“Changing Fear to Joy” class in November 2005

SUCCESS STORIES

Dee,

I am so glad you asked.   Meg has been making great progress.  Teaching her the calming exercises, the Chill Out Game and the Self-Control techniques was the key to helping her .   At first we had several big failures - where she would become highly aggressive when over-stimulated.   Before I learned we were going to far too soon.   We slowed down and practiced our exercises at a distance.  Eventually I could bring Meg into the building without the Hoody.  Two weeks ago I was able to bring her into the training building with other dogs.  We sat around in a circle with all the dogs relaxed and laying at our sides - we chatted for over an hour and the dogs were content to just "hang around"  Meg was awesome !  She laid on her side and settled down nicely throughout the entire time.

Later, I brought her into the ring and worked her clicker training exercises.    We ended up with her playing with a big stuffed toy - it was a great day.   Since then I bring her into the training building with other dogs around , provided they aren't working in the rings.   As long as they are settled and quiet she can handle it.  She has learned to concentrate on our training - she is a great "Clicker " dog - loves it and is so quick to learn new things.

  Last weekend I had someone interested in adopting Meg.  She had a BC before that had far more phobias that Meg does, This dog died six weeks ago from Cushings Disease, They are having a difficult time with the loss.  

The home seems perfect -  there are no other dogs in the household, and they are home all day and they have experience with problem BCs - Sometimes these things are meant to be - I let them adopt Meg with the understanding she comes back here if it doesn't work out - They have a home in the city and a Lake House - this week they are at the Lake House and Meg has been wonderful - I think the quiet home is the ideal place for her. 

I contribute much of Megs success from things I've learned at your seminar - I didn't know how to teach self-control or calming exercises - but you can teach these -even to a wild border collie.   Thanks so much for your help.  

 D. Conroy

UPDATED ABOUT MEG - NOVEMBER 2005

I want to write about our little mixed up Border Collie Meg.

As some of you may remember we run a Border Collie Rescue and took in a little female Border Collie named Meg who was highly reactive. Meg was the reason I attended Dee's seminar in Florida. When Meg became overly excited she would loose complete control, screaming, lunging and biting at anyone or anything nearby (including me) . We followed Dee's instructions and kept a distance from the things that got her overly-excited (mainly other dogs) I started bringing her to our training facility on a morning when there were few dogs. I built her a little pen and covered it with towels and blankets and practiced massages and calming exercises while the other dogs arrived. She had good days and bad. After we started to use the Hoody and I saw an immediate change. We could enter and leave the building while other dogs were there without her loosing control.

We had some big setbacks (we lost thousands of points) - but these setbacks taught me I was going to fast. After we slowed down and didn't try to progress too fast I started to see her becoming more and more in control of herself. She also became very attached to me during this period and I believe she trusted I was looking after her and this made her feel more secure.

One morning I arrived at the training facility after all the dogs were there (usually we would get there first so she could get use to one dog at a time as they came in) We were able to walk her towards the dogs ( no Hoody) and sat down in a big circle of people with their dogs laying down and just chat. Meg was calm, she was able to lay at my side relaxed and I was absolutely thrilled. It was a huge hurdle for her. We continued this for many weeks and she got better each time. We invited new dogs into the group and she was able to control herself. Hard to believe this was the same dog that we worried we might have to put down only a few months back.

One day we got a call from a family that lost their BC 6 weeks before and was devastated - they missed her terribly. After talking with them I realized their old BC had more problems than Meg did, and was phobic about more issues . They had a lot of experienced with a problem dog and wanted to giver her a try - I let them adopt her. This was over a month ago. She continues to do well - I get cards and photos including the one I've attached. They love her and she hasn't shown any over-reactive moments since they have her. They think she is perfect and I must have been crazy for thinking she had problems... That is fine with me.

Dee's training probably saved Meg - we had no idea how to teach a dog how to control herself, or anything about calming exercises, massages or the games like "Chill Out". All these helped this mixed up little dog become a loving pet. I am very grateful.

Diane C.
Florida