Guy, it is really good of you to help dogs like Barney who obviously have a lot of behavioural issues...Hope you can help him back to a better balanced dog and I look forward to his progress on your "diary".
Also hope Catja recovers quickly, maybe a day by the fireplace?!
Trials and shoots are hard work considering the amount of ground these dogs cover.
See you at Bunwell I hope...
Thanks to all who wish Catja well - she is now a lot better nearly 100% and is on restricted activity.
Barney Rubble - I hope all will be well with him he is a lovely chap. I know he comes with documented issues; but I feel I must take him as I find him and work from there. I think his owner is quite brave letting a complete stranger have him, but I believe this is because she actually loves him to bits but has come to the end of her tether with him. Certainly he has made a lot of mess to her house - which she and her partner have put a lot of work into making very nice.
He was initially introduced only to Ellie - as she loves everyone. He with his muzzle on. He growled a bit and lunged a bit but she just stood her ground with her hackles up and then walked away from him. Within minutes he was happy to wall side by side with no animosity and when they were allowed to run free they just did their own thing. By the end of the walk they could walk alongside each other he without muzzle.
When we got home I went through introducing each to him starting again with Ellie - he one side of a baby gate and one of mine the other. The most interesting thing was the difference in the way each dog reacted. Ellie and he had a bit of a standoff and hackle rise before settling. Catja just looked at him, walked at him and he backed off and Topaz and he pointedly ignored each other. Within half an hour and a meal later they were lying on the floor together.
The night was without much sleep for Julia and I and Barney- I think he was disturbed by the cows clanging their stalls over the way, the mice in the polystyrene insulation above his head and his general disapproval of being not in the lap of luxury. His barks went from indignation to demanding to poor me to insistant to hopeful. His morning walk saw him meet what i suspect was his first cow Work saw him in a garden in Marlborough tied to a pergola - but happy all the same. The same garden Topaz escaped from once by jumping the wall at the back to land about 8ft below where he started.
Anyway he is now travelling in the car with all the others without his muzzle on and is walking without it and only on a long line. There is a lot of hope for this boy.
I have yet to see him shut an eye. _________________ Guy, Ellie, Topaz, Catja and in memory Barley
Beauty from Structure
www.epagneulbreton.org.uk
Who needs Cesar Millan when we have got Guy
My hat off to you, you are doing a great job and people like you and Sue give hope to dogs whose destiny might be quite different otherwise...
See how little Catja loves you Guy
He is very lucky to have you helping him I do so hope he can stay with his owner who so obviously loves him very much _________________ Lin, owned by Rudi and Copper the Brittanys & Zac the Springer.
Who needs Cesar Millan when we have got Guy
My hat off to you, you are doing a great job and people like you and Sue give hope to dogs whose destiny might be quite different otherwise...
See how little Catja loves you Guy
They all love him....Topaz is so trying to be cool and laid back about the "incomer" but is giving a sideways look at the camera as if to say "It's ok...me and the boss are working together on this" _________________ Lin, owned by Rudi and Copper the Brittanys & Zac the Springer.
So is his owner really that bad at handling him? Are you saying he does not have aggression issues? Why does she keep him muzzled? _________________ Annie
Handle every situation like a dog, if you can't eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away
The owner is a lightly built young woman, Barney is a headstrong Brittany. He is her first ever dog. She took him to obedience classes when she first had him and the trainer asked her to swop leads with the dog adjacent - because she had Barney on a short lead and the adjacent small dog was on a long one. The two dogs got into a fight and the 'trainer' then tried to separate them using pepper. A traumatic experience for all I believe and one that led to Barney being expelled from the class and then on advice being kept from other dogs or only allowed out with a muzzle.
Barney displays a very pronounced prey drive - the visual fixing of distant moving targets, crouching down at a distance and of course his determined and aggressive approach to new dogs. But, oddly I feel, his 'play' drive is severely inhibited. He has a highly developed 'watchdog' bark. If you do as he wants all is fine. He has a highly developed desire to mark anything and everything - several times, inside and out. He associates with people very well.
So in answer to the initial question is he badly handled - Based on the knowledge and experience and advice the owner has had - not at all. would different advice and handling have made a difference - at the moment I think 'yes' .
Does he have 'aggression' issues - at the moment he most certainly does; They may be 'hard wired' or they may be learned - that I have yet to make a final decision on- but my thinking is very much going along the learned path - he has after all gone from not coping with another dog at all to being with three others in 24 hours. But he has also gone from being 'top dog' to 'nobody', which may well come as a relief to him- he will be able to stop being 'responsible' for all his 'pack' and with luck he will be able to find the 'inner dog' in himself.
I am no 'trainer' or behaviourist and so many things are changing in his life at once it may be hard to pinpoint the real solution. His position in the household has been changed, his pack has changed, his environment has changed even what and when he eats is different. He has gone from 8 hours a day on his own to no time to himself.
He was also muzzled when out as this from experience inhibited how far he ran from the owner. Without a muzzle it was literally miles, with a muzzle it was only hundreds of metres before he returned. _________________ Guy, Ellie, Topaz, Catja and in memory Barley
Beauty from Structure
www.epagneulbreton.org.uk
I sincerely hope you can turn this dog around and let Nicola have him back as it is obvious to me that the trainer in the obedience class was something akin to useless, and Nicola loves him so much. What a pity she was so badly advised as to let the poor dog get into that state.
If the muzzle keeps him close, are you going to train the stop and recall to oblivion so he no longer needs it? Or do you think that may be too much to hope for?
I do wish you the best of luck.
_________________ Annie
Handle every situation like a dog, if you can't eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away
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Work saw him in a garden in Marlborough tied to a pergola - but happy all the same. The same garden Topaz escaped from once by jumping the wall at the back to land about 8ft below where he started.
