MORE CASE STUDIES

A VERY AGGRESSIVE GERMAN SHEPHERD
When I drove into the yard behind the owner of this GSD., her dog circled my car barking & growling aggressively while trying to bite the tyres. Through the window, I told her that she had to put the dog on a lead & muzzle it before I would open my car door. Once this was done, I got out but the dog eyed me suspiciously as we went into their kitchen. She made him sit beside her but he never took his eyes off me & would make a lunge with a bark & growl whenever I moved.

I had already done a test at home for what oils this dog needed to support him. He was a very nervous dog, who had begun to intimidate people who arrived in to the yard because it made him feel superior. He was now a big liability. His owner needed some sort of guard dog as she had casual people coming & going due to the nature of her business. However, her GSD was not allowing anyone in to the yard.

During our conversation, it transpired that this dog had been given no boundaries whatsoever & was doing just as he pleased. He wasn't a happy dog but he had taken the law in to his own hands & had accordingly become extremely aggressive.

I set out a regime for his owner beginning with his diet, his routine & what exactly she could & should expect from her dog. And she needed to change how she worked with him.

He loved the oils & couldn't get enough of them. The oils that he'd chosen were to help him with his nervous aggression. (You can see  her email on the previous page bears testimony to the dramatic change in his behaviour in only two days!)

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the oils can work on a dog's emotional, psychological or physical behaviour when coupled with training techniques as well.

(Again I have to repeat that due to the nature of the owner's business & constant visitors to her yard, her name cannot be divulged.) 

FLETCHER
Fletcher, the handsome collie was one of two brothers who were born in the wild. Their mother was rescued & brought in to the West Cork Animal Welfare Group along with her puppies. She was very shy & although she allowed me to handle her, she never really relaxed. After the puppies were weaned, she went to the UK to Collie Trust.

Fletcher & Foster were placed in with other puppies & allowed to get used to the routine in a rescue centre. They were exceedingly shy & fearful. Foster was always the more suspicious of the two. From the beginning, Fletcher allowed me to touch him while Foster growled, barked, drooled at the mouth & was generally extremely anti-social.

After a couple of months or more, they were separated & put in different cells with other dogs of varying ages. In the video clip, I talk about animals having choices & these siblings emphasise this.

While Fletcher progressed each week with TTouch, handling, talking, Foster continued to show the extreme end of fearful aggression. Fletcher began to show trust in what I was doing, even to the point of letting me put on the collar you see in the video without growling or attempting to bite. He liked me to keep to a routine each week but if I introduced something a bit different, he would at first get fearful & then accept it. Underneath his fear, there was a willingness to trust in me. This trust & reaction was hugely moving because he had only learnt fear & suspicion from his mother.

On the other hand, Foster was quite alarming in his reactions to me. The siblings were in adjoining kennels & the minute I started to work on Fletcher, Foster would start to growl, bark & foam at the mouth. This over-reaction would become even more exaggerated when I went in to his kennel. He never actually went to attack me & I never felt threatened by him but he had chosen not to accept what was on offer. He tolerated my touch but he never progressed. Each week his reaction was always the same. It always felt like I was starting all over again with him.

Two dogs from the same litter who made different choices.