Bruno is the new arrival hound.
Five days ago the six-year-old moved in with three other rescues. The gentleman has devoted much of the past ten years to giving rescue Beagles and Bassetts a good home.
All four dogs are Bassett Hounds or Bassett mix. Two are elderly and Ronnie is two years old.
Apparently Bruno had been a hunting dog. After he was picked up, he went to a Spanish dog centre. His first home rejected him because he didn’t get on with their dog. Next, the temporary foster couldn’t cope with him. Now he has moved in with my client and his three hounds.
The issues
To quote the man before we ‘met’ online: Bruno is very strong and pulling on walks (he was an ex-hunting dog). A lot of jumping up with no boundaries; he has never had a permanent home. He bays at sheep, wants to chase cats and rabbits.
His baying and barking is very loud.
Bruno was never walked on lead.
Where do we start?
Everything is new.
He needs time to decompress.
Five days have gone by and there may be the seeds of some unease between the two young males, Bruno and Ronnie. They had an encounter over a block of ice!
What is the man aiming for?
He would like to enjoy walks with Bruno and Ronnie together. Without Bruno ‘pulling him to bits’ and baying at sheep. They’ve not yet encountered other dogs. Both dogs get very excited when seeing people.
The man now walks Bruno alone.
Work begins at home.
Everything that happens could be the ‘beginning of more’ at this early stage. Bruno needs time to adjust and decompress, with as little pressure put on him as possible. That doesn’t mean no boundaries.
There are potential flash points due to the build up of arousal, as demonstrated by the ice incident. The dogs got super aroused/excited when a delivery person brought frozen food to the door.
The dogs were in this state when the man threw the ice onto the grass. Bruno redirected his over-arousal onto Ronnie.
Flash points and management
The excitement and reactivity around hearing a knock means the man will introduce some rules around the front door. This will first require desensitising to knocks – we went into detail just how.
Then the dogs will learn to go somewhere else.
They may already be pumped up by seeing someone walk up the path so their view will be blocked. Once so fully aroused, an incident like with the bit of ice is more likely.
A willing dog
Bruno may be a little unwilling to get off the sofa, particularly at bedtime to go outside. I suggest the man calls him off and to the door in stages using food for now. It will set a pattern in their future relationship.
Preparing for enjoyable walks.
Bruno pulls while constantly sniffing and may need more ‘rope’ if interesting smells are always out of his reach. He’s very strong.
Work will start at home. The man will introduce him to a harness. They will walk around the garden and Bruno will learn to walk nicely with encouragement.
The house has a long path to the road. They will then walk down the path.
Already we know that Bruno makes a lot of noise if he sees sheep, as his walks so far have been in the fields or off-lead in a private paddock. He was very noisy and agitated when he saw a horse from the car.
They haven’t yet encountered a dog. We discussed what to do when he encounters dogs when out on walks. Be ready for it.
He does react to dogs he hears from the garden, so that will be the place to start the work.
Later, the gentleman wrote:
I had my first session over zoom today and found it invaluable. I know I am doing a lot or the things I need to for my new boy Bruno and that was validated. I had a behaviourist come over for Ronny one of my other boys just over a year ago and was charged £280. She was here less that an hour and I was left feeling judged!
My experience today could not have been better.
