BARRK Dogs in Rehabilitation
Shadow is another tri coloured Collie, this time a bitch, who came into BARRK’s care because she was beginning to show aggression toward human. Shadow’s owners in an attempt to keep visitors to their home safe had resorted to placing Shadow in a cage and whilst this may be understandable it was highly damaging to Shadow’s mental well being, a very great deal of damage being done simply by putting her in the cage, so severe is the damage that it may never be fully repaired.
The owners had not intended to cause this damage, they simply did not know how to cope with Shadow’s behaviour and thankfully they had the good sense to give her up or Shadow would have become a complete basket case beyond rehabilitation and probably also become a very dangerous dog. Shadow was living in Aberdeen and she is a collie that needs wide open spaces to thrive, no amount of patience, kindness or training would have made it possible for her to live in a city, the city would of eventually killed her, she needs wide open spaces in which to run, and not just for a few minutes each day but for mile after mile.
Here on the croft part of the regime for the BARRK pack is a daily run from between five and ten miles, this is an essential part of the rehabilitation of the dogs that need our help and an essential element in keeping the pack in a healthy spiritual and physical state. Shadow arrived as skin and bones with a digestive disorder that prevented her from gaining weight, she had medication for this condition but we quickly decided that the digestive disorder was a result of mental rather than physical ill health and stopped the medication and set about restoring her mental health where the seat of the problem lay. Shadow was also aggressive toward any human she encountered launching herself like a rapier at the back of a person’s leg to deliver a very painful bite and unfortunately she managed to strike mother in this way, but mother took it on the chin. Shadow was an extremely sad looking little bitch, she literally could not relax, her body a constant coiled spring.
My first task was to get rid of the tension in Shadow’s body, you simply cannot rehabilitate or train a dog when it is in such a high state of tension, long runs and long walks were the foundation stone for getting Shadow to relax. Blue was a great help in this undertaking on the walks and the runs, he would sprint out ahead three or four hundred metres then sprint back, repeating the process over and again, Shadow in hot pursuit, it was as if Blue knew that she needed her nervous energy worked away.
If I had run and walked Shadow from morning till night I could not have burnt off as much of her nervous energy as Blue was able to do with all his sprinting. Using one dog to heal another dog is a key part of the rehabilitation process that I use. Cleaning Shadow’s kennel in the morning was an unpleasant job as her digestive disorder resulted in vile smelling liquid droppings but after just a week of the exercise regime her digestive system was working normally and after two weeks she was starting to gain weight. Instead of lying in her kennel stiff and constantly alert she was now starting to relax and the mad look in her eyes was beginning to soften. Shortly after I began working with Shadow another Collie, a young black and white male by the name of Eric arrived, I shall share his story in a moment. I placed Eric in the same kennel as Shadow with a divider between them, they could see, smell and sense one another and though they were both very disturbed dogs they had a calming effect on one another. So pleased was I with the outcome that I also moved Blue into the kennel and his very confident presence added an ever greater level of peace and relaxation to the kennel atmosphere.
Now that I had started to relax Shadow a little, it was time to address her aggression toward humans and so I once more called upon the services of my ex-army volunteer, who was only too glad to help. I keep Shadow on a long lead during the training sessions because she is so quick she would have bitten my volunteer two or even three times before I would be able to block her. I had my volunteer walk up and down in one direction whilst I walked in the opposite direction with Shadow between us, every time we passed one another and Shadow got within striking distance she would launch at his ankles with great determination, a sharp lead correction prevented the attack from striking home but did not convince her to desist from her actions, we made thirty or forty passes and every time she tried to strike, the intensity of her attack actually increasing. At the next session I had an old leather mitten stuffed with straw and every time Shadow launched an attack I would slap the mitten against the side of my leg, the sound this makes is quiet good at distracting a dog’s attention and it did prevent a number of attacks from getting launched but Shadow soon got used to the sound and was back to her attacks at every opportunity so I resorted to plan B and gave her a tap on the rump with the mitten.
The mitten being stuffed with straw is super soft and allows me to apply physical contact to a dog’s body without causing any physical harm. Now this worked, delivering the tap to the rump at just the moment when Shadow was about to pounce stopped her dead in her tracks. Using a firm No command at the same time as the tap with the mitten meant that after a short while I could dispense with the mitten and the No command alone was enough to stop Shadow from striking. And that is where we have stayed for about a year, I can tell from her posture the exact moment that Shadow is about to attack and with the No command can stop her from proceeding but I can not get rid of her desire to attack, she is under control but she is not fixed and so she most definitely cannot be re-homed as she will emphatically bite someone.
The combination of this and the vast amount of exercise she requires in order to maintain her mental well being means that she will remain a member of the permanent BARRK pack for the rest of her life. Shadow may still posses her desire to bite strangers but all the sadness that was in her when she came has completely gone, running free with Blue and Eric as a pack of Collies has had a dramatic effect on her and she is now a happy little bitch who is very loving toward the family.