BARRK Dogs in Rehabilitation
It was on a cold day just before Christmas that an eight month old, skinny, frightened Staffordshire Bull Terrier was brought to the croft. In just eight months of life he had been in four different homes and none of them wanted him, as a result of all this rejection his confidence was at rock bottom.
I began his rehabilitation with long runs with the pack, this is a marvellous way of building up a dog’s confidence, as the nervous or frightened dog draws on the confidence of the pack all around it but in Shadow’s case his tail stayed firmly between his legs, a clear indicator of fear. It soon became clear that I was the problem, for some reason Shadow did not like me. This became abundantly clear one rainy day when I went to get two waterproof dog jackets, I held them up and said to Shadow, “Which would you prefer, red or yellow?” As I spoke I shook the jackets this seemed to remind Shadow of some unfavourable event in his past and he went for me all teeth and snarls. A charging Staffordshire Bull Terrier is quite an unnerving sight, yet I stood my ground and issued a firm no command which did the trick, he came to a grinding halt just inches from sinking his shark like teeth into my flesh.
My brother offered to take over Shadow’s rehabilitation, he opened the kennel and the moment Shadow set eyes on him a bond began to develop. Shadow does not give his friendship easily, though he instantly took to my brother, several months of long walks, running with the pack, eight miles at a time, lots and lots of stroking and an abundance of games were required before Shadow gave my brother his full trust and now Shadow would gladly die for him. Shadow put on weight, he now walks with his tail up full of confidence and there is an air of jollity about him.
Mother, known as Granny Biscuits to the dogs, has also played an important role in Shadow’s rehabilitation, for fifteen minutes every day she has him in the back porch, which is like being in the house, this has made Shadow feel very special bolstering his confidence.
Though Shadow had an obvious fear of me I did not give up on him, with my brother’s help and six months of patience, I eventually won his friendship, the process was very slow, each day whilst I was weight training in the barn my brother would bring Shadow in to watch, at first he stood at a distance nervously, then after a while he began to sniff still from a distance, then one day he came and sniffed my hand and when I was on the bench he sniffed my face. I didn’t talk or fuss him, I just stayed quiet and calm and carried on with my training, then one day he came and placed his front paws on my belly wagging his tail, this was a clear indication of friendship and now he allowed me to stroke him. To win the friendship of a dog like this is a real achievement.
Sherlock helped me a lot when I was making friends with Shadow for Shadow is a great admirer of Sherlock, they often have boisterous games with one another and so I would play with Sherlock in front of Shadow and Shadow soon cottoned on, you could almost see him thinking to himself, if Sherlock likes this big noisy fellow he must be alright. Using one dog to rehabilitate another is the very best way of restoring a dog’s mental and spiritual well being. Anyone thinking of adopting Shadow will have to think long and hard, he is not an easy dog to handle, it takes a long time and a lot of patience to win his friendship, he requires a large amount of exercise and stimulation, he absolutely loves to play and he plays rough and in a house we think he will be rather rough on furniture.
Shadow is not a dog for a working person, his temperament is not suited to being left on his own all day long in such an environment he would soon develop unwanted behaviour. A dog like Shadow requires an extremely high degree of commitment.