My gentleman client has had Monty for just six days.
Monty is a small and extremely cute Jack Russell. He has previously had two homes that probably had young children and Monty may have felt threatened and shown aggression to protect himself.
He then spent six weeks in Wood Green animal shelter.
Monty puzzled me.
He barely moved from his bed in the two-and-a-half-hours I was there. He didn’t even get up when I arrived. He didn’t lift his head when either of us moved about or went out of the room.
He may be exhausted from the trials of the past few weeks and noise of the kennels. Maybe he is recovering from some sort of trauma. It’s as though he has shut down.
When he did get out of his bed it was to do multiple stretches and bows, accompanied by yawning and lifting his paw, calming signals and appeasement.
When I tickled him gently with just one finger, he seemed to freeze. He has already bonded closely with his new owner and is very comfortable being touched by him, though he is not interested in any sort of play.
Out on walks
But, yes you can guess, Monty changes personality completely out on walks!
He is extremely reactive to other dogs, and taking his owner unawares he yesterday actually bit another small dog which badly shook the gentleman, as did the angry reaction of the other dog’s owner.
When Monty sees another dog, even in the distance from the high window, he becomes very agitated. He shakes and salivates.
I wonder what has happened in his past life.
Monty’s gentleman is very intuitive and Monty has fallen on his feet. The man is going to refrain from trying to compensate for what has happened in the past but concentrate on the present and future. To behave in a calm, fair and strong way.
Where other dogs are concerned he will work on building up Monty’s confidence in him. A trustworthy dad would not lead his family into danger. Monty perceives other all dogs as a threat at the moment.
It’s certain the gentleman hasn’t yet seen the true Monty! The little dog will gradually relax and come out of himself as his confidence grows. As he becomes more carefree he may even become playful.
