Sometimes life just doesn’t go according to plan. The gentleman had an emergency operation three weeks ago and will take some time to fully recover. He was the main dog walker as the lady is not strong enough to manage her alone, Pip can’t be walked.
Pip is a very energetic eleven month old Golden Retriever who is coping with the lack of stimulation and exercise remarkably well. They are doing their best with ball games in the garden and up and down the stairs along with some training, but it’s a difficult situation.
Young and enthusiastic, the outside world is just too stimulating and is getting more so by the day. Pip is desperate to introduce herself to every person she sees but most especially every dog.
Pip walked around the house beautifully with me, walking from room to room even when I didn’t have a lead on her, but as soon as we got outside the front door she was on sensory overload. The only way anybody could walk her anywhere in that state of mind would be by using physical restraint, and that’s exactly what I work to avoid. I came back in. Even immediately outside their front door is a huge adrenalin rush for her.
Because increasingly she has insufficient opportunity to interact with other dogs, dogs are understandably super-exciting to her, maybe just a little daunting too.
So here is something the couple can do. They can keep going in and out of the front door as well as standing around out there, doing it so frequently that she starts to become more accustomed.
The more little outings she has the more mundane they will become.
I suggested a dog walker for now, until the man regains his strength. This way Pip could get to be walked with other dogs so that she remains socialised.
There are more things they can do at home to stimulate her. Scenting, searching and foraging is great for healthy stimulation and giving the dog’s nose the work it is designed to do. They can work on her recall too. They can walk her around the house and garden to practise their new loose-lead walking technique. Instead of reacting when she jumps up, as well as turning away they can actively mark and reward her when her feet are on the ground as well as other times when she’s calm or lies down.
Looking for, and rewarding, what we do want rather than simply reacting to the behaviour we don’t want not only makes the dog happy, it makes us happy too.
Pip is a little nervous of new things. The less she is out in the real world the more sensitive she will become. I wanted to try a special soft but secure harness on her and left it on the floor for her to investigate. She was a little wary of it. I worked on introducing it to her very slowly. Treats for hearing it click together (not on her), a treat for sniffing it; soon she was putting her own head through the hole to get the food and I carried on on desensitising her. I didn’t push it. They will take it very slowly and she should be welcoming the harness after a couple more sessions.
This way she will associate it with good stuff.
Remember a song that brings back wonderful memories? ‘Your’ song’ (mine was ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water – a very long time ago!)? That song is associated with special times and your brain is now hard-wired so whenever you hear it you re-live a little how you felt back then. This is the sort of positive association we want to give our dogs when we are desensitising them to something.
It’s just over two weeks later and things are looking up for Pip: “We took Pip out yesterday on her harness and we were both impressed with how well she walked. It was a pretty stress free little stroll & we even met children on scooters which didn’t really faze her and even when we met another dog she was fairly sensible ! The hunt the treat game in the garden is probably her favourite game to date and she is getting rather good at it, she waits excitedly inside the kitchen while one of us lays the bait. Then its nose down and away then she wont stop till she’s found it all.
A month has now gone by since we started: Pip continues to do well especially when walking on the lead. There is no manic activity to get out of the house anymore just a calm but purposeful walk ! The harness has been a tremendous help and worth every penny….. Games in the house and garden are times enjoyed by all three of us and play quite a big part of our day. Pip does seem more content and calmer during her day and is happier to rest when we do or if we have other things to do . The jumping up is slowly improving …. she’s beginning to sit or play with a toy on her own. All things considered Pip is a much happier 14 month old [ and so are we ] and we certainly feel more able to cope . Especially now that we have all your great suggestions and ideas to help us on our journey with her.
NB. The precise protocols to best use for your own dog may be different to the approach I have worked out for Pip, which is why I don’t share all the exact details of our plan. Finding instructions on the internet or TV that are not tailored to your own dogs can do more harm than good. One size does not fit all. If you live in my own area I would be very pleased to help with strategies specific to your own dog (see my Get Help page).
