The young couple has a beautiful Border Collie pup called Sabre, soon to be sixth months old.
He greeted me outside the house, pulling hard to get to me. Most of the time I was with them he was flying all over the place or barking at the young man in particular. He barked for him to throw a toy.
The man always complies because the barking goes right through his head.
It was a total pleasure to be in the company of the two lovely Dobermans (or is it Dobermen?) – Doberman Pinschers.
Three-year-old Storm joined them six months ago. It’s hard to believe that he’s on home number four but he’s landed on his feet now.
His first year was spent as a ‘yard’ dog. From his behaviour in the house and with people, I would guess he hadn’t encountered the outside world in the first formative months of his life. That was the first imbalance in his life.
Five-and-a-half-month-old Harry leash wrestles; he tugs and bites it. It’s in one set of circumstances only. At the end of his walk, when they they get to the entrance of the park, Harry goes into some sort of frenzy. Flying about nipping, he attacks the lead and tugs at it as he swings about, growling.
Always excitable and a jumper, he has only started this ‘wild’ behaviour where he wrestles the lead in the last couple of weeks. The lady is actually scared. Harry suddenly changes character. She feels like he’s attacking her. (more…)
Nala ignores Come when called when she sees another dog to run up to and jump on! That’s their only problem really apart from some jumping up due to over-excitement.
Nala is an unusual-looking dog. Stunning, large and fluffy. She is a very friendly mix of Leonberger and Giant Poodle.
They have worked hard with training the two–year-old. The problem isn’t severe – yet. She has good recall mostly but she ignores Come when she’s called when they most need it. They are doing the right thing getting help before it escalates into anything more. (more…)
Wild behaviour from a dog the size of the adolescent Newfoundland can be scary. When Beau leaped at the kitchen table she knocked the coffee mugs flying! Seven-month-old Beau was chosen from the litter as the most bold and pushy puppy. She organised the others, I am told, by barging Read more…
They do what they can to stop young Basset Hound Bentley doing unwanted things like jumping at the table and barking for attention.
In fact, they are instead reinforcing these very things.
Whilst reinforcing the unwanted behaviour by ultimately giving Bentley what he’s asking for, they also try discipline – ‘NO’.
They do all they can for Winston but his behaviour is a challenge for the young couple – as it would be for most people. They simply can’t cope with his manic evenings.
They have had the one-year-old English Bulldog for under two months and they are at their wits’ end with him. It’s ruining their life to the extent that the gentleman admits to not wanting to come home in the evening. (more…)
Anything repeated often enough can become a habit. I totally fell in love with scruffy ten-month-old Jack Russell mix Max yesterday. I had the perfect evening with him and his humans. It began with just me and the daughter who is in her late teens. Then mum arrived followed by two male school friends Read more…
Connor’s will be a story in two parts. This first story is about Connor and his frantic agitation when two people get too close to each other.
He came to them a year ago, probably only weeks away from death. The dog, scarred with broken teeth, scared and skinny, had stopped eating. He had been in the kennels for two years and seemed to have lost the will to live.
From the moment the couple took him in, the Staffie Greyhound mix, now five, surrounded by patient love began to blossom.
From the start Connor became agitated when either the man moved too close to the lady, or when the lady approached the man. (more…)
Reduce arousal. Stress and excitement are at the root of their problems with Kevin and being alert, energetic and reactive is simply part of his basic nature, I’m sure.
Kevin is Kevin – and he’s wonderful! As an adolescent he will be at a difficult stage anyway.
One-year-old Kevin was born in kennels in Romania then had probably been adopted by someone over here who couldn’t cope with his boisterous nature. He ended up in rescue kennels again.
They found him online. The kennels simply brought him out and handed him over. (more…)