When it all pays off!!!!

I haven't written on this blog for ten days, I am such a disgrace and apologise to those following!

I wanted to share a moment of wonder with you all that I managed to capture on video. I took Ben for a walk around a local golf course, not where people play golf but there are hedges around the large course which makes a lovely walk, a bit of a hill fest for my liking but it does me good!

Anyway it was early and it was raining so I knew it would be quiet. I took Ben's favourite fetch toy, the KONG flyer Frisbee, which is basically a floppy Frisbee made of rubber. We are playing fetch and another dog comes bounding over, turns out its a female Labradoodle I find out when I talk to the owner. I reassure Ben its okay and they sniff each other and the Labradoodle gets bored and goes back to her owner. Me and Ben carry on and come across this dog again, the owner doesn't have any control over it to be honest and the Labradoodle wants Ben's floppy Frisbee!

And then this happened........

 

 

Its hard to tell which dog it Ben but he is the dog holding the Frisbee! It was so amazing to watch this, Ben likes to play with dogs but generally he will only play with dogs he knows. I am still smiling about this a week later. It just shows you that working with your dog in a positive way and being consistent and patient does pay off. 

 

 



Lots of positivity this week :-)

Me and Ben have had excellent walks this week. He has made some new friends following a plea I made on a Labrador group for small socialisation walks. It has been a massive step forward for him and there has been no signs of reactivity or aggression. Will be meeting up with these dogs again for more fun, I feel so positive! The more positive experiences he has with other dogs, the better.

From left to right - Harley, Lizzie, Ruby and Ben

 

Lucy with Ben

Lucy and Ben waiting for me to throw the ball!

 

This week we also walked with Ben's best buddy Ripley who he knows very well
Picture by LiveLoveLabs Photography - https://www.facebook.com/livelovelabsphotography?fref=ts

Roxy, Ripley and Ben swimming!!!
Picture by LiveLoveLabs Photography - https://www.facebook.com/livelovelabsphotography?fref=ts



Two steps forward....ONE step back

Whenever Ben had an 'incident' with another dog, I used to feel so disheartened afterwards and like all the work I have put in has gone down the pan. Therefore perhaps the title should be 'One step forward....TWO steps back' which is the correct saying! But it's not because as long as the majority of his encounters with other dogs are positive then I know he is on the right track. Before, we could not go a few days without a reaction to another dog, now its more weeks and even months. I have totally accepted that there will be occasions where he will react in a situation completely out of my control.

A few weeks back now, a dog off lead approached him when he was on lead. I knew Ben would not be happy as he was on lead which makes him feel like he cannot get away should he need too. I called to the owner to ask her to put the dog on lead and she shouts "I wont be able to get him back now". So I said "my dog can by reactive with other dogs so you may want to grab your dog". Anyway the dog made it to Ben and Ben pinned the other dog to the ground with his body for a few seconds. The other dog was not hurt in anyway but for a spilt second I felt very frustrated but then I remembered all the progress we have made. I ended the walk at this point because I didn't want Ben to be all tense should I have carried on and we encountered further dogs.

I have therefore decided to order Ben a 'I need space' yellow vest from the yellow dog campaign website. I have done a blog post about this campaign previously. Hopefully this will limit the problems we can potentially have with off lead dogs.

Could it be down to the other dog?

In the past month or so I have come to the realisation that with Ben his reaction totally depends on the other dog. Previously, I have thought perhaps its where we are walking or the situation but I am just about certain its the other dog. Perhaps location does play a part too but I think the other dog plays a bigger part. Obviously, I am not saying Ben doesn't have an issue, because he does, it's his reaction around those dogs that do cause a problem for him that he needs to learn to tone down. He is learning to tone it down with some dogs and I notice instead of bark, growl and lunge it could just be a low growl and that's it.

Last week, I had to take my car to the garage for new tyres. I dropped the car off and walked Ben to a café nearby after playing Frisbee on a field also nearby. The café is handy as they come out to you to take your order so I didn't run the risk of leaving Ben unattended. We were sat about 3 metres from people walking past the café. I got his favourite treats out and sat back and enjoyed my coffee. Ben was happily panting away after playing fetch and watching the world go by. Six dogs walked by with there owners during the time we were sat there. How many did he react too? He reacted to two of the dogs by barking and hackles raised. The only two dogs that actually looked at him and who appeared to me quite challenging in their stance. The other dogs just ambled past calmly and he just looked at them and then at me for a treat.

The other day in the car, we drove past a dog walking along the street and he did a low growl. We then drove past another dog and he just looked at it and was not bothered at all. Its a no wonder I have such a difficult job of helping him because I cannot control the signals other dogs are giving to him and as touched on in other blog posts, dog body language is so subtle. This is why I know he cannot be 'cured' and he has to be managed and I have to keep learning from his signals and the signals of other dogs we encounter.