Checked your ID lately?

Last week I had the fright of my life.

I mean completely shaken up, barely clinging on, adrenalin pumping, cold sweats - the lot.

Me and the collie girls were out walking in some local fields. All had been going fairly well, Freya had stayed fairly close even in the "squirrel-heaven" of Quaker & Acomb Wood.

Part of her reward was getting to thoroughly investigate the very large rabbit holes beside the path on our way home.

Bronte and I carried on walking and lost sight of her for a second (it's pretty overgrown land).

Suddenly there were several very close by gun shots.

Freya has been a bit more worried by sudden noises since our crash in December so I was really surprised when she didn't immediately pop up beside me for the usual cheese and happy voice routine.

A minute later, still no Freya.

Trying not to panic, I called and whistled.

Nothing. Nada. Not even at any of her favourite bunny haunts.

Another dogwalker told me they'd seen a small collie running very fast AWAY from where I was, on one of our usual paths.....

I'll spare you the messy inside of my head as I searched for Freya systematically, and then walked our usual route home as fast as possible.

5 years ago Freya was spooked by gunfire really badly, in a wood she didn't know well. I found her an hour later back at the carpark waiting by the landrover.

So, I was half hoping to find her at home, but that meant she would have crossed several fairly busy roads when she's already worried about traffic.

*gulp*

Thankfully, I got back home to a totally chilled little collie sitting waiting for me in my own back garden (a kind neighbour had let her in) wondering why I was making such funny snuffling noises.

I guess Freya lost sight of me too, the noises spooked her so when she couldn't immediately find me she headed for the nearest safe place.

Alls well that end's well, but I'm writing about this because 5 minutes after losing my wee girlie I realised that the phone number on her tag wasn't the mobile I had on me *arrrrgh*

Having made a big effort to separate work and personal life, I have two mobiles now.  But all my dog tags still have what is now only my work number on them, and of course I left that at home when we went out for a "relaxing" walk.

So CHECK your dog tags, just in case you end up in a panic like me!

I'm ordering new tags for everyone from Indigo Collar Tags as usual. They're amazingly tough, never wear out or come off, and I only need to replace them when I change my address or phone number.

Don't forget your dog MUST legally wear an ID tag as well as being microchipped, and the collar ID will get them home a lot faster in most cases.

After all that excitement I'm hoping for a quieter weekend scouting out training routes for our Canicross workshops!

Have a calm weekend everyone

Morag and the collie girls

PS The new Spring Term classes are out and available to register (activity classes start on Monday 5th February).
The new kid on the block is our Canine Activity Foundations where you'll learn basic Scentwork, Parkour, Rally and Agility skills. The perfect introduction to having more fun with your dog!

When life gives you lemons, don’t just make lemonade – stop buying more lemons!

I was in an accident last week. Another driver took a chance on a side junction, cut across the traffic and went straight into the side of my van. We were really lucky because neither of us was going that fast, but it was terrifying for me and the collie girls.

The aftermath with police, ambulances, recovery vehicles, having to find a friend who could come and rescue the girls – noisy, unfamiliar, lots of stressed people.

The van is away for repairs (I hope!) and we’ve finally sorted out a temporary replacement.

Bronte has taken it all in her stride. Being deaf and part blind means life can be pretty unpredictable and she generally shrugs and moves on.

Freya is really struggling, but then this is the fourth time she’s been in some kind of vehicle collision. Every time we’ve managed to work through it, but it gets harder each time.

Passing traffic noises are scary again, she’s on high alert in every situation and when Freya saw the replacement van outside my house she panicked and tried to flee. That was just seeing the van, we weren’t going near it or unlocking it.

Having a positive attitude to life and turning challenges into opportunities is one way of coping with the ups and downs the universe throws at us. So yes, when life gives you lemons – making lemonade can be an excellent choice.

But the truth is being optimistic isn’t enough.

Using positive affirmations might help your attitude, but what needs to change is your behaviour.

So when an avalanche of lemons lands on your head, the smart thing to do is cancel your monthly order of lemons…

I’ve organised my work schedule and personal plans so that barring emergency vet trips, Freya doesn’t have to go anywhere near a vehicle for at least the next month.

While I know I could ask her to go in a car, and she would try her best for me, it’s not worth pushing our luck and adding to the stress she is already under.

We’re going to be using supportive medication, plus all of the training techniques that have worked so well for us in the past to build Freya’s confidence around vehicles.

Freya has a pretty good set of resources to draw on (she adores crate training, knows that loud noises equal treats, enjoys scentwork, learns fast) but most importantly she knows that I won’t force her to do scary stuff.

If you need help with an avalanche of lemons, let us know!

Have a safe week

Morag and the collie girls

PS Looking forward to seeing some of you at our Xmas social on Thursday where the only lemons will be round the edge of my tequila glass

PPS Well Connected Canine is taking some well-earned time off over Christmas to spend time with

our dogs and our own families. We’ll be closing on Thursday 21 st December and re-opening on

Thursday 4th January. If you do need to speak with us before Christmas, make sure you get in touch

soon - it’s creeping up fast!

Your dog wants you to work from home in hot weather

Working from home means you can keep doors and windows open, replenish the ice in water bowls, re-soak cooling coats and swop out cool mats.Oh, and maybe do some work too!

I’ve decamped downstairs to my dining table as the upstairs office is stifling. We’ll be having ice lollies (for me) and frozen chicken feet (for the collie girls) this lunchtime.

Don’t forget that dogs are smart, but that doesn’t mean they won’t still try to chase a ball in the hot sun! Instead use frozen kongs for their meals (cooling and challenging) and try out TD Scentwork in the cooler mornings or shady spots of your garden.

And although it might feel like a million years away on a sunny afternoon, it’s only four months until Bonfire Night.

Four months until the quiet evenings turn into a barrage of bangs, shrieks and screams from fireworks...

If you dread November just as much as your dog, don’t panic.

You can do a lot in four months to help your scaredy dog cope better with those terrifying noises.  

Come along to our evening talk and create your own action plan to start helping your dog right now.

Wednesday 5^th July 7pm to 8.30pm (Wigginton)

Book your place now as we have limited spaces

Ring Vets4Pets York on 01904 658 201 to book and pay
Tickets cost £10 per family (max two people) includes refreshments + a goodie bag

Living with a fearful dog...the reality and the heartbreak

Today I went home for lunch as usual, time for a quick training session with my dogs. Farah had great fun doing some freeshaping but Finn just couldn't work with me. Standing and staring, panting a little, tail curled under and moving from place to place.

Why?

Because it's raining today. Yup, it's raining. Heavy showers so a little like pre-thunder rain which unsettles him (although he loves being outside in the rain) combined with some distant low-flying plane sounds which could be a little like thunder. Finn has been noise-sensitive since I adopted him, especially to rain and thunder storms. Some time in the first year he was with me, he linked storms/rain and planes together and nothing I have done has really gotten rid of that association. Collies learn so fast but that's not always an advantage!

Finn is better than he was originally - no longer does he have to pace obsessively, drool great streams of saliva or jump at every sound. But he's not comfortable with rain which makes going camping rather tricky. I can honestly say I would give almost anything to make his life easier and less scary. We use valerian extract to help balance his anxiety levels, and we have tried many many other options but for Finn, it seems to be such a deep rooted sensitivity that the best I can hope for is to ease his reactions.

My gut feeling is that irrespective of whatever happened to him before I adopted him, I think that Finn was born with an overactive nervous system - he's just wired a little more tightly than many other dogs which combined with the natural collie sensitivity makes it hard for Finn to cope with our human world.

So today we just hung out together, did a little massage and TTouch, gave him some homeopathic spray and sat quietly. At least he seems to take comfort from my presence now instead of being oblivious to anything apart from his fear.

Car fears part 2

So how often does Finn need to travel and how necessary is it...

• to see our specialist vet in Leeds (about 45mins each way) usually every 6 weeks for acupuncture and homeopathy follow-ups but can be less often
• once a week or less to go with our dogwalker when I am out of town at meetings etc
• Monday evenings 15mins trip to dog training classes
• once or twice a week to go for longer walks
• usually every other weekend for 1-2 hours to go hillwalking
• rarely to go to the small kennels we use

When we initially worked on our DS and CC (desensitising and counter conditioning) I was able to not take him out in the car at all - we went to see our vet once and after that did most stuff over the phone where possible. From my learning I think that for CC and DC to be useful you really need to minimise any other exposure to the stimulus. Our challenge now is two-fold

1. no other close by person to assist (Janet has offered and is brilliant but lives in Leeds!)

2. unsure if I can actually eliminate car trips from our schedule for long enough that the DS and CC has a chance to work...

Thoughts on duration of a no-car-travel period would be really helpful :-)

Have also been re-reading some stuff on fear etc in dogs (and loving FearfulDogs.com ebook) which has sharply reminded me once again that Finn is not in any sense a 'normal' dog nor is it reasonable for me to expect that from him. Perhaps I have been pushing his boundaries because of selfish desires to do more walking/CaniX etc. Regardless, one of the main reasons for being able to travel in the car is for his enjoyment of walks when we do arrive - he is such a happy relaxed boy out in the countryside.

Another possible option which I will discuss with my vet tomorrow is going back onto the Valerian tincture which was so helpful in taking the edge off many of his other fears and phobias.