I spoke to a concerned dog owner from Plymouth today who had rescued a 4 year old staffy bitch who was dog aggressive. This is common in certain breeds if the dogs are not socialised from an early age, but it is possible to work sensibly to desensitise the dog in a controlled way.The rescue centre had warned that she should be kept on the lead. Wanting to do his very best, this owner contacted a so called professional who proceeded to tell him to buy an E Collar ( a shock collar to the layman ) He then put his own dog in one tennis court and the rescue dog, wearing the collar in the one next door and proceeded to let them fight through the mesh – instructing the owner to turn the collar on his dog up to maximum shock levels – which unsurprisingly made her worse.

It is simple – she is getting punished by the presence of another dog. Everytime she sees a dog and reacts to it , she is shocked.  It makes her more aggressive not less, because she is a terrier and they dont run away, they stand and fight. So this so called professional is increasing her aggression to other dogs. From a short conversation, it seems likely she is fear aggressive and copes until dogs come to close to her, then panics and would attack if not on lead and muzzle, which she is. So, her fear is heightened, she never gets to learn through patient, controlled on lead walks with other dogs that they are not a threat and could therefore be persuaded to ignore them as they go by – she just gets more scared and more aggressive. Nice days work!

Spent the afternoon itroducing Eric – the staffy cross, to Suki, the pushy collie /cross bitch – that went well, Eric was scared of her – once neutered, she will be a much nicer girl.

Next up was Breeze a flirty girly lab cross, to Alfie the Springer – He loved her but couldn t really keep up – he gave it his best shot though.

Then I moved Breeze on to Eric, happy flirting from both – Eric will need to build up his stamina to catch her. Both a bit  love struck by the end of the socialisation session.

Mixing dogs whilst they are in a rescue kennel is absolutely essential to building their skills to cope with the real world once they are homed. Like chldren, dogs are not born with social skills, we need to give them the opportunity to learn from their peers. We would not expect our 5 yr old to go to school; and behave normally around other children if they had never met any. One of our previous prime ministers had the strap line  : education, education, education – mine for dogs is socialise……..etc  – here ends then lesson – thanks for reading!

Ruth and the team

If any of you who read this blog know anyone getting a puppy – please, please tell them NOT to come home with two. First rule of dog ownership, you can only train one puppy at a time. Two dogs from the same litter is not a good idea, however cute. Second rule, research the breeds before you chose your dog and pick a breed that suits your ilfestyle – not one you fall in love with. Fell runner? Yes, get a collie – couch potato or workaholic? DONT! I met  a lovely young couple today with two 18 month collie brothers. They have worked tremendously hard to make it work, but we will be rehoming one for the good of all concerned, especially the dogs.

Eric

Met Eric yesterday, what a little charmer! Dot and JJ were not similalry impressed, he will be joining our dog socialisation classes soon to learn that dogs are fun not bad news!

Some lovely new dogs in this week, Patch the black staffy fell in love with Dorothy – she was not impressed – or interested!

Decided to finally start teaching obedience classes. Once the weather cheers up we will be running basic obedience for adult dogs and owners. Watch this space.

Socialisation walks today will be interesting, lets see who turns up