Remy is sweet boy who is good with children and loves to roll in the grass! While Remy has made great progress in our home, Remy finds it difficult to overcome small environmental changes. For example, when a new dog comes into our home, which occurs often for training or evaluation, Remy will often bite without warning when you try to pet him. Why? Remy had obviously been physically harassed and picked on by another dog over a long period of time. While respectful of my own dogs, he becomes very reactive when new dogs are around. He will often react to our petting with a very hard bite not knowing if our hand is a hand or a dog. His relentless fear of being attacked causes him to bite hard without any warning. Most dogs would growl, then snap then bite, but this hadn’t worked for Remy in the past. So his defense mechanism goes straight to a bite. The fact that Remy can’t hear well makes it more difficult for him to relax. Placing Remy in a quiet home with no other dogs and an experienced dog handler will be challenging. Remember, Remy has severe food guarding issues as well, so you must keep your hands clear of his food bowl at all times whether another dog is around or not. Remy has learned to take a treat out of your hand with no problems. Remy is not a bad dog, but he does have fearful habits due to years of abuse.

What can we learn from Remy? If you live in a house hold with more than one dog, please do not allow one dog to physically bully the others. While the dogs can and will determine who is the alpha dog, it is your job to remind each one that YOU are in charge and to protect the weaker ones. Simply make your dogs learn that wonderful things happen when we are all together! I always make sure my dogs have a positive association to each other! I want my dogs to say “Wow, when ever Annie and I are together, Mom gives us treats and affection!” rather than “every time Annie comes near me I get in trouble, therefore I have a negative association to Annie.

Judy

Our newest foster dog is a special needs sheltie named Remy! He is slowly learning the routine of our busy home and seems to be more comfortable every day. Remy is about 9 years old, loves my husband the best and enjoys being outside to roll in the grass! He was surrendered when his owner was moved into a nursing home. While Remy ignores my other 2 dogs and they are very respectful of his space, feeding time may need to be monitored. Remy does not like anyone Human or Dog coming near his food bowl! He has obviously learned this rude behavior from another dog. I am working very hard to teach Remy that good things happen when a hand comes near his bowl, and he has learned to take treats from anyones hand. Remy is very shy at first, he needs an owner who will give him time to build his trust before he will allow you to pick him up or pull on his collar. While I can do these now, at first he snapped in fear as he was not sure what was going to happen to him. Remy also has a thyroid condition and is on a low dose of medicine for this. Anyone interested in Remy can call my home at 207-829-6043.

It is with great happiness that I write to tell you Jenna of Journey Home Rescue has been adopted! Not just adopted, but taken into a lovely home in the country where she has room to run! She is a lucky girl to be joining John and Lorelle who completely adore her and are committed to providing her with a good balance of exercise, discipline and love!

Jenna is a wonderful example of how a young dog with few social skills can quickly improve her behavior through Positive Reward Based Training! A Big Thank You goes out to Journey Home Rescue for giving Jenna not only a second chance, but the skills she needed to succeed in a new home!

I want to thank everyone for keeping me so busy! CBC has had a wonderful summer with fun Classes and successful In Home Consultations. Please check out our new Fall Class schedules as we have several options to choose from!

In addition to coaching humans and training canines, CBC loves to help homeless dogs find their forever homes! So please read on to help Jenna, a delightful hound mix from Journey Home Dog Rescue find the perfect home.

Jenna is 1 year mix of lab, hound and probably boxer. While her family loved her very much, they felt it necessary to re-home her because Jenna is not good with cats and is unpredictable around some dogs and small children that she is not familiar with. CBC recently evaluated her and observed that Jenna’s hunting instinct is stimulated by the movement of small animals and small children. (Many types of hounds hunt mostly by sight not scent.) CBC also noted that Jenna is moderately fearful in certain situations. For instance, she is not comfortable around traffic but tolerates it very well with gentle guidance on her leash. Her confidence improves daily with regular socialization to new environments and her behavior is dramatically different than when Journey Home Dog Rescue first started her training. At this point, if Jenna encounters another dog who is calm and confident she can be near them without a problem. However, if another dog who is fearful or hyper comes into her space she will try to pounce on them. Jenna is saying, "I'm going to get you before you can get me" to the other dog. It often takes fearful dogs several meetings before they feel comfortable together. When Jenna is on her leash we have her sit/stay or down/stay and give her treats as the other dog leaves her space and she is usually fine--she is very obedient.

Fortunately, Jenna absolutely LOVES people! She's your kind of girl if you like jogging, taking long walks, hiking, playing ball or Frisbee. She likes going to the beach and going for rides in the car. Providing Jenna with daily activity and exercise is important to helping her achieve exemplary doggie citizen status.

Jenna is used to wearing the Gentle Leader and is great on her leash. She has an excellent foundation in obedience training and CBC has offered to give a lesson to her new family to get them started on the right foot. Jenna sleeps in her crate at night and is a truly wonderful companion. Although she lived with small children for 7 months and was completely trustworthy with them, she is really not well-suited for a home with children under 12.

For more information about Jenna please contact Journey Home Dog Rescue at 207-878-0180

Pasted Graphic 1

When we bring our new puppies home they must learn new smells, friends and sounds. Our new puppies are often easily over stimulated. Remember, just like a small baby, they need several naps a day! We often find our puppies very inquisitive and fun as they learn their new surroundings at about 10 weeks of age. This is what we all expect in our new family member!

Then at about 16 weeks of age, things change for our puppies. In the wild, this is when a mother would begin to push her puppies away a bit and encourage them to be more independent. Puppies that remain curious and friendly wouldn’t survive for very long. By nature, after 16 weeks of age, our puppies begin to seek things with much more caution and suspicion. They often become fearful of what they have not encountered before. This means that we have a small window of opportunity to introduce our puppies to many new sights, smells and most importantly, sounds!

This process of introductions is known as Socialization. Some people think it only involves meeting other dogs. While that is a large part of socialization, it is only one part of the equation. Slowly introducing our puppies to the world we live in is vastly important. Even if you are providing your puppy with ample love and attention, he still needs to be introduced to new situations in a controlled fashion. It is IMPORTANT, when you introduce your puppy to new places and people, that you be CALM AND CONFIDENT. If you are worried about your puppies feelings, than he or she will be worried too. All dogs, even puppies, are exceptional at picking up on our feelings -- whether we’re nervous, anxious, worried or confident.

EXAMPLE: Suppose you are walking your dog down a street and a fire truck goes racing by with it’s sirens screaming. Your puppy becomes frightened barks frantically and pulls away. You lean over in a sweet, soft voice and tell your puppy “It’s ok, come here, I will carry you.” Or, “Poor baby, did that big mean truck scare you?” All the while you stroke his or her fur. While the puppy doesn’t understand your words, he does know you just showered him with love and affection and rewarded him for cowering and barking. Even though you didn’t mean to, you just taught your puppy to bark and cower at loud noises.

What if on the other hand you ignored his or her reaction, didn’t even look at him or her and just kept walking. He or she would only feel your confidence on the lead and assume “if my leader is confident, I will be too”. Remember later to give your puppy a treat or affection when he remains calm during a sound. Many of us don’t react or reward our puppies when they act calmly. Why is this? Remember to REWARD the behavior you want. This will give your dog confidence as he or she learns how you expect him or her to behave.

Please do not think you can just isolate your puppy from the world, as this will increase your puppies fears and anxiety which will eventually control his life.

Finally, knowing your dogs breed characteristics will help you better shape his behavior. For example, German Shepherds may be more protective, something you will want to be aware of and handle at an early age if necessary. Boarder Collies are sensitive to sounds and trained to respond to them. Shelties are great for letting you know when there is an intruder in the area, therefore barking is a part of their make-up. Each breed has unique personality traits, and it helps to understand them.

So introducing your puppy to many new environments with positive associations is key to having a happy and balanced dog! I hope you found this information helpful. And, don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. I’m here to help!

You can imagine how thrilled I am to let you know that Buddy, my foster friend has been adopted from the Animal Refuge League just yesterday! In the last week Buddy worked very hard to calmly sit when meeting people and socialize with other dogs in a more gently way. Buddy went with me to 2 of my daughters softball games where he met countless people and 3 other dogs. He also visited Cavallo Rossi Equestrian Center where I ride horses and met several dogs and people. In addition, Buddy spent an hour greeting the elderly residence in the Brentwood Nursing Home along side Annie, my Therapy dog, all which greatly reinforced his new behaviors!


Buddy is a wonderful example of how a dog that is over a year old with poor social skills can improve his behavior through Positive Reward Based Training along with ample exposure to the world we live in.

Judy