The Rescue Dog Trainer

17/07/2023

I travelled all the way to North Lincolnshire to dog sit my favourite Romanian rescue dog Ariel, her brother Apollo and Romanian rescue cat Bella.

I wouldn't usually go too far out of my area due to all the other work I usually have to do and my cat sanctuary, but Ariel holds a special place in my heart after coming to the UK with her siblings and being the only one unhandled at a year old, in foster at the time and extremely nervous.

In 2018 I offered to dog sit overnight for a few nights after doing her initial behavioural assessment to see if I could make progress with touch and friendship and it was a huge success, her foster/rescue family were able to touch her, gain lots of confidence and have a relatively normal dog life thereafter, except going for a walk. Since then I've followed Ariel's life into her new home and she has been a big part of my journey studying Romanian Street Dogs and the inspiration for The Rescue Dog Trainer.

I've loved sitting her, Apollo and Bella, Bella is the sweetest and slept with me most nights, the funniest at tapping her treat tub and announcing her return home with the biggest meow. Walking with Apollo and watching him do zoomie gambols when he has a bit of extra energy and just sitting or playing in the garden with Ariel and enjoying her beautiful company.

Sophie Peacock - Lowhills

25/06/2023

A behaviour consultant was done for the lovely Dotty, a Romanian rescue adopted as a puppy from a shelter who has recently become more reactive to visitors, family members and dogs and people out walking.

After going through Dotty's history and family experiences, I was able to show Dotty that visitors don't have to be such a worry, applying some positive reinforcement and coping mechanisms as well as making sure everyone that enters the house applies by the same rules to help Dotty and also that Dotty is understood in her body language to help with family members reactivity and a few things in place for outside events.

Well done Dotty, she did so well in her training to become less reactive ❤️

14/06/2023

This beauty is called Melody and she's been helping me put together some images and video footage for a new package I'm offering for owners of overseas rescue dogs, nervous and scared dogs. Melody and her owner also get help so it's a win win situation.

Thank you to both for our session the other day and looking forward to getting to know her better.

20/05/2023

It's National Rescue Dog Day! Let's see and celebrate those beautiful pooches!

Here's a few that are looking for homes from my local dog rescue.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=618544380307164&id=100064548225734

15/05/2023

For dog owners of overseas dogs. If you've not seen this page, it's packed with so much information and definitely worth a like.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092373273024

I’m a registered vet nurse wanting to help overseas dog owners in the UK navigate Brucella canis

04/05/2023

I'm on the look out for dogs and cats that are displaying fearful or nervous behaviours in the owners home, under foster or rescue centre.

Examples are:

Newly adopted overseas or UK puppy farm dogs and cats
Dogs that are afraid of going outside
Dogs and cats that have yet to leave their pen/crate/den when people are around
Dogs and cats that hide for most of the day
Dogs and cats that are scared of being touched and handled
Dogs fearful of the vets

At this time I'm not looking for dog reactive dogs.

You must be willing to have your animal on video camera and follow instructions on behaviour modification.

Please get in touch at [email protected] with more information about your fearful dog or cat.

Thank you!

04/01/2023

In February 2022 I went to Wales to dog sit a Romanian rescue dog who I'd worked with in my local area before the owners moved there. One of the things we hadn't finished working on was getting Zeus in the car. He had a fear of travelling and the car in general and even getting to Wales he needed medication so during my week long stay with him, we worked on being around the car and I'd hoped to try and get him to jump in as our next step before doing things like closing doors and starting the engine.

Sadly, I only got him to jump in once during my stay but a few months on, his owners carried on the training and he finally did it!

Working with Romanian Street dogs and dogs with fear based behaviours need a completely different approach to training and rehabilitation, including force free positive reinforcement training, hence there is no lead, no force and the dog must do it in their own time. Romanian/street dogs are very bright, if you cause them fear or harm in their eyes, it's very difficult to gain that trust again.

05/07/2022

Here's a little video of Romanian rescue dog Bobby who I looked after last week dog sitting.

I took a few shots of us going for a walk so his mum could see while she was on holiday, playing and the one thing he loves most, having his food.

Enjoy beautiful Bobby loving life!

10/06/2022

I've been nominated for the 2022 Animal Star Awards 🎉🥳💥 for my specialised training for overseas street dogs at The Rescue Dog Trainer and pet sitting at Lowhills

Can't wait to hear if I make it into the finals 🙏🤞

19/05/2022

Thank you to Central England Prestige Awards for awarding me Animal Behaviour Specialist of the Year 2021/22, it means a great deal to be recognised.

Sadly I didn't want to pay out for the real deal certificate or award so I made my own 😀😆😘 The small print is from the e-mail I had from them in their own words so not totally all my work.

06/04/2022

A friend of mine has taken on a dog that was given up due to his resource guarding and fearful behaviour. Sadly the owner couldn't find a rescue space and was due to be put to sleep if nowhere could be found so she decided to try and work with him with my help to rehabilitate and find a new home.

This is me seeing him again after a month as I've not been well and had to do Jury Service. He's a very sweet Lurcher called Bailey.

27/11/2021

This is the lovely Luna, a 22 month old Romanian rescue dog of mixed Mioritic Shepherd breed. Her owner came to me for help as Luna is very reactive to other dogs, people and cars.

During her time in Romania she was kennelled with other dogs and with dogs again when she arrived in the UK but she was only in a foster for a few days as her reactivity was quite high before being adopted in her current home. Poor Luna had so much going on in her short life so far and thankfully has a great owner who is now listening to her needs and trying to find a way forward to cope with her reactive behaviour.

After our introductory walk, we had our consultation in the garden, even though it was absolutely freezing because I didn't want to push Luna into excepting me too early, which is sometimes done quite frequently with overseas dogs if management isn't in place in the home. It will hopefully make our next visit go much more smoother as we only have good emotional contact from our last session.

In our session we discussed management to visitors as there had been a few times where Luna hadn't coped and became defensive resulting in more reactive behaviour, making safe areas for Luna as well, tackling reactivity outside of the home and training at home to cope with events outside.

I look forward to seeing how Luna goes with her training in the future. Thank you to the amazing RDUK for all their amazing advice previously and to Meesh Masters and her amazing group Meesh Masters Romanian Rescue Dogs Community & Resource Units for helping so many owners of rescue dogs and having such fantastic resources available.

11/11/2021

Apologies for being quiet on the page. I ran myself into the ground a bit when we were all getting back to some normality, worked long hours during the summer months and didn't hardly take any days off.

I'm getting back to my normal self now and it was so nice to get this notification yesterday to say I've been nominated for the Animal Star Award 🌟 Thank you for the amazing support my clients give me and I absolutely love working with all your dogs.

31/07/2021

Continuing on with Zeus's harness training after his vet visit for neutering had a negative affect on his outlook of going for a walk.

Because he couldn't travel in the car, he sadly had to walk home after neutering and Romanian rescue dogs evaluate events a little different to UK born and raised dogs so training needed to be re-done for his harness and lead to build up the positive associations again.

These are just a few clips put together and the next steps will be him going for a walk again!

Good boy Zeus, you are doing amazingly well ❤

18/07/2021

I was looking after Zeus for a couple of days so we practiced some harness training.

Zeus had been walking OK in it but recently had become really scared of it as it had been associated with going to the vets to be neutered so he needed to feel it was an OK piece of equipment again.

Zeus is already very reactive to strangers, which we are working on and making great progress but seeing strangers in a veterinary setting that he's not use to going in and the after affects took it's toll on him a bit. (This will be really common after Covid restrictions for our overseas dogs)

It cuts between sessions as they were only short, when he had enough, he either walked away or layed down.

12/07/2021

Awesome webinar by Dr Amber Batson MRCVS, vet and behaviourist on a medical and behavioural look at the effects of neutering in the dog.

This is something I often get asked about at training and behavioural consults and feel more informed in my responses.

When I worked heavily in dog rescue, neutering was standard and routine before adoption, not only for population control but also because you just couldn't rely on the adopters to get it done if they were over a year old. Also we had no idea of where the female was in her cycle, which is extremely important.

In behaviour, especially with the nervous, anxious and fearful dogs, neutering needs to be thoroughly researched on each individual dog. (There are options on this for the nervous, anxious dog if neutering has already been done)

Also owners, behaviourists and vets really need to work together on making sure that at the time of neutering (if done) and the dog is a fearful or anxious dog:

1. Aware of adolescent fear period: avoid 7 - 12 months (dependant on size of dog and individual traits)

2. Ensure the dog isn't in a fearful period by considering behaviours and activities at the time of surgery

3. Consider anti-anxiety medication given at home before surgery on the day (if fearful etc)

4. Adequate pain relief for several days

5. Post op wound management, the dog doesn't become more stressed by having to wear an elizabethan collar (consider body suits or inflatable collars)

6. Post op sleep and enrichment plans.

21/05/2021

I'm super happy with Zeus' progress. I'm no longer a danger stranger but a hairy godmother raining good stuff from above.

After a few months of behavioural and training work I'm seeing some excellent responses from Zeus, calm, lowered stress levels, better with interaction, let's me into his home, no barking and now muzzle free.