My Anxious Dog Bella
I have had dogs all my life and got a beautiful Cocker Spaniel Bella in 2012. She was brillant in training and in our puppy class we even won the award for “Best dog in class”. However as we progressed in classes Bella struggled with the “Stay” when I walked away and I did not understand this was because she was anxious. Unfortunately Bella was attacked a couple of times (nothing too serious) when she was young and became fearful of other dogs. This also developed into being fearful of strangers and not liking to being touched. My dog trainer told me about using the yellow ribbon as it meant that she needed space but people did not know what this meant so I developed and tested my own range of yellow space awareness products. I found it such a massive help and it made me feel so much calmer. I have used the yellow harness and lead on Bella for over 3 years now and we never leave the house without it, I even put it on her every week at our agility classes because people forget and she looks too pretty. Bella’s levels when out in public improved massively as people did give her space, occasionally we have the odd dog come running up in the park but I explain what the yellow means so next time they see a dog in yellow they will understand what it means.
Raising awareness has also become a passion for me, so I designed a posters and range of stickers which I have given to all our local vets and parish councils. If you also want to raise awareness in your area these can be found on our website www.myanxiousdog.co.uk
Thank you