Bailey
Bailey joined our calm socialisation walks this week after three one -to- one sessions at home.
Bailey is a very anxious and sensitive boy and it's taken me a while to get close to him. Bailey has not socialised much with humans or dogs outside of his home and so he has become reactive on walks.
For now we are concentrating on building Baileys confidence around my dogs and teaching him how to just 'be dog' again. He was nervous in the first few minutes but 15 minutes in he had his tail up high and a lovely little trot going!
Stella
Stella is doing so well on walks!
She now doesn't pull until she almost chokes herself, the pulling was a result of anxiety but also made her anxiety worse as she struggled to breathe. She will now calmly walk on the lead, although she is still very alert to everything around her but we have now gotten into the habit of regularly checking in with eachother.
The only way is up!
Stella
Stella is now much more confident on walks!
Stella
Today we visited another new place for some scent work/scatter feeding.
We have now advanced the level of difficulty in finding the food as she is progressing and more focused on finding it after plenty of sniffing practice!
Today we also encountered a big trigger for Stella, which is what makes this video so special, though it may not look like much to most folk.
Today, during our session we saw two men, I asked if I could work with Stella while they were chatting and I moved closer to them. Stella continued to find the food instead of reacting which is just fantastic. Although, she wasn't too happy when they had to walk past us but that is just a good indication of where she is at with her comfort zone and distance to the trigger.
But today we are celebrating her being distracted when in two strangers presence...this is a big win for this lovely!
Stella rehab
So now we are onto the next phase of Stella's rehabilitation plan.
Stella becomes instantly over stimulated and reactive as soon as she is outside. She will react to people, cats, dogs, cars...a leaf! Now she has had plenty of rest free from triggers we are now working on getting her to sniff when outside, rather than being constantly hyper vigilant. Sniffing is a great calming activity for dogs as it decreases their heart rate and gives them something to do rather then looking for their next threat.
Today we visited a more public area which we have spent the last week working up to. I chose a quiet area as we are still not ready for unplanned triggers at the moment. Stella has progressed massively as before she was not relaxed enough to take treats and so the prep work before this exercise was an important part.
In the video I am not asking for her focus, I am scattering food for her to find. Many reactive dogs do not sniff much on walks as they are too focused on the threats, so this is a great activity for dogs who are reactive or over excited when outside.
Holding focus whilst walking
Aswel as training Rico to not lead grab or yank in every direction, I have also been teaching him to hold focus whilst walking. On this walk we had cows behind him and a dog barking behind a fence in front of him. These triggers would have sent Rico into a frenzy and consequently grab the lead or a piece of clothing.
Focus work, lead training and calming exercises all go hand in hand, you need all 3 to achieve results with dogs who are reactive.
Training with Rosie
During my time in Orkney working with Loving Homes Dog Rescue, I have also been offering 1-to-1 sessions for the locals and their dogs.
This week Rosie (white dog) came to see me. Rosie's mum rescued her 7 months ago and the time and patience she has put into her is second to none.
Rosie has made heaps of progress but she is still reactive to dogs when on their walks, her reactivity is not necessarily just lunging, it is also anchoring herself flat to the floor.
To begin with we spoke about laying the foundations so that Rosie is more focused on her mum. This is vital for reactive dogs.
Once Rosie was settled in the new environment I brought one of my team members Meggie (black dog) into the paddock. It was clear that Rosie was anxious when she saw another dog and so it was important that we did not approach head on. Rosie did become fixated on Meggie and so we rewarded her every time she looked away.
Because we approached the situation correctly we was then able to walk the dogs together.
Rosie needs more positive experiences with other dogs to progress, this does not necessarily mean contact. Like in many cases Rosie's mum was nervous when they saw a dog and the other person would rush past so the situation would be over but this just encourages the reactive dog as the behaviour they are displaying (that is fueled by anxiety) ultimately means that the other dog disappears faster.
It is important to be able to provide and control the stimulus when working with a reactive dog, going into a public space you can not control what other peoples dogs do and so it is difficult to work on that behaviour.
Rosie's mum left feeling more confident as she now understands why Rosie was reacting that way and she also saw what Rosie was capable of. I have advised that they find some people with calm dogs and follow how we approached Rosie to continue the work and build up both of their confidence. Until they have achieved a high level of engagement and also built a 'co
Stella playing outside
Stella has made two big breakthroughs this week, the first was yesterday when we visited a place (video below) where a few months ago we went and she went into melt down. Stella was terrified of public spaces and she would either become extremely reactive or just shut down. Yesterday we visited that place again and she was comfortable enough to play and enjoy being outside like other dogs do.
The second was today, I took Stella to the vets, a situation I haven't had her in before but in her past it has involved lots of stress and fear aggression. Today I took her for a check up, she sat between my knees in the waiting room and comfortably took treats (showing she wasn't too stressed). We then went into the consultation room with a lovely female vet who Stella greeted with kisses and an instant demand for bum scratches! This was a huge moment for us and it could not have gone better.
Well done Stealthy Stella!
Benny lead walking.
Its wonderful receiving updates from clients who are working so hard with their dogs, so hard that they get incredibly excited when have a break through.
This video was sent to me last night from Georgia and her rescue dog Benny. Benny has certainly not been 'a quick fix' I have been working with them for two months and they have been building the foundations for much longer with the fantastic rescue that Benny came from.
Benny had severe anxiety when outside of the house, he would either shut down on the street or pull so badly his stomach was on the floor and he could barely breathe. Benny pulled because he was anxious, but then the pulling made him more anxious. He would also stalk other dogs and could be reactive, and so we have been desensitising him with my dogs on a regular basis and he will now walk with them side by side.
Benny's wonderful parents have put so much work into him, they have not once given up and now they are seeing that hard work paying off. Benny pulling so badly made the walk unenjoyable for all of them, which made his parents stressed and also anxious. We have been working on them learning to relax when out with Benny which has really made a huge improvement to his energy.
Benny is still alert when outside, there is still work ahead but we are extremely happy with this lovely boys progress. Well done to his family, you are all lucky to have eachother.
Stella finally showing off her tail
That's the tail we wanted to see whilst on a walk Stella!
Stella was terrified about going on walks, especially when cars were close by she would shut down and slam the brakes on with her tail firmly tucked between her legs.
The tail in the video is still not a totally confident wag, but it is inquisitive and excited about being outside and exploring...a step in the right direction :)
