animalsolutions.ie

Over the past week the weather has been steadily improving & so it seems has everybody’s mood. It’s amazing how a little bit of sunshine brings out the best in all of us. All animals love the sunshine & the longer evenings too. When cows get turned out to grass for the first time after being shut in for the winter, they literally leap for joy at the freedom of an open field & the promise of a more natural diet. Hares begin to appear & birds start thinking about finding a mate rather than having to forage for their next meal.

It’s the same with our pets. My dog has been lying out enjoying the sun on her back all day today. She moves to the shade when she gets too hot & then back to the sun’s warmth. She appears happier  - or maybe it just seems that way because I’m enjoying the pleasure of a warm spring day. Certainly the arrival of the sun after days of gloomy clouds brings a lift to all our spirits.

Spring is also a great time to start training your dog, to teach new tricks, or generally reinforce the routines & commands which may have lapsed during the winter. It’s also a good time to join a class to ‘stretch’ your own & your pet’s skills. It could be a refresher course in basic training, agility, advanced obedience or some specific training such as ‘loose leash walking’ with which you may have a difficulty. Reinvigorating your own skills & stimulating your pet in some way will deepen that bond between you both.

To anyone who may have been following my blog & wondering why I’d written nothing for weeks, I apologize. I was inundated with so much rubbishy spam that I had to deal with it. I think I have been successful, which is a relief.

So from now on I hope to post blogs on a regular basis about dogs, dog training, holistic therapies for all animals & anything else that I feel needs a comment. Please watch this space & if you are interested enough to comment on any of these subjects, I would be glad to hear from you.

It was a beautiful morning on Tuesday last, crisp with a touch of frost, blue skies & sunshine. Nutmeg & I decided it was a good day for a long walk. In the cool morning, scent was obviously very good & she spent time dwelling on all the new smells left by other dogs.

I’d chosen a cul-de-sac because it was quiet & ended in a lovely view of the Bandon river & we were enjoying the peaceful surroundings. Unfortunately, our idyll was interrupted by two large dogs charging out of their driveway, the older dog, with hackles up barking in a determined manner as he approached us. The younger dog followed up the rear but was busy copying the older dog’s confrontational attitude but in a rather bewildered way as he didn’t fully understand the reason for it.

I stood my ground & let out a roar to stop the first dog in his tracks before he reached Nutmeg in ‘attack mode’. His owner was in her yard, getting her kids into the car for school. She yelled at the two dogs to return to her but they took no notice. As I refused to budge, the older dog had to turn away & they both finally got as far as the entrance to the driveway.

Whereupon their owner rewarded them with ‘Good Dog!’ several times. I’m assuming she thought she was praising them for their recall quite oblivious to the fact that they had returned to the yard in their own time – & certainly not because of her repeatedly calling them. Once she got into the car, they immediately ran outside again: the older dog to continue being confrontational & the younger dog to chase after the car for at least a mile.

It was quite obvious from her manner that she was furious with the dogs, angry at her inability to get them to do what she wanted & resenting my presence for causing all this! All of these things were so negative. But the real problem was that she had just praised her dog for being confrontational with casual passersby & reinforced that behaviour with her ‘Good Dog’. She was probably trying to encourage the dogs to return to her not realizing that they certainly weren’t coming back to her yard because she asked them to.

Dogs live in the present. They do something & then it’s forgotten in a minute & they’re on to the next thing. So when she called her dogs; they didn’t respond to the recall. When they finally went back in; she praised them. Unfortunately, the last behaviour was the older dog’s confrontational attitude which she was inadvertently rewarding.

I imagine this behaviour has been escalating purely because the dog thinks that’s exactly what his owner wants! That’s how easily behavioural problems can start – & all because her timing was wrong.

About two years ago or maybe even longer, a dog arrived at the Rescue centre where I work one morning a week. She looked like a Sheltie X & was completely traumatized having lived all her life tied up in a barrel. The first few months in the centre, she was angry with everyone but especially humans. You couldn’t go near her. Then one of the carers seemed to make headway with her in that the dog allowed her to occasionally touch her.

I began working on her using TTouch to see if it would help her. At first, the carer had to catch & muzzle her before I could work with her. Slowly but surely, I seemed to be making progress until one day, I plucked up courage, caught her & muzzled her myself & worked away with her.

This pattern lasted for a few months until one day I left off the muzzle & she allowed me to work on her without either of us feeling under pressure. And then it came to me that she wanted to be groomed! That was a breakthrough, & from then on we made great progress together.

Soon I was able to just call her by name, open the gate & she would come out & I’d spend time talking to her, grooming & doing TTouch. Each week, when I walked past her kennel, she would look me in the eye as though expecting me to get her out. It seemed that she had accepted the fact that some humans could be trusted. And she grew to love the attention that she received.

But, sadly, although her photograph was placed on the website for re-homing, there were few, if any enquiries, & certainly none suitable. And then one day, someone came to look at her & took her home. But, unfortunately, her new home didn’t work out & she was brought back by a neighbour within 36 hours.

It seemed that she was going to be a permanent inmate of the Rescue centre. Until just about three weeks ago, a wonderful lady walked into the kennels with the sole purpose of looking at her. It seemed like there was an instant rapport. The lady in question had had another dog from the same awful situation so she understood what had happened. She also had had many rescue dogs & knew what to expect. However, she needed to think about it. It seemed as though this dog was going to get passed over yet again.

And then, a few days later, the lady returned. She had, in fact thought it through & was willing to adopt her along with another dog. It’s been at least a fortnight now & apart from telling the centre that the Sheltie was following her around from room to room, there has been no other news.

So we’ve all begun to relax a little, & to be a little optimistic that this time, & after so many years in the centre, this dog has finally got the kind of life that she deserves.

I have to confess that Nutmeg is spoilt! However she also knows her boundaries. We have fun together but she also recognizes that when I ask her to do something I really mean it. Not only that, I expect her to do it immediately.  She’s a happy dog because she knows exactly where she stands with me.

I’ve just come from a lovely couple with a beautiful terrier type who is spoilt – & has no boundaries. He’s not a happy dog because he has no respect for his owners. They love him to bits. There’s nothing wrong with that. The problem lies in the fact that they never say ‘no’ to him. He demands their food & to sleep on their bed. He marks the territory all over the house & has even been known to pee on their legs! He has the complete run of the house. All these privileges, but he doesn’t appreciate them.

It has been said many times that when we humans get something for nothing or with very little effort, we don’t appreciate it. If we have to work hard to get something, it’s value then increases enormously & we cherish it. I reckon our pets view privileges in much the same way!

I’m sitting here looking out at a dismal, wet landscape. It’s miserable & there doesn’t seem to be any let up in the rain. At least I got out with Nutmeg before the heavens really opened. So we’re back home & now dry & cosy. But I wonder about all those dogs who are confined to living outside. I know that dogs always lived outside in the past with a porch or stable their only shelter. But in those times, they were hardier & generally mixed breeds. Now we have these specialized breeds: purebred dogs who have neither the emotional nor the physical resilience to withstand the constant cold & damp of Irish winters.

In this type of weather, dogs kept outside are always cold, damp, their coats wet & dirty, their whole demeanour miserable.

Yet some people just don’t believe in allowing their dogs into the house. But dogs are pack animals & thrive on company. Left to their own devices, they can get into mischief, develop behavioural problems, and worse. I question them on their reason for getting a dog in the first place. Dogs give us so much: affection, companionship, loyalty, etc. Don’t they deserve some creature comforts in return?

I think all animals are intuitive but dogs especially so. It also seems that the more ‘connected’ we are with our pets, the more we pick up from each other. We seem to have lost this facility through ‘progress’. It’s possible to work at getting it back & is well worth it.

I have so many examples of how telepathic and/or intuitive my own dogs are & the ones I work with as a trainer & therapist. But one particular situation springs to mind. Some time ago, I used to be friendly with an elderly couple who lived near me. At the time I had another boxer, Freya. She loved visiting them because the lady would give her loads of treats & then she would bound upstairs to say hello to her husband. He was unable to come downstairs as he was suffering from prostrate cancer & spent his days between his bedroom & a lovely airy study that looked out across the countryside.

Freya would dash upstairs, put her front paws on his lap & lick his face. I know it must have been an effort for him in his failing health to have this large boxer jumping over him but this was a ritual that both enjoyed immensely. And neither was prepared to give it up!

Shortly before he passed away, he was moved to a nursing home. After that, it was only a matter of days. I went to see him in the home to say my goodbyes & returning to the car, Freya wouldn’t speak to me. I couldn’t even raise a tail wag from her. I drove off to my appointment in West Cork & while driving, I got the inevitable phone call: he had died only about an hour after my visit. Could Freya have known, I wondered?

She convinced me a few days later when I called on the widow in her home. Freya took a couple of treats & then came to lie quietly at my feet. I sat there for a second & then voiced my thoughts: how come Freya had broken the ritual of months & not run upstairs to greet him? She obviously knew that he wasn’t there, so there was no point.

It’s been quite some time since it’s rained every single day but that’s what happened all this week. The mornings were so dark & gloomy I wanted to burrow down further into the bedclothes rather than greet a wet day. But waiting patiently for her walk was little Nutmeg who never seems to mind the weather. Rain, snow, sun – nothing matters to her except a chance to sniff the exciting smells left by other dogs. Which is why I seem to have been permanently saturated this week. It all started with last Sunday morning. I got up at 6am to watch Ireland beat Russia in the Rugby World Cup & by the end of the match the heavens had opened &, despite waterproofs on myself, both Nutmeg & I returned home like drowned rats. Rain certainly didn’t spoil her enjoyment racing around  the open grass spaces on James Fort. The only drawback was there was no-one else braving the elements so she missed having another dog to share her enthusiasm.

And the rest of the week followed the same dreary pattern: if it wasn’t actually tipping out of the heavens, it was either spitting or threatening to do so. What made it worse was the news that points further north & east were having bright sunshine & warmth!

Winter isn’t my favourite time of the year. I long for sunny days & blue skies. It would be great if I could meet each day’s weather with the same equanimity as Nutmeg! However, her love of exercise is an advantage because so many of my clients tell me they can’t get their dog to leave the house on wet days. Mind you, I think translate that to the clients themselves preferring to pull those bedclothes up over their heads!

Over the last few weeks or more I’ve noticed a difference in the type of owners & their dogs that have been calling me for help. People suddenly seem to be more concerned about their dogs’ behaviour. And the dogs themselves are presenting with huge emotional problems.

I’ve been asking myself why & I do believe the answer lies in what’s happening nationwide. The whole country is rocked with unemployment; people are tightening their belts & worrying, worrying, worrying…  Our pets are extremely intuitive & are picking up on all that angst which, in turn, manifests in some form or other of inappropriate behaviour.

This morning I had to go to meet someone & I was a bit concerned about the meeting. I looked at Nutmeg, my beautiful Boxer, & my anxiety was reflected in her eyes.

We’re living in hard times & our dogs are feeling it too.

The evenings are closing in; the mornings aren’t as bright & there is a definite chill in the air. The children are going back to school & the summer holidays unfortunately didn’t fulfill their promise of sunshine-filled days. There’s a buzz in the air as people begin to get busy with the more mundane things such as school runs, going back to work, night classes, etc.

People are suddenly getting interested in puppy classes and solving their dogs’ behavioural problems. I started a new puppy class last Monday in West Cork. It was a big class with a variety of breeds. The first lesson is always a bit fraught for everyone as they try to settle in. You can see which puppies have already got some basic training & which ones are ‘wired to the moon’. The second lesson always brings major improvements as the owners have begun to give their pets five minutes’ training at least once a day. The puppies begin to settle into a formal class atmosphere & learn to ‘meet & greet’ the other dogs appropriately.

It was busy at Ballincollig Regional Park last night. There were a number of people looking for help & possibly ongoing training. All very encouraging.

Unfortunately, Patrick & I won’t be at the Drake’s Pool walk, Carrigaline, tomorrow evening, Thursday as we didn’t manage to change the signs in time. We will get there very soon, I promise!