Happy Tails - Part 1
Today we are talking about happy tails! This is our first installment of our Happy Tails Series. These segments address some of our success stories with different pups who have come to us with various social and behavioral issues. If you haven’t read our post about why we think socializing your dogs is important, you can read about it here!
This is Buddy.
Buddy first came to us at about 5 to 6 months of age. His Dad had wanted to take a trip for a week or so without leaving him home alone or with a friend, who would still be stranger to Buddy. The difficulty Buddy’s Dad was facing was that Buddy was what he deemed to be aggressive with, and afraid of other dogs. He told us that at an even earlier age, Buddy’s first encounter with another dog was when that dog attacked him quite viciously. So, not surprisingly, Buddy from then on out was pretty afraid of other dogs. His Dad explained that Buddy lived on quite a large property with little to no interaction with other people or other pups. With the exception of a few dogs who walk by on the road or live next door and bark at him through the fence. Buddy does not take lightly to these situations either.
We met Buddy at our 4 Pawz property and had his Dad bring him in around back on his lead at first to ensure he felt comfortable an secure with us. All in all, he was a very sweet and excitable pup. We took him off his lead and let him sniff around and explore the yard while we chatted to Buddy’s Dad about his experiences. We decided to introduce him on the lead to our two resident pups Ginger and Bridget, who are experienced social and pack dogs. What we came to learn was Buddy was not just wary of other dogs, but down right terrified, he was frantic and entered flight/fight mode pretty fast, as soon as he even laid eyes on another pooch. It was easy to see that based on Buddy’s first (and only) encounter with another dog he was assuming ALL dogs were were potential threats to him from the get go. After observing his behavior for the next hour with Ginger and Bridget, we asked Buddy’s Dad if he wouldn’t mind bringing him back the next day and the day after that before he left on his vacation so that we could test Buddy a little more. Due to his level of fear and what looked and sounded like aggression (while he was on the leash), we weren’t sure how this was going to work out. Buddy was extremely afraid. However, the more we watched him, the more we noticed that he was a lot of bark and no bite. In fact, it looked like he really didn’t know what to do, and kept running behind his Dad for safety and comfort. We decided that, while he seemed to be a challenging case, he was still so young and learning so many things about the world that we could work with him to change his mind :)
The next day, Buddy came back and we brought him back into our yard and once again introduced him to Ginger and Bridget. Immediately Buddy went into panic mode.There were hackles up and a lot of barking and running away. Once again, it just seemed like a lot of frantic warnings from a pup who really didn’t know what to expect from these new dogs that he kept encountering. We took him off his leash so that he wouldn’t feel restrained and we threw the ball around for our girls, who paid not attention to Buddy, and as they ran around playing together with the ball, we noticed that Buddy started to relax. He had placed himself close to the door of the Retreat and then started to approach us as he kept a careful eye on the girls. He would still hide behind us or his Dad, and bark a little or whine when they came too close. We asked that his Dad move away from him when he did this and to not give him the comfort he was seeking because we did not want to reinforce the behavior. Once Buddy realized he was out there on his own, and he was NOT in fact in danger, he warmed up a bit. He sat down on the grass and watched the girls go back and forth chasing the ball. He even let Ginger and Bridge come up to him and smell him. When they ran away from him chasing the ball he would put on a bit of a show and chase after them. Ha! I showed them :)
On the third trial day for Buddy, he did not react the same way upon entering the yard and he was not vocal at all when we let the girls out to play and meet him. He still backed away at first when they came bounding into the yard to meet him. He was still a little unsure, but his fear was turning into something much more manageable. He was starting to be curious. We decided that Buddy was a case we would be happy to take on and we accepted to board him while his Dad went on vacation. We assured him that we would continue to work with him in the same way while he was gone.
Well, by the 5th day that Buddy was with us, he was not nervous at all to come out and meet other dogs. He learned to play fetch from watching our girls After spending so much time observing them, he decided on this day he would join in. He would run with them a little at first, trying to get his bearings and figure out how this game really worked. During this time we decided to bring out a few of the other pups staying with us. We started with a few very laid back and more senior dogs who would be a bit more reserved and polite when greeting Buddy. I think he appreciated this, and was wagging his tail as he let them sniff him and even followed them around sniffing them back!
By the 7th day, Buddy was out running full tilt (and keeping up!) with our girls playing fetch AND comfortable with the entire pack in our group play session.. He was out with 10 dogs that day and showed zero signs of aggressive behavior. He did not bark or growl once upon meeting them. He was still a bit cautious at first, but his bounce back was much quicker. He had way more confidence and was learning the social rules of a group and pack mentality. He learned that all dogs will sniff him when they first meet him, and he was allowed to do the same to them. He was submissive, instead of fearful and frantic. He was full of energy and wanted to play!. While this took time and patience on both our parts, we were all happy with the end result, Buddy especially!
We have had Buddy stay with us on a few occasions. since working with him. His Dad was instructed to keep up his social practice by taking him on walks and to parks if possible. He has grown in size and is a bit older now, but we can safely say that when he first enters the yard with other dogs, his reaction is completely different. He enters with confidence and bounds into the group, tail up and tongue out! He plays in our group play session every time and is now always excited to meet new friends!
What has your experience been like with your pup and meeting new pups for the first time? Do you have experience with social issues after an attack? Tell us your stories!
*** This socialization session was carried out in a safe, secure and supervised positive atmosphere. We don’t encourage doing this without the proper tools, supervision and experience.