It's been awhile since I posted about Scott and Scout as there wasn't really anything new to report. Scott and Scout's reactiveness towards people they are unsure of has continued to improve. They now have little interest in people walking towards us and passing, they don't mind people approaching and will happily stand or sit next to strangers with no problem. At the beginning of September I decided it was time we took the next step desensitising to hands ! I have read a lot on the subject of training and dealing with nervous, reactive dogs but nothing I have read has mentioned how to get them to accept people touching them. Personally I think this is an important hurdle to get a nervous dog over if for no other reason than veterinary examinations so it's surprising it isn't mentioned in behaviour training. Not sure of the best way to start this desensitisation and not wanting to make things worse I asked the advice of a very experienced and knowledgable lady on the subject of dog training and behaviour. You will have heard of her she goes by the name of Kateincornwall Thanks to Kate my dogs are now taking treats from the hands of people who at one time they wouldn't have allowed within six feet of us. Honestly my dogs, Scott and Scout are going to people's closed hands sniffing and nudging them to open so they can get the treat out !!!! If that wasn't miracle enough their improvement with visitors is also amazing. My sister called with her friend a few weeks a go. S&S had never met Fern so it was a good opportunity to test all our training. Fern has always had dogs and she's a police officer so I knew whatever my dogs did wouldn't phase her. I gave her instructions before hand. The instructions for meeting my dogs are very simple IGNORE them no eye contact, no talking, no touching let them make first contact. You'd be surprised though how difficult people find this instruction. In my head this meeting could play out two ways. Either I let the dogs in, they see her, start barking frantic and I remove them then try again on lead slowly or they see her, bark a bit, calm down enough to pick up a toy and wag at arms length barking when she moved. What actually happened I couldn't have dreamt up. Fern followed the instructions to the letter. S&S went to her sniff, nudge, sniff, nudge, collected toys, nudge. After a couple of minutes Fern asked if she could look at them as it was difficult to ignore. I said yes but take it slowly. She ignored that and looked, talked and touched !!! What did my dogs do? My dogs loved her. After about five minutes of her stroking and fussing them Scott was sat in front of her paw in her hand looking adoringly into her eyes while Scout was taking her every toy he could find accompanied by full body wags. They even eventually flopped and went to sleep !!! For a whole afternoon I had "Real Labradors" ☺️ I wanted to post an update of S&S progress for those of you who are interested in where we are up to and also to take the opportunity to say a big thank you to Kate we are so lucky to have her on our forum.
Oh, wow, that is absolutely lovely to read, Jen. I'm so pleased for you all. Well done to Kate for her great advice and to you for putting it into action.
Blimey Seriously though , it sometimes needs someone outside the box to see whats going wrong inside it , glad to have been of help Jen , I do have some uses after all
Jen this is brilliant to read ....what a success hey with your visitor? Kate is so knowledgeable and just 'common sense ' when you are pondering on something ,you are right,the Forum is lucky to have her. S And S must feel so much more relaxed in themselves now...you've helped them so much,really well,done x
Ah Jen....this is fantastic! Actually made me cry. You must be so proud of them. HUGE pat on the back for you too
I haven't been around for a week or so and how glad am I to reply to this thread. FANTASTIC, how hard you have worked Jen and I have never been happier to say WELL DONE to you and massive hugs to S&S We are extremely lucky to have Kate on the forum, her knowledge of looking after rescues and owning dogs is huge. Over the years she has given me some of the best advice and support I have ever had with handling Charlie xx
Ah Helen,so lovely to see you....when Jen said she felt like she had 'real labradors' she brought you to my mind when you used to write about success with Charlie that made him 'real' xxx
Can I just add please , that's its one thing to respond to requests for help , to proffer advice based purely on experience , but its down to the owner to act and work hard . Of course, its lovely to read appreciative words, but real hard work has been employed here , applause is well deserved xx
Well done to all of you . I'm so pleased that you have come so far and can have strangers touch S & S now
Well done Jen. It must have seemed like a very long road when you first started - congratulations for keeping at it when many would have given up (or not even tried in the first place).
I have often wondered how 'the boys' we're getting on. You must have worked long and hard with them to achieve what you have. One dog is hard enough, but TWO! Top of the class and a Gold Star for you.
Thank you all very much. It's lovely to be able to share our progress with people who care and understand especially when it's progress I never thought would happen.
So true. Regular people just don't "get it" when we have what are major breakthroughs for us, but what can seem so insignificant to the rest of the world. We do, though. Us Labrador owners, we understand entirely I love this forum. And I say that from a place of absolute sobriety (unusual, but true).
