Luna Bear

Another of the dogs in the care of German Shepherd Dog Welfare Fund is Luna Bear.

Some of the techniques described below are successfully used as part of our Without Worry Canine Education programmes. You can read more about them here - Without Worry Canine Education

Little Luna has just turned 1 year old. She is an affectionate dog and behaves in a very typical way for her age. She will need someone who is able to remain calm at all times. When we become emotional it can feed into the over arousal and excitability of young dogs (or more mature ones too) and increase their arousal levels, leading to more mouthing, jumping and lead grabbing! 

When she feels out of her comfort zone or when she becomes aroused and excited, she can jump up, gently mouth or grab the lead when on walks. She has no concept of walking on a lead and is very wary of traffic.

We began by getting to know her better, outside and inside. 

You can see from this video clip how easily she can become over excited and aroused. When I deliver the treat, I lower it slowly to the ground to try to slow and calm her down.

Several short periods of time spent together indoors, just relaxing helped to learn more about her. We wanted to know what things excite her and what things help her calm. So often licky mats or snuffle mats can cause frustration in dogs. Rather than just blindly providing enrichment, we wanted to know what would help her calm. 

We discovered that she loved using a snuffle mat in a calm manner and Luna soon settled down while I did some paperwork.

She has very little experience in the big outside world so we started small. Short walks in a very quiet place.

Luna was a little worried about vehicles and stopped to watch cars going up and down the road beyond the field. We just stopped and let her observe. No need to start shoveling food down her - what is needed is an opportunity to calmly observe.

Time for a road trip

You can see how easily behaviour can tip over into frustration or over arousal. It is important to set dogs up for success and find quiet places for them to walk, practice their skills and realise they are safe. We visited a large garden centre that had a sprawling car park - lots of places to go if things became too overwhelming. We stayed fairly close to the parked car to begin with. Apologies for the moving camera - it is very difficult to film, monitor and manage a dog and keep an eye on what is around us!

Luna Bear began to slow down and take in her surroundings, occasionally stopping to watch someone at their car or a car passing by in the distance and then she began to sniff. Teaching loose lead can come later, we just want her to learn she is safe and that she can calmly interact with the environment.

We did not use food - calm observations are more important so that she can file this new information away in her brain for future experiences.

Luna Bear is quietly watching some people. We just let her quietly observe. You can see at times she begins to get over aroused and does a little half jump. These were initially full jumps when we first met but she has learned they do not get a reaction and so these jumps are slowly fading out.

We placed down her favourite calming activity next to the car before getting in to return to kennels. We are fairly close to a road but lots of barriers are between us and the cars. If we went too close she probably would not cope yet. She can see and hear the traffic though but chooses to focus on her snuffle mat.

It is important to keep these sessions short and positive and then let them sleep while they process all the information they have gathered.

Another little superstar.

Luna Bear is with German Shepherd Dog Welfare Fund and is looking for her new home.