The story of Dobby - Dog on BE line We found Dobby on an online marketplace for a small rehome fee and only requested a leash and collar. We got the leash and collar, accidentally forgot to pull out the cash. We met at an off-leash dog park with our female dog (Santa). When this beautiful purebred husky, came out of the vehicle, he was nothing but skin and bone with a bobble head, anxious, but explorative. He had a chain around his neck and the short lady we met with had a cast on. We talked for a couple of minutes, she talked about how "she had his mom and sold him off but then was dumped on her farm later", how "she couldn't handle him anymore", the fact that "he lived in a fenced area on the property and does well on a chain", along with "never been an inside dog". I knew I had a handful on my hands, but he needed help, she couldn't "keep up" with it anymore. We put on the collar and leash, she was fine with waiving the fee as we forgot it, "she was just happy he was going to a good place". My partner immediately re-named him Dobby after she left. Dobby immediately took to our female dog, and was all over my partner who was with me. I knew I had a bit of work on my hands, but I didn't know how bad. Dobby's behavior and actions, showed me something that I have seen from learning through my years of dog training and working with dogs. The behavior of "alpha theory training". This, unfortunately included a lot of abuse towards him. He was only about 1.5 years old, not very old at all. But, a 1.5 yr old, purebred husky, filled with trauma and abuse - due to no fault of his own. It took us about 4 months, before he would calm down enough to stop having him fully tethered within the house, just to get used to being inside. It would take another 4 months after that for him to slowly start to trust me. Little did I know, did I look like his abuser (short female myself, similar structures) Dobby was filled with separation anxiety from when my partner would go to work; he was reactive to protect himself, scared of every move that happened inside the house, aggressive with resource guarding, not trained in not nipping, and worst of all - skipped growling and went straight to defense. A recipe, qualifying for behavioural euthanasia.

The story of Dobby - Dog on BE line We found Dobby on an online marketplace for a small rehome fee and only requested a leash and collar. We got the leash and collar, accidentally forgot to pull out the cash. We met at an off-leash dog park with our female dog (Santa). When this beautiful purebred husky, came out of the vehicle, he was nothing but skin and bone with a bobble head, anxious, but explorative. He had a chain around his neck and the short lady we met with had a cast on. We talked for a couple of minutes, she talked about how "she had his mom and sold him off but then was dumped on her farm later", how "she couldn't handle him anymore", the fact that "he lived in a fenced area on the property and does well on a chain", along with "never been an inside dog". I knew I had a handful on my hands, but he needed help, she couldn't "keep up" with it anymore. We put on the collar and leash, she was fine with waiving the fee as we forgot it, "she was just happy he was going to a good place". My partner immediately re-named him Dobby after she left. Dobby immediately took to our female dog, and was all over my partner who was with me. I knew I had a bit of work on my hands, but I didn't know how bad. Dobby's behavior and actions, showed me something that I have seen from learning through my years of dog training and working with dogs. The behavior of "alpha theory training". This, unfortunately included a lot of abuse towards him. He was only about 1.5 years old, not very old at all. But, a 1.5 yr old, purebred husky, filled with trauma and abuse - due to no fault of his own. It took us about 4 months, before he would calm down enough to stop having him fully tethered within the house, just to get used to being inside. It would take another 4 months after that for him to slowly start to trust me. Little did I know, did I look like his abuser (short female myself, similar structures) Dobby was filled with separation anxiety from when my partner would go to work; he was reactive to protect himself, scared of every move that happened inside the house, aggressive with resource guarding, not trained in not nipping, and worst of all - skipped growling and went straight to defense. A recipe, qualifying for behavioural euthanasia.

I've been helping a lot of you with your reactive dogs recently and it got me thinking back. When I was 15 I got my first dog. A yellow labrador called Chester. Everything went wrong. I struggled to toilet train him, he ran away on walks, he pulled on the lead, chewed things up... and eventually became reactive to dogs. This is when I first started to learn about dogs, in order to resolve these issues. At the time Cesar Millan was at the height of his fame and I became a devotee. I read all of his books, saw him live, watched every episode, posted on his forum - I even had a t-shirt. I definitely have came a long way since then but to be fair it really gave me a spark. I trained my dog every day. Local people began to recognize this and even would ask me questions about training their own dogs. Quite strange for a teenager. Some people even called me 'The Dog Man' in school. I'm not sure why man, rather than boy but there you go. A lot happened in the following years. I studied Canine Behaviour at University, trained the dogs for Amazon Prime's The Pack & have trained dogs professionally for around the last 12 years or so. I did eventually resolve Chester's reactivity and he spent many years helping me resolve other dog's reactivity as a stooge dog. Sadly he died of cancer in 2020 at 12 years old. Anyway, the point of all of this is to say I have experienced having a reactive dog (and many more issues) first hand. Plus, the thousands of dogs I've worked with since then. I have a lot of empathy for all of you dealing with it and always enjoy helping you speed up your journey by learning from my mistakes! 🙏

Winter is definitely a time of year that is difficult. Boredom Busters are definitely one thing that we need to keep up with, with our dogs. Good thing that there are still lots of activities we can do with our dogs! Even on the days that are too cold! Enrichment items and games such as puzzle games, advanced tricks, refining current commands/ques, even interactive games like "hide n seek"! Socialization doesn't just mean around people and other animals, it also includes non-everyday objects like possibly people with crutches, canes, etc. This is a great time to get working on those object socializations, visit vet and groomers for just treats and regular visits to reduce anxieties, muzzle training and getting your dog used to being handled in different ways incase of emergencies! What are other games, ideas, tricks, "Boredom Busters" you can think of to do with your dog?

We are almost at 500 members now! Please use this post to introduce yourself in the comments. Take some time & tell us who you are, what do you love to do and what dogs do you have? Please also go through the comments afterwards and read others posts. You may find someone else you have a lot in common with. Looking forward to your introduction