Fergus
Whippets are just so delicate and graceful. To look at them it’s hard to imagine they could ever cause any trouble!
William
These two beautiful whippet siblings are now four years old. They have lived with their family for eighteen months.
The two have very different personalities, and for most of the time they are model pets.
Trouble between the whippet siblings
Whippet William on the left is much more excitable than Whippet Fergus, who is more controlling. This can cause trouble between the dogs. Though they are the best of mates, sleeping and playing together, there are certain flash points which suddenly cause them to turn on each other.
William’s excitement starts it, firing Fergus up. In no time there is blood.
It’s over as fast as it started.
This is usually happening around walks, at the gate and encountering challenges like cats – and around food. William’s over-excited behaviour at the door before the start of a walk may cause Fergus to ‘sort out’ William. William, redirecting his stress, even bit the lady owner. Now both dogs are muzzled when out.
Working on calmness
All walks start with William running and prancing about, making it hard to catch him to put on his lead, whilst Fergus waits. They start off on the wrong note with tight uncomfortable leads and a tense owner on ‘cat watch’.
They are going to need patience so that William learns to calm down. You can’t force a dog to become calm. You have to work at it in all areas of his life, understanding that stress builds up over time.
Calmness has to happen from the inside. The humans will be working to provide calm leadership in a way understood by the dogs – in all areas of their lives.
About a month later: Thrilled with progress. Went along canal – cats and dogs…..I want others to know that this really does work – and I am enjoying it and enjoying my dogs even more than I did before. It is such a pleasure to walk a well behaved dog!
