Pepper: A Success Story
My rescue dog, Pepper. On the left, at the shelter, on the right, in my backyard this past summer.
She was seized by the police on a street corner in Sept of 2007 approximately 15 miles from her home. The only ID she had was a rabies tag hanging from a tattered collar. Through the tag ID number, the municipal shelter identified her owners and made repeated attempts to contact them to no avail, confirming the shelter's suspicions that she had been abandoned. How long she had been a stray is anyone's guess.
After a few weeks, she was adopted. Unfortunately, one week later she was returned due to being heart worm positive and because of "behavioral issues"
Because the shelter was a municipal shelter, with VERY limited funds, she was not long for this world.
Fortunately, she was then taken in by another shelter where she lived for 18 more months in a small cage.
The good news was that they nursed her back to physical health; the bad news was, as with so many shelters, she received next to no training (with the only training being very heavy handed) and she became increasingly aggressive, as well as developing a host of behavior problems.
In May of 2009 I adopted her from that shelter. I was volunteering my time there and got to know her. She rarely made eye contact with me and was clearly in a downward spiral but we somehow connected.
She was seized by the police on a street corner in Sept of 2007 approximately 15 miles from her home. The only ID she had was a rabies tag hanging from a tattered collar. Through the tag ID number, the municipal shelter identified her owners and made repeated attempts to contact them to no avail, confirming the shelter's suspicions that she had been abandoned. How long she had been a stray is anyone's guess.
After a few weeks, she was adopted. Unfortunately, one week later she was returned due to being heart worm positive and because of "behavioral issues"
Because the shelter was a municipal shelter, with VERY limited funds, she was not long for this world.
Fortunately, she was then taken in by another shelter where she lived for 18 more months in a small cage.
The good news was that they nursed her back to physical health; the bad news was, as with so many shelters, she received next to no training (with the only training being very heavy handed) and she became increasingly aggressive, as well as developing a host of behavior problems.
In May of 2009 I adopted her from that shelter. I was volunteering my time there and got to know her. She rarely made eye contact with me and was clearly in a downward spiral but we somehow connected.
Today, she's my best friend and I hope she feels the same way about me.
The moral of the story is that dogs, even with behavioral issues, can be trained to replace their unwanted behaviors with acceptable ones and that this can be achieved without the use of force.
Videos (below)
The moral of the story is that dogs, even with behavioral issues, can be trained to replace their unwanted behaviors with acceptable ones and that this can be achieved without the use of force.
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Videos (below)
In the first video, Pepper enjoying her first romp in the snow.
Training Videos
In video 2, Pepper, who used to respond to "come" with a look that said "let me check my schedule and get back to you" responding to a sound I make as one of my ways of calling her to come.
For video 3, Pepper does her favorite trick "Ding the bell" After completing it, since she figures she has me trained (which is exactly what we want dogs to think) to give her a treat for dinging the bell, she goes back a second time, without being prompted. Oooops, sorry Pepper, that's not how it works. :)
In video 4, Pepper giving me a good "sit stay". You'll notice she targets my hand to get into position, sits when I fold my arms (that's one of the ways I cue "sit") and stays in spite of the fact that I put a NICE butcher's bone in front of her. Gooooood dog.
Video 5 shows Pepper doing the first trick I taught her (while she was still in the shelter).
Video 6 shows my "Heads Up" cue. It's very useful on walks if you want to have your dog focus his/her attention on you and not something else, like another dog who's behaving badly.
Video 7 shows a combination of a solid "sit stay" and a recall as she leaves the food behind (the bowl next to her contains chicken, scrambled eggs and bacon) to come to me when called. Upon arriving I reward her with a helping of what was in the bowl and then we go back to the bowl to allow her to take what she has worked for.
Training Videos
In video 2, Pepper, who used to respond to "come" with a look that said "let me check my schedule and get back to you" responding to a sound I make as one of my ways of calling her to come.
For video 3, Pepper does her favorite trick "Ding the bell" After completing it, since she figures she has me trained (which is exactly what we want dogs to think) to give her a treat for dinging the bell, she goes back a second time, without being prompted. Oooops, sorry Pepper, that's not how it works. :)
In video 4, Pepper giving me a good "sit stay". You'll notice she targets my hand to get into position, sits when I fold my arms (that's one of the ways I cue "sit") and stays in spite of the fact that I put a NICE butcher's bone in front of her. Gooooood dog.
Video 5 shows Pepper doing the first trick I taught her (while she was still in the shelter).
Video 6 shows my "Heads Up" cue. It's very useful on walks if you want to have your dog focus his/her attention on you and not something else, like another dog who's behaving badly.
Video 7 shows a combination of a solid "sit stay" and a recall as she leaves the food behind (the bowl next to her contains chicken, scrambled eggs and bacon) to come to me when called. Upon arriving I reward her with a helping of what was in the bowl and then we go back to the bowl to allow her to take what she has worked for.
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Above picture, on the left, Pepper when she first arrived at the shelter, picked up as a stray, 26lbs, battling heart worms, unwilling to eat.
She knew two words, "Pepper" and "Sit" I think she knew "come" but simply chose to ignore it.
Her problem behaviors were: Not good on walks; extremely reactive to other dogs; reactive to strangers; resource guarder; body touch reactive (required a muzzle at the vet); dislike for all trucks with uniformed drivers, thunder phobic.
Above picture, on the right, Pepper in my backyard, healthy, 51 lbs and definitely not having a problem with her appetite.
She now knows 30 + words and a few dozen hand signals. And performed beautifully in her obedience olympics. :)
She is now GREAT on our favorite activity, walks; she doesn't react to other dogs; she is great with strangers; she is no longer a resource guarder; she loves being touched anywhere (NO muzzle at the vet.
Moral to the story? Never give up on a dog.
Moral to the story? Never give up on a dog.
