Tom, our Sheltie x Collie arrived with us at the age of 1 on Feb 24th 2010 from the rescue center at Lizzies Barn. We knew he had been moved around a lot in his short life, he was born and kept in a shed in Ireland with his sister (possibly abused), rescued, chipped, snipped, vaccinated and then moved to Wales. He was rehomed in a flat with his sister but the family were unable to handle him so a month later they kept his sister but sent Tom back to the rescue center.
This must have been very hard for Tom, as his sister was probably his only companion and source of comfort, now he was alone. When we first saw him, he came bounding up to us and put his front legs around Nicks legs and wouldn't let go.We realised Tom had a variety of issues but we knew that he was coming home with us and that we were now on a long path to helping him recover from his poor start in life.The following is our story of the last one and a half years about how we have - and are continuing to help Tom overcome his fears to be a happy go lucky and care free dog. I hope you enjoy......
Toms Story - Dog Aggression - Resolved!
To put Toms issue in a nutshell, whenever Tom saw another dog, he would start to bark ferociously, he would lunge towards other dogs teeth bared (although never got close enough to bite), he would pull on the lead, be hugely energised, would not listen to you, had no interest in any kind of treats or food, and in extreme cases he would get so wound up his tongue would go blue. The only way to stop this was to take him away from the situation. These issues also extended to strange people, the presence of any stranger whether in the street or a visitor to our home, would send Tom into a similar display with lots of barking. He was nervous of everything, generally lacked a lot of confidence, didn't know what toys were, didn't know what rawhide chews were and suffered greatly with separation anxiety.
The sad thing is, Tom is a really affectionate, sociable dog once he is comfortable with people. He has always been wonderfully behaved in the home and all of our friends and family love him.
We first found that he had a dog issue when we took him for a walk within the first few weeks and we met our local vicar walking her three King Charles Spaniels along the lane. The noise from Tom was so bad – the squealing, the whining and barking, it brought our neighbour rushing out from her house as she thought someone or something had been run over! We wondered if this would ease over time, after all he had only been with us a short while and he probably needed to settle but unfortunately it didn't. The next encounter with two little cairn terriers was the same and we knew we had to do something.
When Tom was in the rescue centre he did live with other dogs, however we wonder if being moved from pillar to post 5 times, he could have somehow been protecting us. Also being cooped up for the first 6 months of his life in Ireland, along with, so we believe, being beaten, could have severely effected him. From looking at Tom in the photo below taken in July 2011 he is so happy now in contrast.
The Local Puppy Classes
So we booked him into puppy classes in our local village hall. Paid for the use of the hall for a year and a 7 week course. Took him each week and couldn't even get him though the door. As soon as he saw another dog he barked with teeth bared and the echoing of the hall made it worse. Everyone – and I mean everyone knew about us right from the start! They all kind of looked at us and felt sorry for us as we had a problem dog, or looked at us as if to say – what on earth?!
We persevered. we went every week in order to use the hall to sit and watch the classes to get use to Tom seeing other dogs.We didn't have to start our puppy class until we felt ready – or until we could get tom to be in there without having a fit for more than 10 minutes. Everyone was really nice there, however because it was run by a variety of people there were 4 trainers who all had their own take and idea of how we should be dealing with Tom. None of them had the answer for us but all gave us advice – BUT all glaringly different and conflicting advice. We were utterly confused as to what to do in the end. I think if you had a well rounded dog, they could teach it, however bring Tom and his problems into the equation, it was an utter disaster. After 4 months we pretty much gave up and felt that we needed to find a single trainer, with perhaps more experience.
The Local Trainer
We needed to find someone local who could hopefully work with us with Toms dog aggression problems. We found a trainer about a 40 minute drive from us who mainly did obedience and agility and asked if we could bring him to her. She had a ménage where she did open air classes and this seemed a much better environment for Tom to be in. At this point all we were thinking was that we needed to get tom mixing and seeing other dogs and thought if we took him once a week that he would gradually get better. We started with 3 one to one lessons and then she placed us in the rescue group with 7 other dogs. Some weeks Tom would be fairly good, and after the initial lunging and being energised he would calm down through the second half hour, but any sudden movement from a dog and Tom would still react. The positive part of the obedience training was the opportunity to try agility, which he loved and it was really good for him. Also the obedience routines were very good and we have continued working on this ourselves.
As the months went by we thought things would gradually improve for us, however after 7 months things were seeming to get worse. I found it a huge struggle to do the obedience in the class while I was being pulled and dragged around whilst he lunged for the other dogs and at that point I still had no clue as to how to stop him from doing it. It was sole destroying as I knew that Tom was perfect at all of the obedience we were being asked to do when we were at home, however at the classes he just would not listen due to being so preoccupied with the other dogs.
The advice I was getting from the trainer seemed to be more about me as being the problem. If I was stronger with him, if my voice was stronger, if I was tougher and firmer, if I held the lead correctly - then Tom would be better. It was as though I was supposed to be changing my personality and if I did, Tom would not do the things he was doing. This was all very confusing.
I was exhausted mentally and physically and I felt my bond with Tom was lessening as the weeks went by. I began to dread the lessons, my confidence with Tom was at an all time low. The last lesson with Tom just wasnt right and we felt that we had come as far as we could. We decided to stop going and take a few weeks to decide what to do. I have to say at this point we have no ill feeling towards any of the trainers who have seen Tom. We learnt a great deal from all of them but we really needed to see someone with specific expertese in dog agression.
The Behaviourist
After about two weeks we decided that we should probably get a behaviourist for Tom. We spoke to our vet and a variety of people 'in the know' and no one could really recommend a local behaviorist to us. We started to look around on the internet and one site stood out to me. I read the whole site and thought - this is the guy for us! Peter Mounsey is a dog trainer and behaviorist and specialises with dog aggressive dogs and if anyone could help Tom, surely it would be him. The most important part of his site, for us, was his client testimonials section. This huge list details the problems displayed by each dog, a brief outline of how Peter helped, followed by feedback from the owner.
Reading through these cases, we were amazed at the similarities between Tom and these dogs. The only problem was he was 190 miles away! I rang on the off chance, hoping that he could either help us or would know someone who could. Upon chatting to him, giving him a bit of a run down of Toms problems he said he would be able to travel up to us for a home visit, if we could do two environmental's in Exeter.
We were happy with this and booked him for that following Thursday after completing a long questionnaire about Tom that he could study before he arrived.
Peter stayed for 5 hours, the first two hours were talking about Toms problems, overcoming some issues we had in the home and then working with Tom and Peters own dogs which he uses as stooge dogs. He has three beautiful rottwilers called Robynne, Tara and Callum. Up until this point you have to remember we have never been able to let tom near another, dog let alone be off the lead with one. Within half an hour Peter had worked with Tom and his two rottweilers and they were moseying around in our garden quiet happily. It was a miracle! We just could not believe it. We then went out on the lane and did some more, very important work with the dogs, with some lead work and traffic work. Within 5 minutes Tom was walking to heel, something we had never done and still does this to this day.
By the time Peter left we were elated. Our confidence had risen, our spirits had risen and we were ready to practice what we had learnt. We have to stress here that no harsh training methods were used.
We had booked our first environmental for the following Thursday and traveled to Exeter to work more with Peter's Rottweilers and also to get out and about to meet other dogs on the lead. We did lead work walking passed dogs, we had Tom on the 20 foot lead in the park (so we could grab it if needed) and also visited a very bust train station with trains arriving and leaving, people boarding etc. Tom did very well and we left with a plan of action to follow before the next environmental.
We spent a good couple of months putting into practice Peters advice. This really helped us get out and about, having the confidence to walk with Tom passing other dogs without him barking or lunging using Peters techniques. Tom was settling more in the home and also beginning to relax a little. Before, Tom was always on edge but now he was learning to chill a bit. Tom is and will always be a very nervous dog, all stemming from his previous life, but things were seeming to come together a bit for him and his confidence was growing.
So nearly to the present day now and we have had our second and final environmental in Exeter. It was wonderful. Actually is was pretty amazing. We arrived and met Peter along with a dog walker with two of the dogs she walks which were very laid back - a lab and a collie. We let Tom off the lead and walked around the park with all three – no barking, no lunging, no extra energy, just a happy go lucky dog. We then worked with Tom and Peters dogs, again no problems. We then spent some time walking around Exters main high street working with people, children, busy traffic, buses and any dogs we met along the way. Our end goal is to be able to pass dogs we encounter whilst on a walk without any adverse reaction from Tom. We did it in Exeter!
The Next Chapter
Our next chapter has to be to work with Tom, getting out and about, putting Tom into different situations and practicing everything we have learnt. We know Peter is only an email or a telephone call away for advice which is very reassuring.
In my opinion, training classes and local classes aren't places for problem dogs like Tom. A dog like Tom needs clear, straight forward, direct one to one training to help resolve their specific issues.
Cost (within reason) was never a consideration for us, we had a problem and we were prepared to do almost anything to resolve it. However, I would hate to add up the 11 months of various forms of training (plus petrol money), countless harnesses, halti devices, muzzels, leads, collars etc all designed to help problem dogs. All of these purchases have sat in a cupboard since Peters first visit. If only we had known, or had been given advice to see a specialist at the start, Toms problems could have been sorted out far sooner.
We would not hesitate to recommend Peter to anyone with a problem dog, particularly a dog with aggression issues. Peter deals with many dogs like Tom, and as Peter has said on his website, "he has never met a problem dog he couldn't improve". It worked for Tom.
Here's Tom in Summer July 2011. Nick filmed this on his ipod and had the camera up the wrong way so its a very arty shot in the middle of the screen but its quite comical. Tom playing in a trug of water....
Tom's poems...
The illustration and poem below were created by a wonderful lady and her husband - Jon and Moon. Jon wrote the poem and sent it to us, we had tears in our eyes when reading it, and it bought it home as to how lucky we are to have Tom with us. Moon asked if we would like it illustrated and of course we jumped at the chance! Moon has illustrated it perfectly with our little cottage, Nick and myself - she has got us just right, with me wearing wellies all the time too, I practically live in them! And then there's Tom looking towards his new home - absolutely perfect! Thank you guys! : )
A member of our family has written a very moving poem about Tom. Fred is a very prolific poet and has written children's stories for his grandchildren and poems for them too. We are honoured to have a poem written for Tom by Fred and we hope that you all enjoy it too.
Toms Poem - By Fred Starr
He enters the room so softly, his head held high and proud;
He likes some individuals but isn't so keen on a crowd.
He heads straightway to Melanie, or Nick if she's not around;
He prefers a quiet approach, he's nervous when a noise is loud.
He will take what food is on offer, and some that most certainly is not;
He prefers the cold cuts if it's possible, he's not too keen when it's hot.
A cake waiting there on the table is tempting and smells very nice;
He gobbles all he can manage although he had to climb on the table twice.
He hates being alone in the garden, a toy is no recompense;
He barks and he cries quite loudly, he even attacks the fence.
But as soon as he hears Melanie calling, his character reverts to the norm;
He knows she's coming to get him and soon he'll be back in the warm.
He thought he might try the headphones, as Melanie often did;
When Melanie got very angry he went to his bed and hid.
A replacement had to be found, assessments had to be done;
Although Melanie wasn't amused he thought it was good fun.
So when you read this poem, read it gently and please don't shout;
The subject of this material is Tom with the pretty snout.
He's a dog whose had his problems but now they are in the past;
He's found his Melanie and Nick and this time he hopes it will last.
