You all know by now that my wee Berlingo van was hit by another driver
in December, causing quite a lot of damage and trauma. Bronte shook it all off
and started to make friends with the emergency crews immediately! It’s taken
rather longer for Freya and me to find out confidence again.
I’ve joked in the past that collie brains in particular seem almost to
be hard-wired for traumatic experiences.
This isn’t meant unkindly, I really do love my collies and smart
super-sensitive dogs in general! But collies are so often hyper aware of their
environment, have incredibly acute hearing, pick up on the smallest changes,
learn amazingly fast and in unexpected ways.
Depending on the individual dog, if they have a more “pessimistic”
outlook then it might take just one bad experience for the dog to feel those
situations are never to be trusted…
Freya is pretty typical of this. She started out really confident about
travelling, relaxed, would sleep through anything and was my best co-pilot.
In the last 5 years we’ve been in two minor and one more serious accidents
together. Telling Freya that the whole process of travelling is safe is hard.
She’s learned to be worried by sudden changes in speed, bumps, traffic noises
and more from those accidents, even though 98% of our journeys were okay.
We ARE making progress thankfully!
- Freya is back to coping well with almost all
traffic noises when on walks (she was terrified of buses and vans 6 weeks ago)
- Freya will confidently approach the rental van,
play games around it (Parkour, Scentwork and Tricks), and is learning to slam
the van doors herself.
- Freya will often choose to jump in the crate in
the back, and stay in with the crate open even if I walk away or move the van
doors.
We’re almost ready to close all the doors, and sometime after that we’ll
start playing with the engine noises.
Why has she been able to make
this pretty considerable progress?
Partly because I’m doing everything I can to take pressure off her, so
we can do things at her speed.
Partly because we’re using supportive medication – I’ve worked through
these issues with her twice before without meds and its taken longer each time.
Being able to travel with me is essential to both of our quality of life so we’re
taking help from every angle.
Mostly we’re making progress because Freya is amazing!
In our training sessions over the years Freya has learned she can
problem solve with my support, she can choose to do or not do things, and she
can always come back later after a break.
Specifically, Freya knows the crate game REALLY well, she can shove
things with her nose, put two paws or four paws on something, and how to make
noises in the house. We’re using all
these to build her confidence interacting with the van and putting her in
control.
Ultimately I want to see Freya not just interacting with the van, but
doing Scentwork confidently all through it without even realising.
It’s a LONG process, but I am constantly inspired by Freya and her wee
brain.
So for anyone who asks why you bother training your dog, or teaching
them “tricks”….
Here’s my reason.
Because it builds confidence, resilience, and gives us both something
to fall back on when life gives us lemons!
Have a fabulous week
Morag and the collie girls
PPS if you’re struggling with your dog’s behaviour don’t forget we can often
help. Even just a phone consultation could give you the tools you need to make
those changes. Email Laura on
info@wellconnectedcanine.co.uk
for more information.
