Prince
Our most recent and challenging project has been the rehabilitation of Prince the Rottweiler X taken from a house with several other dogs where he was kept locked away without human contact or experience of the outside world for many years.
After responding poorly to kennel life with the RSPCA, Prince still could not handle being touched by humans, despite the best efforts of staff at the centre, even after four months with them. We offered to give Prince a chance to see if he could be rehabilitated to accept humans.
This was a challenging task as a lot of research states that if the critical period for socialisation is missed with a dog they cannot form bonds or fit into society. It took 4 weeks for Prince to start looking for attention from Gillian and once that hurdle was crossed he has gone from strength to strength. Prince now seeks out interaction with humans, follows closely by Gillians side and is extremely responsive. He even comes along to the training classes and sits with Sophie, observing the people and their dogs quite happily and taking part in various exercises. He has also been out on group walks and has been to work with a few of our clients aggressive dogs when they get to the stage of being off lead.
We have now had Prince 10 months and the transformation is so pleasing that he has won the hearts of everyone and has become a permanent resident with us. There is still a lot of work to do with Prince but this time next year he should be completely unrecognisable as the dog taken from terrible conditions at the hands of his irresponsible owners.
Bruce the miniature Schnauzer and Bruno the Cocker Spaniel were becoming too much for their owner Shirley. They were both very excitable and difficult to walk on the lead, with Bruce barking erratically at any dog or animal he saw. They were also over powering to any visitors in the house, due to their jumping up and attention seeking behaviour.
As the dogs are getting more exercise and Shirley has now become their pack leader, the dogs are better behaved within the house and she can also let them off the leads in the park and not worry about losing them.
Peter
Peter is a three year old Warmblood X gelding owned by teenager Helen. Helen has had many horses in the past however Peter was very difficult to handle, even getting him out of the stable and feeding him was a dangerous task. Peter had learnt that if he threatened his owners with biting and kicking they left him alone.
Work with Peter began by recreating the discipline found within the natural equine herd and getting him to choose to be with us without any restraints. We also worked on modifying his aggressive behaviour and getting him to willingly accept things such as being groomed and having tack on. This was all done by Peter learning how to become more sociable through making his own choices to be with us and us ignoring any threatening behaviours. Peter is now a calm and relaxed horse. Helen has even competed locally at dressage and scored very well.
Dylan and Declan
Dylan and Declan are two miniature Schnauzers. Both dogs were displaying insecurity issues, Declan was very nervous in the house while Dylan was very anxious outside. They did not listen to their owners and were constantly barking at new people in and out of the house. Work began on addressing their insecurities in the house before moving outside.
Once the dogs were more settled we used three of our own dogs, Barney Sophie and Maggie to help combat their fear aggression towards other dogs. By going out within a calm non aggressive pack the dogs where able to relax and let go of their anxieties, after a few sessions the dogs were running free within the pack and able to pass other dogs and owners without any difficulty.
Millie
Millie is a seven year old cob owned by Lisa. Lisa and Millie enjoyed going out with the hunt, but this enjoyment was always shortlived as Millie was very difficult to load and became very stressed during travelling. Millie would not go back in the trailer to come home and lisa had been stranded on several occasions.
When Millie came to us she had every trick in the book used on her by the ‘hunt experts’ to try and load her. So as soon as Millie saw a trailer she became very fearful, reared or tried to charge away.
Work with Millie took place over several months to remove the negative memories the trailer presented to her. Millie was asked initially just to be close to the trailer without trying to load, then she was walking through it without being locked in. Next she was loaded for a few minutes and then let out. Work continued involving loading and travelling to destinations where there was no high adrenaline activity happening. Including trips to stay overnight at our yard and then home again the day after.
Lisa and Millie now hunt again regularly, go on pleasure rides all over the north west and enjoy their time together again. Lisa can load Millie on her own and she will stand in the trailer happily eating her hay. There is no urgency to set off as soon as she is loaded.
Part of our role at Animal Behaviour & Training involves working alongside our local RSPCA branch in Preston to assist them with assessing new dogs, training staff and tackling any behavioural issues which may arise.
This is a very rewarding and valuable part of our work because it is helps improve animal welfare and also gives us the opportunity to help dogs find new homes. If you are thinking of taking on a new dog please go to your local rescue centre first and see if there is a perfect companion waiting for you.