It's random.. I think I read some whare that the odds are like 1/8000 wild pokemon that you meet will be shiny.  If he cought his early he is a lucky one.

Ug so now I am going from must catch them all to must catch all the shiny ones good god I will never get anywhere with this game

Lol It happens... When I cought my Golbat (now Crobat) I ,honestly, was sorely pissed... I hate Golbat.. Crobat is ok though... Still not what I wanted. -_-

yeah i was just rediculously lucky, there just a cool thing to sorta have abrag about really lol, no one sets out to catch shinies it just happens i guess. I am about to go and catch ho oh now im excited!

But now I have and it will take fooooooorrrrrreeeeeevvvvvvvveeeeerrrrr

Ha good luck mate.... but it really sounds more challenging to catch shiny Pokemon than to recruit liquid metal babbles (slimes) as seen in the Dragon Quest series.

Right now, I've been relying solely on a level 17 Bayleef.  God, I need to catch some more. 

amphiros catch ftw!, oh and ho oh is so rediculously big when following you its a joke.

Currently I am trying to evolve a Flaaffy into an Ampharos. I raised it from a level 6 Mareep so as you can tell I am able to raise Pokemon. I am also trying to evolve a level 29 Togepi ( it should not be difficult as it likes to be part of my team) and I am trying to level up my trustworthy Feraligatr. Right now I have been submerged with various activities to complete on Pokemon Heart Gold.

Lvl 29 togepi.. It must not like you that much... Try walking with it more often...

Worst starters in Pokemon history. I ditched my Totodile for a Poliwag early on.