Since I was recounting the tale of the Taming of Monty on another thread, thought I'd post some before and after photos. When I visited him at the rescue centre his pen-friend was quite sociable and let us pet him and pick him up, but he was a black shadow in a box that just glared with suspicion. So I agreed to adopt the pair of them despite never actually seeing him! When I got him home he'd been sick in his carrier but refused to leave it until I tipped him out after an hour of waiting for a voluntary exit, which he was not happy about. He relocated down the side of a bookcase where he pretty much stayed for the next 24 hours, until a combination of completely ignoring him and newly-christened Rolo going to sit next to him lured him out a little.
For the next several weeks Monty hissed at me when I looked in his direction or walked near him, and didn't let me touch him at all. At times I wondered what I'd got into since the poor thing still seemed just plain scared of me. But I kept trying to lightly brush the tip of his fur with my hand when giving him wet food, and he enjoyed playing with fishing rod toys so I sometimes could almost touch him when he was distracted by a game. We eventually moved on to hand-fed bribery in the form of cooked chicken too, even if he took it from my hand to eat a safe distance away. Less time was spent hiding away under the bed or down the bookcase, and although we had some hiccups when they were first let outside, the perseverance paid off after two months when he just suddenly seemed to accept being touched and I got a first audible purr from him - I still remember almost crying I was so delighted!
So now Monty will come to see me first thing in the morning and demand strokes, and if he thinks I'm not paying him sufficient attention he'll nip at my leg until I do - he purrs away and rubs around my ankles, and is a proper little attention-seeking monster. He's still pretty independent and spends much of the day outside, but is often lurking nearby and runs over to say hello when I arrive home from work. The lightest touch sets him off purring, and he loves affection and gets jealous so easily I really don't know how he coped with those first two months of seeing Rolo enjoying strokes and hugs but resisted it from me! He's just recently started coming for cuddles in bed too, which is lovely.
In a couple of weeks it's first annual checkup at the vets time, and I'm sure it will be a bit of a trial as Monty is still very nervy around strangers - when we had to visit to get antibiotics for an abscess a couple of months ago they were pre-warned and had an assistant with gauntlets ready, but he escaped under a workbench and had to be pushed out with a window pole 
. I suspect they may put the poor lamb straight in a crush cage this time, which is unfortunate but probably less stressful for him in the long run than another twenty minute Benny Hill sketch catch-the-Monty game! I'll have a bumper pack of Dreamies ready to make up for it when we get home. Thankfully he was purring away for chin-strokes within five minutes of getting back last time; at least I didn't get the blame for it! 
So that's Monty's tale. And there in photo two is his majestic floofy tail.