BOUNCY BOY COVER STAR!

WELCOME TO THE BOUNCE

We’ve loved working with Cooper and his family. Despite a challenging start to his new life, this stunning boy has been transformed by his family's commitment and hard work. He's made so much progress in the 8 weeks working with us that we've chosen him to be our April Cover Star!

Our Thinking-Dog strategies can take a bit of a leap of faith from the families we work with. Cooper was a good case in point, because the first step was to stop walking him entirely to give him time to get comfortable with having his lead put on. Instead of daily walks, we exercised his bouncy body and bouncy brain in other ways, from Sniff Trails, to walks around the garden, to brain work and gentle ball play.

NO WORRIES!

All our work is about changing how dogs feel about things that worry them. Cooper was frustrated and over-excited about his lead, plus there was some underlying anxiety. We stripped everything back, helped him calm down in general and then started building him back up to being ok with his lead. There were a lot of Sniff Trails to help him calm down and build confidence, lots of slow desensitisation to lead and harness, and lots of calm connected walking around the garden to learn good lead skills. 

Cooper found it difficult to even handle a soft light touch from the lead - if it touched any part of his body, he grabbed it and tugged. And this boy can tug hard! But with steady work, he can now wear harness and lead happily. His family were so patient, and this led to fewer and fewer moments of anxiety and frustration. He was gradually able to go out of the house, into the drive, and to take calm steps along the street. He’s met people close-up, dogs at a calm distance and is learning a lot about village life - a very different world to where he came from. 

MORE THAN EXPECTED

The journey from his rescue kennels was long and the kennels had done some good prep work getting him in and out the car. As they neared home, Cooper wasn't too comfortable in the car and, the next time they tried to get him in the car, he was clearly anxious and didn't want to get in. This isn't unusual - unknown issues can appear once a dog is home. Cooper's mum has gradually been desensitising him to the car and we had a lovely photograph come through this week of him finally choosing to jump into the car!

INSPIRATION

His family’s patience and support are an inspiration. They have inspired Cooper to make the right decisions while enabling him to process how he feels about his new world and new life. This is what his mum has to say: 

“We rescued Cooper on the 25th January this year after a few weeks of visiting a dog that in short - needed some work - but also just needed a loving home and to be out of his rescue kennels. After not the best start in life, Cooper had developed a strong redirection towards the lead that made him unable to be walked like a “normal dog”. 

We found Fern on google and gave her a ring on Day 3 of him being rehomed with us as we knew this was going to be a bigger challenge than anticipated. From the get-go Fern provided us with so much value and reassurance that we decided to go ahead with investing in her services.

During the first Online session, we managed to get the lead on Cooper and walk him around our living room with absolutely no reaction at all. I’m not exaggerating when I say this was a massive shock, as previously he’d leap up to grab the lead even when just lifting it off the table. Although it felt like a massive win, we knew progress would be slow and steady for Cooper as not to rush him.

We managed to get Cooper walking around the garden on the lead with no reactions and then eventually out onto the drive way, small wins but big feats in the progress he was making. 

We’re now almost 8 weeks into Cooper’s new life, and we’ve had another couple of sessions with Fern and Raquel and are now onto teaching Cooper how to walk on the lead nicely – something we had no idea would even be possible 8 weeks ago”.

Thank you to Team Cooper for their hard work and commitment!