Dog Behaviourist’s Diary

Denise Mcleod

Description

This book will make you laugh, make you cry and make you think in a way you have never done before. It explores both the canine “condition” and the human “condition” too, as many ‘dog problems’ are in fact ‘people problems’ but with more legs. 

Based on real life personal experiences of dogs that have come through our behaviour clinics or classes, it is a brutally honest and completely open expulsion of experience and knowledge expressed with great humour, insight and raw emotion. With tales of hilarity, happiness and success through to depression, grief, suicide and death, it brings to the reader a sense of perspective and compassion for others. Born of experience based on a lifetime of work with animals and close involvement with over 10.000 puppies and dogs, around 15,000 people, the breadth of experience is plain to see. 

The primary purpose of the book is entertainment that educates. Written in plain English, with easy to understand analogies, it is simple and enjoyable to follow. No technical knowledge of dogs or humans is required. As a public speaker I have learnt over the years, how people learn and what makes them laugh. Covering some of the most dangerous and worrying of behaviours, like dogs that bite people, dogs that aggress towards others, dogs that chase and kill things, puppy farms and many more. 

The range of this book provides something for everybody. It also covers the most common behaviour problems of all. One of the chapters about long coated breeds not being able to see properly and the range of behaviours that occur as a result, will help millions of dogs and owners, instantly. The blindingly obvious is obvious, only once the blindness is lifted. 

What could be better, puppies, dogs, people, laughter, success, heartache, real life quandaries, passion and finally, true love that conquers all. Literally.

Informations

• Publié par: Troubador Publishing
• Date de parution: 17 septembre 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785897573
• Langue: English

Extrait

Copyright © 2016 Denise McLeod
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
Matador
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Web: www.troubador.co.uk/matador
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ISBN 978 1785897 573
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Printed and bound in the UK by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall
Typeset in 11pt Aldine401 BT by Troubador Publishing Ltd, Leicester, UK

Matador is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd
I dedicate this book in the memory of my beloved Cassie, Lace, Cloud and Mirk, who inspired it and live on, for all time, within it. I love and miss you all.
Contents
Introduction
A Dog Called Zak
Clown: The Dog Who Could See Ghosts
Lace: “Oh, What a Lovely-Looking Dog!”
Tia: The Creation of a People-Biting Dog!
Belle: “A Right Little Bugger!”
Lad: A Child-Biter
Rosie: Until Death Us Do Part
Arnie: Nowhere to Run; Nowhere to Hide
Lucky Spots
Can’t See the Wood for the Trees
A Lesson Learned – the Hard Way!
Over the Moon!
The Commonest Dog Behaviour Problem in the UK
Sabre
Sabre’s First Off-Lead Walk
Linda’s Story: Sabre’s First Group Walk
May the Force Be With You!
Cloud’s Way
On Life, Death and Rebirth
Acknowledgments
Appendix: Turn and Face Technique
Introduction
Hello and welcome to the book. I hope that you enjoy it.
We all have a story to tell. Each of us has a life which has had trials and tribulations. Sometimes massive ones, and sometimes not. Dogs’ lives are much the same. This book tells the stories of some of the lives, trials and tribulations that I have encountered both as a dog owner and a dog-training professional.
This book contains stories that are borne of my actual experience with dog behaviour cases and their owners, or puppies and dogs that have attended class and their owners, or about significant events in my own dog-owning history. There are stories of life and its joys, and sadly of death and its angst and of everything else in between. Wherever possible permission from the case and class clients has been sought to use this information, but in the interest of client confidentiality, all of the names (except Linda, Sabre and Simon) have been changed as well as some of the identifying details.
However, the behaviour issues are presented as they were presented to me and all of the solutions, non-solutions, or processes or events pertaining to dog training or behaviour are as written. They are behaviourally accurate. These are (or were) real dogs and real owners.
Since CaDeLac’s inception, we have adhered to our mission statement in all our work: to provide education and help keep dogs in happy, educated, lifelong homes, thereby doing our bit to reduce the numbers of dogs being rehomed or destroyed. The rehoming situation in the UK and elsewhere in the world is at crisis point. There simply are not enough homes or rescue centre places for all the dogs that exist. Every day around the world thousands of dogs are put to sleep for a variety of reasons. There are simply too many dogs than homes, that is for sure, but also there are many dogs who display behaviour that is unacceptable in pets. These dogs find themselves being rehomed, being placed in rehoming centres or occasionally, very sadly, being put to sleep.
I hope that within this book, many people will find new understanding of their dog that will help them resolve, or even avoid altogether, some of the more common behaviour problems.
A bit about me. As a child I was not able to have a dog because of a family illness, so I took it upon myself to find other ways of spending most of my formative moments around dogs, horses, farm animals and wild animals. I spent most of my waking time with animals, watching them, sitting with them, befriending them, training them, raising them, or helping them in some way. I began training other people’s dogs, on a hobby basis, in 1992 and in January 2001 I quit my former career to start CaDeLac dog training and behaviour. The name ‘CaDeLac’ comes from Cassie, the first dog I owned; my name, Denise; and Lace, the second dog I owned. Since that time CaDeLac has been my sole income, and that in itself has been quite an extraordinary adventure!
Over the years CaDeLac has seen over ten thousand puppies and dogs and hundreds of behaviour cases come through its doors. Some of those animals and owners learn what they want and then move on in their lives. Yet others spend many years training with us, progressing through the various levels of expertise, and we witness and hear of their various fortunes, misfortunes, medical issues, behavioural changes, intellectual development, and illness and sadly deaths. And it is that experience that I offer here to you.
Whilst I have spent much of my life learning about dogs in a myriad of ways, spending time with other dog-training professionals, watching endless nature documentaries, reading hundreds of books, watching DVDs and attending dozens of dog-training events, it is from the dogs themselves that I have learnt the most. And it is the learning that I have received from those dogs and people that I share with you here.
Every case is different. Every dog is different. Every owner is different. Every combination of dog, owner, life experience, surrounding influences, urgency, severity, and outcome is utterly unique. Throughout this book I offer my knowledge and approach at the time the event occurred.
I do not profess to ‘know it all’ about dogs and I am quite sure that as I learn more, my views will evolve and develop as they always have. But I hope that in that which I now share you will find greater understanding of dogs and their people, in addition to humour, joy, as well as frustration and, the inevitable sadness that so often accompanies a life loving and working with animals.
I hope that you enjoy reading the book, and that you will laugh, smile and even cry, on the way.
We have a saying at CaDeLac, which is used often. “Learn and grow, mate. Learn and grow.” Nothing could sum up the life of a dog trainer more than those words.
Sit back and have a cup of tea, or a beer. And let me tell you first of all the incredible story of Zak…
A Dog Called Zak
When the call came in I learnt that Zak, a small black crossbreed dog, had apparently begun what sounded like rather extreme, fearful behaviour around his home, and around his owner as well as her two adult daughters and other people. He had not been like this before, but a few months ago, apparently out of the blue, he had started this worrisome behaviour and nothing they had tried could stop him. He was off his food and all he wanted to do was lie in his bed and look miserable. The vet had been called and could find nothing medically wrong with Zak. Preliminary phone questioning gave little away and I made the decision to see this dog as soon as I possibly could.
These days I try to do consultations in my consult premises if I can, but back then in my early days I didn’t have that luxury, so most private consults were done in the owner’s home. A sometimes perilous business, but I will come to that in another case! There are definitely some cases, and this was one of them, that need to take place in the owner’s home, if that is where the dog’s behaviour is at its worst, as was the case here.
Idiopathic fear is fear without an apparent cause. Usually there is something, but in the preliminary enquiries nothing presented itself. I was clueless as to what I was going to find, so as per usual I was mulling over possibilities in my mind as I drove toward the house a few days later, and coming up with very few ideas.
On arrival I could see that the house was a large, well built, semi-detached residence in a nice semi-rural setting, opposite a big park that until recently Zak had apparently enjoyed so much. The garden was neat and when the door was answered I was presented with a well-dressed, kindly, but tired and sad-looking older lady. As we dealt with the formalities of greetings and I removed my shoes, as seemed to be the way in this home, I recognised the smell of slight damp in the house. I remember searching for clues in the environment as I had found none in the phone call and I really wasn’t sure what I was looking for here. I noted that the house had some curtains shut, which seemed odd to me on a sunny day. I noticed also that the house ‘felt’ a little sad. Some houses do. Some people do. But beyond that, it was large, spacious and well kept.
Working in dog behaviour is a bit like being a detective, I suppose. You are constantly looking around for clues as to the cause, as knowing the cause, though not always possible, will certainly help when conjuring up a solution. In most cases, delving through a dog’s history will uncover starting points for behaviours; relevant incidents, experiences, illnesses, or other things which can affect a dog’s behaviour. Sometimes, undesirable behaviour starts suddenly, as this case apparently had. Other times there is a gradual increase in the momentum or extent of a behaviour. But in nearly every case I have seen there is a clue of some sort in the history of the dog.
As we chatted briefly on the doorstep, I noticed something missing from the usual scene of ‘dog behaviourist arriving at do