Freja was rescued from the streets of Cyprus at 3 weeks old. She’s now 10 months old and a mix that includes German Shepherd. She won’t have had the rough and tumble with siblings nor the discipline of her mother to teach her to be gentle. The main problem is Read more…
Rommie Carmelo was a stray in Romania, then fostered for a couple of months and now, for nearly three months, he has been living with a gentleman and his mother. He has become very attached to the man. He guards the stairs If the lady is downstairs, Carmelo snarls, barks Read more…
Adolescent Cocker Spaniel Brio was a bitey puppy. Then for several months he had stopped using his teeth on people, only to begin again when he became a teenager. He also became defiant when they made him do something that he didn’t want to do. Brio is now 10 months Read more…
They have had 9-month-old German Shepherd mix Sasha for four months now, during which time they sent him away on a board and train programme. Firstly, it takes a rescue dog a good three months to settle in and this has been interrupted. Secondly, my belief is that teaching ‘commands’ Read more…
Over-arousal and raised stress levels exaggerate and intensify all reactive or uncontrolled behaviours. Mina is easily aroused. With Mina these behaviours include digging, jumping up, rough mouthing, grabbing and biting; She reacts fearfully to children, jumps on people they meet when out and so on. The young dog can get Read 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…
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 is 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…)
Rufus redirects frustration using his teeth.
If he’s not getting attention, he will demand it using his mouth. If he is thwarted or ignored, he redirects frustration using his teeth.
Honey is a delightfully friendly dog but loses control of herself very quickly – and any efforts to try to impose control only make her worse.