one day, when she was about six months old and we were at the off-leash dog park (when she could still go there), she apparently decided that retrieving one ball was terribly inefficient, crammed two into her mouth […]
Shayna retrieving toys with flash cards
Oct. 2009: Shayna’s memorized the names of dozens of her toys, and can retrieve and put them away by name. Now, she’s learning to identify their pictures on flash cards.
Getting toys by name for Aunt Gloria
Shayna shows off her toy-retrieval-by-name abilities for one of our long-distance guardian angels – and I sing one of my “Shayna songs” for her, too.
August 11, 2010: Getting toys by name – from behind sofa!!
The first thing to notice about this video is how well-lit Shayna is this time. (I’ve learned it’s not easy to photograph or videotape a jet-black dog!). She had a bath the day before, and as it was a sunny day today, I opened the door behind us, and used the big (good) camera, so […]
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