i think its amazing how devoted you’ve been to taking care of Cali! Would you mind if i submitted your story to our resident expert? they may have some clarity on the matter.

My dog, Cali, is a year and a half and she has had a fixation with shadows for some time now. She gets regular exercise every day, I run with her at least 3 miles, rollerblade, bike with her and if not that she runs around the dog park for at least an hour, usually more, anyway, you get the picture. I have been to a beginner dog training class, I have done hours of web research and her shadow fixation has not seemed to get any better. Once she fixates on a shadow she acts as if nothing else exists, she ignores me, dogs, toys, or anything for that matter. I read one of Cesar Milan’s books and there was one dog that seemed to have a similar problem, his diagnosis was that the dog was insecure. This dog was always being dominated by other dogs so, to him, shadows were an opportunity for him to dominate something, it was a sure thing and so he began to fixate on them. Cesar would tug on his leash in a way that would not hurt the dog but just lightly remove him from the shadow and after some repetition the dog stopped going after the shadows. I have tried this with Cali and she still has not stopped. I have tried to distract her with toys which does not really help. So far the best thing that I have found to control her fixation is to use treats as positive reinforcement for her “come here” command. As her response to the command gets stronger with the treat rewards I can control her fixation on shadows by allowing her to willingly remove herself from the situation and focus on me. It takes ALOT of repetition and patience on my part and on her part. I still continue with other methods of distracting her with toys and tugging on her leash but the “come here” command has the best affect so far.