Nij Sheepdog Blog
Bertie Blog
Review Six
Kine Dorum - Leicester - 12th November 2010
Hi Nij,
Just thought I'd send you an update on Calvin. There is a already marked difference in his behaviour and general demeanour! We've been stopping him from gluing himself to me, and also cutting short his shadow chasing as soon as he starts to seem too interested in the floor. It's getting easier and easier to snap him out of it, he almost looks a bit half-hearted in his chasing. He doesn't hide from Linus anymore when he's taking him for walks. He generally does less of the hiding under furniture, and when he does, he's quicker to come out again. There was a slight setback on Wednesday evening when we were out walking and a massive fireworks suddenly kicked off ten meters away from us. It took the rest of the evening for him to come down, but we got there in the end.
We've got him a half-check collar, which seems to do the trick when he gets distracted or starts pulling on walks. He's also been wearing a backpack a few times, and it works a treat. He seems a lot more focused (though not quite aware of his own width!) - he looks so cool, like a hound on a mission! I took him to a friend's house the other day, and he did so much better than before. Last time we went there he was incredibly stressed, shadow chased like there was no tomorrow, and spent most of the visit under a chair. This time he was a lot more sociable and he even fell asleep in the middle of the kitchen floor.
A really nice thing happened on our morning run yesterday; we ran into a couple walking a somewhat loud and raucous Collie cross. Rather than staying well clear as he would normally do, Calvin actually went in for a sniff, and the two of them ended up playing. Fancy that!
As I said before, I'm really glad we contacted you. We've now got more structure around us and we're more confident in what we're doing. It's so rewarding to witness the changes happening in Calvin. It's a bit selfish, but I'm almost glad we got a troublesome dog so I could be part of the whole process of making him better!
All the best, Kine
Hi Nij,
Just thought I'd send you an update on Calvin. There is a already marked difference in his behaviour and general demeanour! We've been stopping him from gluing himself to me, and also cutting short his shadow chasing as soon as he starts to seem too interested in the floor. It's getting easier and easier to snap him out of it, he almost looks a bit half-hearted in his chasing. He doesn't hide from Linus anymore when he's taking him for walks. He generally does less of the hiding under furniture, and when he does, he's quicker to come out again. There was a slight setback on Wednesday evening when we were out walking and a massive fireworks suddenly kicked off ten meters away from us. It took the rest of the evening for him to come down, but we got there in the end.
We've got him a half-check collar, which seems to do the trick when he gets distracted or starts pulling on walks. He's also been wearing a backpack a few times, and it works a treat. He seems a lot more focused (though not quite aware of his own width!) - he looks so cool, like a hound on a mission! I took him to a friend's house the other day, and he did so much better than before. Last time we went there he was incredibly stressed, shadow chased like there was no tomorrow, and spent most of the visit under a chair. This time he was a lot more sociable and he even fell asleep in the middle of the kitchen floor.
A really nice thing happened on our morning run yesterday; we ran into a couple walking a somewhat loud and raucous Collie cross. Rather than staying well clear as he would normally do, Calvin actually went in for a sniff, and the two of them ended up playing. Fancy that!
As I said before, I'm really glad we contacted you. We've now got more structure around us and we're more confident in what we're doing. It's so rewarding to witness the changes happening in Calvin. It's a bit selfish, but I'm almost glad we got a troublesome dog so I could be part of the whole process of making him better!
All the best, Kine
