Chance

We collected Chance from Doggy ‘Boot Camp’ after the ‘call’ went out for a foster home, to prevent him having to go into kennels. His new owners returned him to Welfare after 4 months, as he had been aggressive towards some other dogs and they could no longer cope.

After his visit to ‘Boot Camp’ he had been assessed as not being overly aggressive, just wanting to get his point in first if a dog challenged him. Strategies were devised by the trainer to combat these behavioural issues and instructions given to us, to help avoid problems with him and other dogs. Initially life was difficult as he was very unpredictable, even though he has been totally fine with our 9 year old Dally bitch, Cleo (also a Welfare girl). He is a big lanky boy who reminds us of Hector from the children program ‘Hector’s House’ and is very strong, so walking him to start with was not easy, although he wasn’t bad on the lead when there were no other dogs around.

Chance is SO chilled out at home and has fitted into our lives so easily that we decided to adopt him, having lost Ben our other Rescue Dally in September 2008, who we also had to watch with other dogs.

Chance is gradually getting to know dogs we meet regularly in the woods and we are now able to walk him off the lead with friends. He still wears a soft muzzle ‘just in case’, but it would be nice to think that one day it will no longer be necessary. We did invest in a remote controlled spray collar, to break his focus when he became transfixed on another dog. This we have found very helpful but now we are using it less and less as time goes by. It is a joy to watch him running free in the woods and we are lucky to have so many woodland walks nearby, some quieter and some very busy.