Page 29 - DoggieRescue E-Magazine January 2022

JANUARY 2022 DOGGIERESCUE.COM MAGAZINE 29

Once a relationship was built, we began to work
on his response to being touched, previously just
touching his paw would result in mouthing. It is
important to remember he is young and
uncomfortable, he never wanted to hurt me he Now listen
was just nervous and didn’t like to be touched. We closely Bucky
slowly worked on accepting a gentle pat, a chin
scratch and moved on to being able to touch him
along his back and down his legs. His marker word
is “yes” so when he responds appropriately to
touching, he hears his marker and gets a reward,
using high value treats we slowly worked through
being able to handle him.

When Bucky arrived, he was difficult to walk if he
didn’t have a handler he trusted, he would lie down
which would tempt the uninitiated to pull on his
harness or leash. Even a gentle pull could result in
him lunging and mouthing the handler. However,
when he trusts his handler and understands what’s
expected of him this behaviour lessens. He is
capable of reengaging with his walker which helps
with his impulse control, this prevents the lying
down and refusing to move. Every time Bucky looks
at his handler on a walk he is marked with “yes”
and receives a treat, these check ins help with his
confidence. He now has some on leash recall, we
use a long leash and our Freedom Park. Giving him
that little bit of freedom and knowing he has earned
it assists with him learning to be calm. Bucky will need a rescue experienced owner who
understands that not all dogs have had easy starts, he
Bucky is a perfect example of beautiful goofy over- needs someone who understands he’s not “naughty” he’s
sized puppy who was never given the basic training nervous and doesn’t fully understand what’s expected of
he required and deserved. Being taught when he him yet.
was little (accidentally I’m sure) that it was cute that
he lay down on walks, jumped on people, was over
the top in his response to toys and play allowed him
to learn that behaviour was ok.

Finally, the piece I wanted to work on for his own
joy was learning to play. He had to learn a few
cues along the way but now he can enjoy
structured play, he has learnt “Get It” “Let Go”
“Sit” and “Wait – Get It”. The cues “Sit” “Wait” allow
him to remain calm and prevent a constant rise in
his arousal around the toys. Seeing him get real Nathan Arneuad,
pleasure out of playing but being able to stop Onsite Dog Trainer at
before he gets over aroused and overstimulated is Monika’s DoggieRescue
rewarding. Bucky can now have structured play with Follow Nathan at:
more and more people without getting out of hand. https://www.facebook.com/HowlingSuccessDogTraining