Case Study
Belle’s Mum and Dad contacted us as they needed some Behavioural Training help dealing with her extremely reactive, and apparently aggressive barking when seeing and passing close to other dogs. She also barked loudly when people and dogs had the cheek to walk past her home.
Belle, is a 3 year old Lurcher and was new to the family. Recently rehomed from a Rescue. They were told that she had been surrendered when her previous family couldn’t give her the time she needed. It was believed that she had previously never had much socialisation ( essential for Social / Pack animals such as dogs), or even had many walks!
Is A Barking Dog That Much Of A Problem?
Of all of the many hundreds of dogs and dog training clients who we have helped, why choose this, on the face of it, a low key example of dog behavioural training? We could have picked from many cases of extreme Aggression, Fearfulness, Dominance etc. In fact we work with many dogs who fit into these categories and more.
This case, however, is a good example of an all too common situation where the fear of ‘dog aggression’ or other unwanted behaviour slowly destroys, causes distress, disruption and disagreement in the family.
Belle’s new mum and dad were determined to change this but their attempts had been stressful as they did not know how to manage the situations. In fact, they were convinced that they were not only NOT helping, but making it WORSE!
So they contacted us.
How Do We Solve A Dog Behaviour Issue?
Our work is not just to focus on the dog. A dog sees itself as part of a Pack, so in order to succeed we work with the people to create a new bond and understanding with their dogs. This greatly reduces the fear, increases communication and confidence, and improves the family environment.
We got a lot of useful information during our initial friendly telephone chat about Belle. It gave us the opportunity to ask for examples of the behaviours and to get an idea of her new life. As well as where Belle sees herself in the Pack. But we can’t formulate a full cunning Canine Training Plan, for any dog, until we have been to the home environment; met the whole pack and seen how they interact with the dogs and each other.
Inconsistency in the Pack is something we are always looking for as it leads to confusion for both 2 and 4 legged members of the Pack. We’ll also try and discover any other factors that you may not have thought were relevant, such as…someone moving in or out, being off sick from work, starting a new job/timetable etc. Please don’t think we are just being nosey. There are many potential factors that can contribute to or cause a change in a dog’s behaviour.
It is like a jigsaw.
What’s Our ‘Secret’?
Looking at and seeing the whole picture is essential when it comes to dog behavioural issues. What makes us very good at what we do is spotting the things most people miss, and fitting ALL the pieces together. This is why the home visit is a key part of our work. It simply can not be done on a video call as we need to see everything in the environment. Things that you might miss looking through the restricted view of a camera or phone.
In Belle’s case we could see a loving home but different ‘rules and regulations’; there was a gap in the leadership and Belle was looking for guidance, but not getting it in a way she could clearly understand. And NO that does NOT mean shouting louder! Contrary to popular belief, dogs do NOT understand English ( or any human language for that matter) in the same way that we do. Remember dogs are Canines and share 99%+ of their DNA with wolves and 0% DNA with humans!
Our approach is very calm and we like to keep things Consistent and Simple. It is based on how dogs think and their beliefs, rather than how humans think and our belief systems. They are amazing at reading humans but they are a totally different species and humans don’t make it easy for them to understand us!
Belle was being reactive towards other dogs and people because she was not getting the Clear Leadership guidance she needed. This was the obvious behaviour manifestation, but we could see less extreme versions of the same or similar behaviour in different areas of the Pack life.
Our initial 3 hour Dog Training session at Belle’s home was very informative and we made some great progress. We focused on improving the Communication by showing her new mum and dad what Belle needs to see and hear, worked on the leadership issues and established a training plan, that was created based on what Belle needed to keep moving in the right direction towards a better behaved dog in a calmer and happier family environment.
Regardless of the location it’s essential to have the Attentiveness, Communication and Calm Leadership in place, in order to be able to let your dog know that you are dealing with the situation and not them.
We made sure that Belle’s people knew:
- what they had to do
- when they had to do it
- why they had to do it
- how to do it
It should be obvious really but it is one of the advantages of the 1-2-1 dog training service that we provide – being able to show you how quickly results can be achieved by demonstrating how to do it. To then observe you put our training into practice and prompt you when required are other huge benefits of our one-to-one dog training, and leads to positive results and a secure foundation on which you can build your future together.
By the end of our first 3 hour session in their home, Belle and her family were all making great progress.
Next Steps
However, Belle’s mum and dad still needed help in gaining the confidence needed to relax when Belle is around other dogs. They were still concerned about what would happen if she got close to other dogs and this was holding them all back and making them anxious. We had told them that Belle was just uber excited and uncertain about what to do around other dogs. Easy to say. We needed to actually show them that this was the case!
So, Belle and her humans came on one of our Pack Walks.
They were introduced to other dogs and their families. Not members of our team or specially selected people, just normal(ish) people with their dogs.
Belle’s parents used the skills we had shown them in the first dog training session and we were able to give some tips and guidance on lead control and usage throughout the lovely walk. But Belle not only learnt from Sam and I, she also learnt from the valuable third dog trainer in our team, our dog, Earl, You could say that Earl is our dog dog trainer (!) and he proves a very useful extra asset in guiding and calming confused and unsure dogs. Belle also learnt better dog behaviour from, and was sometimes put in her place by, the other 17 dogs she socialised with on that pack walk. And it wasn’t long before her natural instincts had kicked in and she shut up and settled into being part of a big dog pack, having fun and behaving herself.
Seeing the happiness on her mum and dad’s faces and seeing Belle enjoying the company of other dogs was VERY rewarding!
Obviously, there is still a way to go and work to do but Belle has made excellent progress in just hours – rather than the weeks or months that her family was anticipating. That is because we were able to use our extensive training and years of experience, but just as importantly our own personal skills and intuition, to quickly see the causes and effects and then formulate a straightforward way to overcome the dog behaviour issues.
What Does Success Look Like?
A calm and quiet Belle (with the lilac harness) happily surrounded by some of her new friends just 20 minutes into what her new family believe was her first ever walk with other dogs !