Isabella on a harness and lead for the first time

This little girl is really coming on leaps and bounds. I managed to get her harness on straight away with the help of squirty liver paste! At first she was unsure about going outside but soon settled and came with me.

The moment she got outside she froze, taking in the surroundings. Lots of jerky movements with her tail down and no sniffing so we sat together quietly on a bench. She then started exploring and……sniffing!

Isabella being curious

Once she started sniffing, she happily came with me exploring the area out the front of the kennels. It is so important to go at her pace and not rush things.

Sniffing

Young dogs often jump up at us because they have not been trained to do anything different. Isabella does this partly due to lack of training. However, notice how she is panting a little - she is becoming a little stressed now being out on lead and harness - notice the panting - it certainly was not a hot day today! Puppies and dogs will often jump up when they are stressed too. We decided to end the session on a positive note - sniffing the pee tree!

Sir Galahad

Had some time with this lovely lad today. Thanks to the hard work of the rescue volunteer he is coming along leaps and bounds.

He was such a nervous little man, worried about many things but gradually he is being desensitised/habituated to them. 

If you watch the video below you will see his startle response when he pokes his head in the box filled with balls. But look how quickly he recovers and goes back to it. Resilience - so important for our dogs.

He gives himself another fright later on but again, quickly recovers.

You will see that there are many interactive toys across the floor from snuffle mats, boxes with toys and treats, interactive food puzzles and some strips of fleece (which have been sprinkled with rose water). This type of enrichment quickly engages dogs, helping them to calm and use their noses and the room was deliberately set up this way.

Sir G was worried about televisions so last week his wonderful rescue lady spent some time with the TV on but no sound while he sniffed and interacted with the toys on the floor. 

This week, we had the sound on low to begin with. He coped and did not react but when we increased the volume, just a little, he noticed. What was lovely is that he chose to self calm – there are some strips of fleece on the floor sprinkled with Rose Water.*** 

Sir G and many dogs enjoy the calming effects of rose water and he chose to lie down on them, carefully inhaling the scent. 

He was then able to resume his explorations of the room so we increased the volume again. Once more, Sir G returned to the fleece strips to self calm. So wonderful to observe.

We did some more work with a couple of other dogs, parallel walking with a female dog on the other side of a clear barrier. Sir G looked at the other dog and then looked at me and carried on. Amazing. We then had a large bouncy male boy (lovely Roo) and Sir G was able to do the same. Check in with me and walk on.

This boy has come so far from the days of living in an alley!

Well done Sir G and well done Terrier SOS for the work you do with your dogs.

*** zoopharmacognosy - involves a choice of herbs and plant extracts that would commonly be found in that animal’s natural environment which is presented to them. The animal is free to choose to inhale, lick or have the remedy applied topically, essentially allowing them to manage their own health. Please do not start offering your dog any old rose water. These are specific for animals and an Applied ZooPharmacognosy practitioner should be consulted for advice.

Isabella

Isabella is a 6 month old nervous pup. Not had the best start to life and is really fearful of new people.

We took her in the enrichment room today and just gave her space, gently throwing out treats.

You can see in the first video clip how fearful she is, looking for a way to escape. Slow hesitant movements and very prone to startle from the slightest noise or movement from me.

In the second video you can see she has grown a little more confident and come in closer to lick the liver paste from the snake but she is still keeping an eye on me for any moves towards her. Her tail is still firmly between her legs.

I cannot emphasise enough how important it is to allow dogs to approach us and NOT call them or lure them over.

Shortly after this she came over to sniff and then jumped on the sofa and sat behind me, sniffing.

Patience is key to working with fearful dogs. I got down on the floor and look where we ended up!

It's a hard job but someone has to do it ;)

#Lovemywork

Buster

Buster is an older boy and he pulls on lead! Buster is simply in a hurry to get to where we are going. No stress or anxiety - just he has never been shown how to walk on a loose lead. The video below shows you where we started!

As you can see in that clip, he is not with me and I am hanging on to his body with the harness and lead. Not at all interested in treats either.

Normally we would use food to reinforce where we would like him to be and build up a connection with the handler.
Buster isn't really food or toy motivated so what do we do?

Buster is starting to watch my body language and responds well to hand signals. By turning my body to indicate where I am going, Buster is able to see what is wanted. For his first session he made amazing progress. One clever boy and just goes to show, dogs are never too old to learn!

Dog friendly dogs!

A common situation many dog owners face, on a daily basis, is their on lead dog being harassed or frightened by off lead dogs running over, followed by owners shouting, “It’s OK, my dog is friendly” or another dog owner and their dog coming right up close so they can say “Hello” because their dog is sociable and “just wants to say hi”.

Having a sociable dog is great but it doesn’t mean that just because they are sociable, they should be in other dogs faces, especially if the other dog is nervous or even reactive.

Socialisation is the process by which puppies learn to relate and act appropriately to people and other animals. That doesn’t mean they should interact with every dog they see. Quite the opposite in fact. Socialisation is exposure to – not get to meet and play with every dog they see.
It is not the job of other dogs to teach our dogs sociable behaviours. 

Many sociable dogs just want to play and when they can’t, they may pull or whine or begin to lunge towards the other dog. Quite apart from being sore and unpleasant for the handler, it can often set the greeting off on the wrong foot.

Imagine someone you don’t know, coming over to you, screaming HELLO in a loud voice, running at you with arms outstretched… worse still, you are tied up….

Those of you that follow my page will know I have been doing some work with Freya, a young German Shepherd. She is fabulous with other dogs and has a lovely temperament. 

We are working on a couple of things with her. 

• She has not been out for walks before
• She is worried about having a harness and lead put on 
• She does not like feeling restrained on lead
• She can be a little nervous of new people

Although she is fabulous with other dogs she can be a little over enthusiastic in her greeting! If we allowed her to fly in, it could tip the other dog over into panic and cause an unwanted reaction, setting the meeting up to fail.

Instead we take time to teach dogs that they can look at other dogs, but they can also choose to move away or not go close to greet them.

Here is a short video clip of Freya meeting one of mine. Freya wanted to pull over and go in all guns blazing, a bit like the woman in the image above. She was desperate to play and began whining, pulling, lunging and running in circles!

She does turn away but still keeps trying to pull over – apologies if the video makes you dizzy! She has worked herself up and you can see a stress lip lick as I try to move her away.

We introduced another dog later on and she is still too over aroused to meet.

You can see Freya in the distance, bouncing about on the lead while Jack chooses to move away. He even takes time to have a pee!

When we introduce dogs for the first time, it is essential to go at their pace – much better to give them the freedom to choose – approach, maintain distance, move away or sniff/do something else!

In the following clip you can see Freya in the background, trying to come closer but Jack looks, sniffs and chooses to check in with me and move away.

Slow positive steps are much better than flying in and things going wrong. We need to set dogs up for success.

Freya needs to learn she can walk past other dogs and that she doesn’t always get to meet them up close.