Sadie is a 6 year old Jack Russell Terrier who transferred
to the care of the Loughborough centre in May from our Newbury centre. This is
the story of her settling in to our care and getting to know all the important
new people in her life.
Sadie arrived with us late on a Wednesday evening with
Sophia the Training and Behaviour Advisor for Dogs Trust Newbury. Sadie has
been living at the Newbury for a little while, waiting for the perfect home to
come along. We decided a transfer to Loughborough to give her a new audience of
potential adopters and to assist her rehabilitation following an injured
cruciate. At Loughborough we have a fully equipped hydrotherapy suite and full
time veterinary hydro therapist.
On her arrival Sadie was taken down and settled in to her
new kennel in our intake block. This is the area of the site where all new
arrivals have the chance to settle in and find their feet. It is a quieter block
with a small group of staff members meaning the dogs can settle in and bond
with people.
On Thursday it was time to be introduced to myself, Heather,
the TBA for Loughborough. Sadie met me out on a walk where I woo’d her with
yummy pieces of hot dog. She was soon choosing to walk by my side instead of her
old friend Sophia’s in the hope that I would throw her a tasty treat again.
Later that day we took her out for another walk and showed her round the
centre. I was able to take the lead this time and return Sadie to her kennel.
She was more than happy to have me handle her closely to unclip the lead and
seems to like her new surroundings.
Friday came around quickly for Sadie and she was still fast
asleep when we arrived on the intake block in the morning and greeted us
yawning and stretching her legs. Me and Sadie were now firm friends and able to
go for walks and spend time together without Sophia as our chaperone. This is a
big deal for Sadie as she spent so long at her previous centre being handled by
familiar staff members. In the afternoon we introduced her to our Homework
House where she had a whale of a time emptying the toy box and selecting
something to carry back to her kennel. Homework House is a fully functioning
home environment that we use to give dogs a break from kennels. It is the
perfect place for a nervous dog like Sadie to learn a new strategy for greeting
visitors to the home and this is something we will teach her once she has
settled in.
In the afternoon Sadie was introduced to Kym and Grace who
work in the intake block. She met them in the kitchen and we made sure they had
yummy treats for her.
Saturday morning we waved goodbye to Sophia who drove back
to Newbury after her visit. Sadie has settled in very well at the centre and
didn’t seem to notice she had gone! She has bonded very quickly with me and we
are firm friends now.
During the first week of any dog’s stay with us we are
assessing their temperament and character and building up a picture of what
sort of home the dog is looking for in the future. We do not put the dog
through a series of rigid tests, it is more of a fluid process of simply
observing their reactions to a variety of different situations, people, other
dogs and things dogs can value highly such as treats and toys.
It was soon clear that Sadie’s driving passion in life is
toys. The noisier the better!
As Sadie is such a worried little girl and has a history of
being scared of the vets she has been enjoying some fun introductions to our
veterinary suite and Emily our vet. Here she is enjoying some peanut butter as
part of the bonding process!
Here Sadie is learning to jump on the scales for a reward.
We will have to minus off the weight of her toy duck though……….
Sadie has been
enjoying gradual introductions to Carol-Ann our hydro and physiotherapist. At
first Sadie was simply going up to the hydro suite to get familiar with the
room and to meet Carol-Ann and get used to her voice, smell and learn that she
gets lots of tasty treats in the meantime.
She is a fast learner
and soon worked out where the treats are stored……
Sadie’s introductions
to Carol-Ann went much faster than we had anticipated and within three sessions
was so comfortable with the space and the noise of the treadmill that she was
brave enough to try on the treadmill with some shallow water. Carol has
developed lots of ways to handle the dogs and encourage them to swim in a
hands-off manner. This helps nervous dogs like Sadie not to become worried by
the experience and ensures she always feels confident in Carol-Ann’s company.
Long term dogs or dogs with specific training needs have
assigned handlers who work with the dog as a project. The photographs above
show Sadie meeting her project handler Jake for the first time. He is meeting
her in a place that we know she feels comfortable and happy, one of our
exercise runs filled with sand that is great fun to dig and roll in! Jake uses
food rewards to make positive associations with spending time around him. Jake
is throwing the food on the ground so that she does not have to take it from
his hand, as leaning forwards to feed her may make her feel worried that he is
crowing her personal space and she may panic if she is too close to a new
person too quickly. In between each treat she comes closer to him and makes eye
contact and he praises her and throws another treat in her direction.
Sadie has now completed her assessment and we feel we have
got to know her really well and know what makes her tick. During her settling
in period we have ensured she has built strong relationships with many of our
Canine Carers but we have focused on the most important people in her new life
her at Loughborough. Myself as her Training and Behaviour Advisor, Jake her
project handler, Carol-Ann her hydro therapist and of course the vet team. By
practising all these introductions we have it down to a fine art and we are
ready to introduce Sadie to her new family.
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