Meet the Family


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Ruth has been working in dog rescue for over twenty years and has a large pack of her own rescue dogs. The pack often finds itself with a new addition when a "special case" needs extra help with socialisation skills and rehabilitation. Ruth combines her long history of working with problem dogs to overcome their behavioural issues, alongside an ongoing academic commitment to continue furthering her knowledge. This enables her to provide clients with the information and essential hands-on skills, necessary to understand and work with dog behaviour and training problems of any kind.


Please click on the links to the right for more information and case studies.

Red AKA Amber - English Bull Terrier

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In September of 2010 I took Amber into my home as a welfare case who had run out of options. She was then a 2.5 year old English Bull Terrier who at the time and apparently from as early as twelve weeks, had shown increasing aggression to her owners. She came to me via a colleague who had seen her as a client in November 2009 – she was then eighteen months old. He defined her behaviour as dominant and gave her owners a programme for changing her behaviour and their relationship with her.

When I took Amber in, I actually needed another rescue dog like a hole in the head. I already had ten dogs and aside from six family members, all needed work to become viable in a new home. However, I have a soft spot for the breed and all other avenues had been refused including EBT rescue. I decided in a very unsentimental way to give her chance, but should she prove unreliable in the long or the short term, then she and I would pay a one way trip to the vet. Despite having read my colleagues' report, I had very little idea of what to expect since he had not seen the aggression. Amber I was told, reserved the aggression for her owners, being with everybody else, unruly and ebullient ( leaving the fellow professional with a rip in his jacket such was her enthusiasm to say hello). I decided to prepare for the worst and finished building my kennel in the garden. My pack is not small, so although I can and do introduce new dogs to it, I have to do so carefully – when bull breeds dont get on, the stakes are high.

Amber arrived from London at 10 am, having been at my request, neutered and was accompanied by two owners and a seven month old child. I could see from the outset that both owners were wary of handling her, but also visibly upset at having to part with her. We agreed that she had three options. Either she didnt make it, if safe and viable she would be rehomed, or if only viable with me, my pack would once again increase – easily my least favourite outcome. I did however, witness the aggression first hand and it was convincing. Both parents sat on the sofa in my office with child on knee and Amber, off lead at my request, launched herself joyfully on to the sofa to join them. Immediately she was told to get down by her owner, she turned into a very angry dog indeed, snarling and growling in fury at being thwarted. The owner grabbed her collar and on my instruction put her in a crate. Round one to Amber. There she stayed until the owners had departed and I was left to contemplate my idiocy.

It seemed there was only one thing for it, to rise to the challenge and see what she had to teach me. In my experience it has always been the problem dogs that improve my skills. What little I have learnt over the years, has been from the absolute nightmare dogs I have had the privilege to own and work with. Ironically they always end up as favourites because they are a challenge. Deciding not to play the hero, I attached a house line to the once again calm Amber, which thankfully she ignored and wore constantly for the next two weeks. This gave me the ability to ensure she did my bidding without my getting anywhere near her teeth. It quickly became clear, that Amber did as Amber wanted, my input was neither interesting nor obeyed, basically she was deaf to my every command. Walking was a challenge, Amber did not see the point, so simply put the anchors on and we went for a drag – repeatedly. I of course tried all the tricks, treats, praise, etc but Amber was not at all interested in playing nice. So, I basically had a dog who may as well have been deaf, interacted with me by hurling herself at me in greeting when she felt like it and flipped the coin, snarling and going for me if I dared require anything at all of her.

On the up side Amber was a foodie, so treats became my new best friend. Initially I had no idea how I was going to counter the aggression, I just began religiously four times a day, obedience and agility training for rewards. I made sure that food was always in my control, as another couple of her less endearing traits were ferocious food guarding and ditto with her crate or kennel. I had decided it was key not to confront Amber until we were much further down the line so made sure I was in control of all situations and fed her in a kong left in her kennel. Amber could not be walked on a half check collar since a trainer had advised her owner to throw a check chain at her when she was a pup and first began guarding her food – this had merely incensed her, so chains of any sort were off limits. After a couple of frustrating weeks, I felt we were sufficiently acquainted to get away with fitting a harness without getting bitten. Miraculously the stubborn, pulling in all directions monster, began to walk beautifully pretty much immediately. She seemed to literally concede the fight when she felt pressure from the o ring on her back. That was a small glimpse of light in a long dark tunnel.

The next three months were frustrating, challenging and sometimes scary. I changed her name to Red, as Amber paid no heed to me at all and Red was beginning to listen. Red took me on several times, at the door of her kennel and her crate where she spent the night in the midst of my pack. However, because there was a barrier between us, I was able to challenge her right back each time and was heartened to see her look away. There were many days when I wondered why on earth I had taken on this belligerent, spoilt brat and I kept a diary to note small improvements and give me hope!

Slowly but surely Red began to listen to me (and the treat in my hand) and became a star at flying round my agility course in a typical EBT, enthusiastic bull in a china shop way. By December I had absolutely turned a corner, the snarling angry dog was gone and not only was Red obedient but remarkably to me, her entire personality seemed to have changed. She was still stubborn, a clown and clumsy, that is in the breed, but she was also mostly patient, clearly happy in her skin and respectful of me. Finally by now January 2011 her kennel and food guarding is gone, I can hand feed her and she is ready for rehoming. This will be a challenge, since if she went to owners who spoilt her, I believe the teeth and anger would be back, but now in the right home and with continued help, she will be a pleasure to have around. She is of course, still Red, feisty and no pushover. On occasion she still tests me but usually now not with aggression, rather through stubborn refusal to simply obey.

The last dog I took on with this level of dominance aggression was Ben my infamous Staffordshire Bull Terrier - sixteen years ago and it took me five years to figure out how not to get bitten. It seems I have learnt something over the years!

Red is an absolutely classic case of a clever, confident dog who, given no boundaries of behaviour as a puppy, quickly learnt that she could control her owners with aggression. The most interesting element in all this for me, is that when she arrived she was clearly an unhappy and often furious dog. The transformation to a happy, naughty but not aggressive dog has been been brought about entirely through training and leadership. It is quite literally possible to ruin a dog by spoiling it and Red is proof of that. A dog will not respect you if you love it – but only if it can look up to you.


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Ben - Staffordshire Bull Terrier

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Ben came to me as a fourteen month old dog from a very undesirable home. He had never been allowed out of a London flat and had been given no life other than to be left for long hours and beaten when he defecated indoors.

I, having fostered a SBT briefly, fallen for the breed and decided to adopt – was a complete novice. Ben was incredibly handsome, a large brindle, entire male who appeared ebullient and affectionate. I in turn, bestowed affection and privelige upon him, conscious of his impoverished beginnings. He slept on my bed, lay on all the furniture and generally lorded it over the whole household. All went well for approximately three months, he was the darling of my then vet Gary Baitz, a native of South Africa who had grown up with the breed and the two established a bond from day one. Ben was entirely untrained and therefore hugely energetic, bombastic in his manner and crashed around the place a lot. This, for an untrainedStafford is normal behaviour – what came next should not be.

I received a call from my friend/dog walker saying that Ben was guarding my front door and would not let her out. I returned home and also found myself a prisoner – it appeared that this was Ben's house and what he said went! I immediately called my vet who told me that I probably didnt understand the breed and to bring him to the surgery. This I did, Gary kept his hand intact when he tried to stroke Ben, but his watch flew across the room. My dog meant business and had the teeth to back it up. It was immediately apparent to both Gary and I that Ben was not going to back down and I realised that I had to find a way to take charge. This was not a dog I could responsibly hand on. Thus began a period of several years where Ben and I vied for position. Im happy to report that largely, over a long period of consistent training and negotiation, I won. I adore my dog, he adores me, barks at me constantly but leaves it at that. I in turn have protected him from exposure to situations he cannot handle.

In hindsight of course, were I to meet Ben again now, I would immediately recognise the type and achieve my end much quicker. However, he remains easily the biggest challenge I have faced to date. He was of course a very dominant personality and still is. This combined with a cruel first owner and a too soft one in me, meant he subsequently decided to take charge of life himself, including me. Dogs do one of two things, lead or be led, Ben, by nature is definitely in the former camp. He remains a legend in his own lifetime amongst rescue veterans in London who all believed I was entirely mad to keep him. However, we came out understanding each other and I have the greatest respect for his enormous spirit and the unique experience that being his guardian has afforded me. It must be noted at this point that most dogs do not have the level of dominance present in my boy and would not need the leadership he required to keep them balanced. Ben is and always has been a rare and very special personality.


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Sophie - American Bulldog Cross

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Sophie is three years old and came from my local rescue centre at eighteen months of age, having been abandoned by her owners. She had clearly been bred from and then discarded. Sophie is highly intelligent and has a dominant character, combined with a very loving personality. This combination can be troublesome to an inexperienced owner, since the dominance is masked by endearing behaviour. It is however, still a way of manipulating situations. Sophie ensures that if I ever get five minutes spare, it goes on furthering her training and exercise programme. Sophie is a very good example of a dog who, in inexperienced hands could become overly dominant. However, given the proper care she is eager to please and well integrated in the pack


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Dorothy - Miniature English Bull Terrier

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Dorothy is a seven year old Miniature English Bull Terrier and came to me via the free ads, as in need of a home at eleven months old. Nothing was known of her background as she was a stray, but she is a balanced, confident and a universally friendly dog. I adopted her because, similarly to Ben, I had by now fostered an EBT and decided I wanted one in my life.

As with all English Bull Terriers, Dorothy can be stubborn and she has a sense of humour usually exhibited at my expense. Given her intelligence and placid nature Dorothy often helps me at work. If a new dog comes into the rescue centre and nothing is known about them I will, in a controlled environment mix them with Dot. Her dog skills are phenomenal and she is never mistaken when reading other dogs. I also work with Dorothy in the practice, when assessing unsocialised dogs. Dorothy is a social junkie and never tires of meeting new canine friends. The number of disadvantaged dogs she has helped is huge and she is invaluable to my work.


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Delilah (JJ) - Boxer / Stafford / English Bulldog

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Not all my dogs have proved to be Titans – in fact JJ otherwise known as Delilah is as far from it as can be. She may appear to be a powerful, muscular bruiser and she was indeed bred by an extremely undesirable human as a potential fighting dog – there however the resemblance ends. She is now eight years old, a cross breed I'd guess of Boxer, English Bull Dog and Staffordshire Bull Terrier. She is easily my most comical dog. JJ does not like mud, sees no point in walking much further than her food bowl, remains snow white all year round and lounges on sofas as a full time occupation. She is also the only dog I know who gives herself a comprehensive manicure regularly and has collars sent by admirers from all over the world which she wears with pride.

As a three month old pup JJ was being beaten by her owner and his neighbours reported him to the RSPCA. She was removed, a terrified scrap, the owner was prosecuted and eight months later she came up for homing. However, so traumatic had been her beginnings and cosseted as she was in kennels subsequently, she would only trust ladies in navy blue overalls, as the kennel hands were the only people who had been kind to her. She literally shook if anyone else came near, crouched to the ground and refused to budge, her levels of terror were extraordinary to behold. Any human she knew however, she launched herself at to smother with affection.

JJ came to me via the APDT ( Association of Pet Dog Trainers ) website where she was advertised as looking for a specialist bull breed home which, largely thanks to Ben I had by now become. I brought her home over seven years ago and she has never shown an ounce of aggression to either humans or dogs and positively loves cats. She will however still be reduced to shaking if she hears the slightest unexpected noise and a shaken carrier bag has her quaking. JJ is an ambassador for the bull breeds and I take every opportunity to introduce her to people (all of whom she loves) as a reason not to judge a book by it's cover. Meanwhile she occupies herself fully making sure she is beautiful and adored by all human visitors!


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Otis - American Bulldog

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Next in line has to be my "special needs" dog. Otis is a five year old American Bull Dog, who again, came from the RSPCA, as an enormous and terrified eleven month old puppy. Otis weighs in at about eight stone and is snow white, aside from a few black spots and a black eye. He was advertised by the charity in a west country newspaper as in need of a specialist owner and I was moved to make the call. I had no particular knowledge of the breed and he, also came with his own problems. Having been bred purely as a money making scheme, he had not been sold and appeared at his local rescue branch completely unsocialised and clearly terrified of all humans. Add this to the fact that he is huge, looks like a bruiser and backs away from all humans barking ferociously and I had quite a job on my hands.

Today Otis is a sweet natured, placid gentleman, who lives in my pack of dogs without causing, or looking for any trouble. He is still terrified of strangers but has a list of human chums that grows each year whom he never forgets, adores and lavishes affection on whenever he sees them. Sadly, he actually really likes human company and is gentle and respectful once he knows you, but due to his isolation and ill treatment in his formative months, will never be the magnificent and confident dog he could have been.

On the other hand, Otis has a growing human fan club and loves his life in my pack, whilst being protected from sudden experiences that would terrify him. He is also an absolute example of how important it is to socialise all puppies carefully, within human and canine environments from as early as six weeks old.


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Bella - Staffordshire Bull Terrier

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Bella came to me again from the RSPCA as a long stayer not doing well in kennels and in need of a home. She had spent her entire adult life as a breeding machine and was abandoned when no longer useful. She was at least ten when she arrived and so is now at least twelve. She is enjoying a peaceful and happy retirement and occupies her time by bossing Otis about. She is also an interesting case however when studying her behaviour within the pack. Much as she largely gets on with it, there are times when she over steps the mark, for example she may steal another, higher ranking dog's chew and get into hot water for it. It took a long time to work out, that since the only company she had ever had in the canine world were puppies whom she largely bossed about and got away with it, this to her was perfectly acceptable behaviour. It also took Bella quite a long time to learn to be a little more circumspect in her behaviour within the pack if she valued her health! She occasionally forgets and I have to resolve issues quickly before they arise.


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Chelsea - Shar Pei / Staffordshire Bull Terrier

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I owe a debt of gratitude also to Chelsea, who came to me two years ago from Animals In Distress. She is a four year old Sharpei cross Stafford who came in to the centre with a litter of two pups and a year old daughter from a previous litter. Chelsea was due to be euthanased since she was proving difficult to home and was not coping at all well with a prolonged stay in kennels. She was extremely human friendly, but equally determined to attack any dog she saw. So determined was her attitude that I would have described her as a red zone dog where other dogs were concerned. Having been in one home and been walked only muzzled and on lead, Chelsea came back due to no fault of her own and it was decided it would be unfair to put her through what looked like a prolonged further stay in kennels.

Having had a weekend to mull this over, I requested and was given permission to take her home as a case dog, in the hope that over time I might desensitise her at least a little, to other dogs as she encountered them on lead walks. I could never have guessed at her true nature when it finally emerged and am so glad I gave her a chance.

Chelsea was fascinating in that it wasnt apparent whether her aggression was fear based or dominance based. Aggression in companion dogs is nearly always fear based but the extent of her apparently enthusiastic aggression was such that is was impossible without prolonged study to determine the source of her behaviour.

As with Ben, Chelsea will go down in my own history as a dog who taught me a lot. I took her home and placed her in a very large crate in the middle of my kitchen, the heart of the house where my dogs are always milling around. To begin with I covered the crate with a cloth, and allowed all my dogs to go about their business as usual. My pack are very good at accepting newcomers, it is a clause in their contract of residence! Provided the cover stayed down, Chelsea remained calm and quiet but if it was lifted, she went back into devil dog mode snarling and barking hysterically. It so happened that I had a second car outside my house, recently deceased and bound for the scrap yard. It was however, in the short term a very comfortable daytime glass kennel for Chelsea. Thus a routine was carved out. Chelsea was walked alone on lead, fed and placed in the car until lunch time. She then witnessed all my other dogs being exercised around her which for the first few days produced the devil dog and at night retired after her walk and meal to the crate.

Amazingly, after about the first week, she lay contentedly in the car whatever my dogs were doing around it and by the end of week two I was able to lift the front cover on the cage and she tolerated my pack in the kitchen. They in turn treated her like a new part of the canine furniture and got on with business as usual. It was a long and unexpected road to our current situation, but one I would never have predicted. Chelsea is one of the least problematic members of the pack, she neither looks for, nor causes any trouble, and the crate and glass kennel where long ago disposed of. I remember the day I opened the crate door. By now the cover was gone and I saw Chelsea sniffing Dorothy through the bars, with both tails wagging furiously. I opened the gate, held my breath and they behaved like long lost friends, immediately playing and running around together. Subsequently Chelsea met the whole pack, is free within it and it feels as if she has been with us forever. This whole process took about three months and after six, I stopped holding my breath!

Chelsea, similarly to Otis is a lesson in socialising early. Much as she is no trouble at all in my pack and fits in perfectly, she still, if given the opportunity would out of fear, attack an unknown dog. In the wild, a dog in a pack would naturally learn it's place within the group but would also naturally aggress strange dogs outside the pack. Chelsea is only doing what instinct tells her to do, but had she been mixed with dogs freely as a puppy, this fear based aggression would not have arisen. I owe her a debt of gratitude for the learning experience and she daily enhanced all our lives with her antics. Her alias is Monkey Hands, since she can open any door with a handle and frequently does!

Having worked out that Chelsea could only safely have complete freedom in a secure environment with private land and given her perfect integration into the pack I decided to keep her.


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