Client Case Study

Sonny the Yorkshire Terrier

You never quite know what you are going to walk into when doing home consultations and have to go on the information that is supplied over the phone with initial enquiries along with completed behavioural psychology forms. The forms that I use are great...they tell me just as much about the owner as the dog!

On a recent Monday morning, I made my way off to see Dawn Humphries and her mother Doreen and their little five-year-old Yorkshire Terrier, Sonny.

From reading the forms, I was expecting a monster (the dog, not Dawn and Doreen!). I knew already that Sonny was aggressive to strangers, particularly visitors to the house and could be aggressive to his owners and people that he already knows as well as aggressive to all dogs. I knew that this case would keep me busy for a couple of hours!

Arriving at the house in company with my colleague Judy Cooper, there was instant confusion when I went to ring the door bell. The house had two front doors (you will find out why later!) and with a 50/50 chance of getting it right, Judy and I stood patiently at the wrong the door.

When Dawn came to the (other) door, she was patently nervous. I don't think that it was anything to do with Judy or me personally, but simply due to her being anxious about Sonny's likely and expected behaviour.

Sonny had been barking since he heard the car pull up outside and continued throughout the front door debacle and through Dawns anxiety fuelled greeting until Judy and I had scaled the baby gate and entered the kitchen. He then appeared very friendly and pleased to see us, but thanks to the pre-completed forms, we knew if we touched him, most likely we would get bitten and naturally, we kept our hands to ourselves.

After the initial entry and a welcome coffee, Dawn began to relax a little as I asked her questions regarding Sonny, his behaviour and their lifestyle.

Without going into detail, I hope Dawn does not mind me saying that she has not had an easy ride emotionally over the last few years due to personal circumstances and one has to be aware of those factors A) To understand where the behaviour came from and why it is maintained and B) To make your advice workable for the family.

Whilst Dawn was going through Sonny's antecedence and incidents of aggression, she had us in raptures of laughter. I had not laughed so much for ages...I had tears rolling down my face. Dawn was hilarious; a natural and gifted teller of stories.

This did not mean that Sonny's problems are not serious and that Dawn is not immensely worried about his behaviour and the impact that it is having on her lifestyle, but laughter as they say is the best medicine, moreover, I knew on this occasion there was a fine line between laughter and tears and so, we kept on the side of jolliness! It really made the consultation a joy (which as regular readers will know...they ain't always!!). Our consultation went on for over three hours and by the time we left, my cheeks were hurting. I think that was a great remedy for all of us to start the week with!

Dawn had purchased Sonny from a Garden Centre when he was eight weeks old. I bored Dawn to tears telling her over and over that a Garden Centre is where you purchase bedding plants, bulbs and maybe a bag of organic coffee, but so definitely not a Yorkshire Terrier puppy.

This unfortunately was the start of Dawn's problem's. When you buy a puppy from a source such as this without seeing the mother you really are leaping in to problems. Imagine the scene; puppies of numerous breeds in glass 'tanks' without their mothers. People passing through the garden centre looking for a bunch of daffodils dunking hands in the top, stroking and picking up the puppies, picking up their children and hanging them over the top to touch the sweet puppies, gently destroying their temperaments over a number of days. This is an incredibly special period of time in a dog's life and negative experiences at this tender age can last a lifetime and become an almost intrinsic part of the dog.

On top of this, the puppies have not had their mother with them; we don't know how old the puppies were really, they had obviously been bred without care or thought and could have been shipped around at anything from five weeks of age to the locations to which they were eventually sold. Not a good start. Then comes along Dawn and others like her with a good heart, not knowing that the dog that they are buying has already had its temperament destroyed. Even if they did know that, it would not much alter the outcome – people generally buy puppies with their heart and not their head!

Sonny was a nervous little puppy and we can understand the reason why. Dawn took him out to meet people and other dogs and of course had guests at the house to see the new puppy. Sonny accepted being touched and picked up as everyone wanted to cuddle him. He was frightened by their actions, but what could he do other than just resign himself to being picked up?

Well, he quickly found out that growling, snapping and biting stopped him from being picked up and touched and when he found out that worked, he continued and perfected his aggression. A self defence mechanism that in his eyes kept him safe.

As he matured, he also developed some dominance tendencies within the family group. If he was on the sofa, the bed or simply when he did not wish to comply with Dawn and Doreen's wishes; he would bite them. So we have two forms of aggression running concurrently - dominance aggression to family members and fear based aggression to everyone else.

We did not of course get time to discuss his attitude to dogs during our visit – I had more than enough to deal with!

I began explaining to Dawn and Doreen (who were busy blaming each other for Sonny's behaviour!) how and why his aggression had began, what kept maintaining it and most importantly what they must do to begin altering it!

Sonny had the run of the house – physically and psychologically. One of the key problems was that he would jump up on visitors' laps and then bite them when they touched him or simply keep them prisoner on the sofa. Not a comfortable position for anyone to be in! I felt that we must ban Sonny from laps and chairs and in fact ban him from the lounge unless by invite. Not with physical barriers, but with psychological retraining. Sonny had got a little big for his boots and seeing Dawns anxiousness (weakness and lack of guidance in Sonny's view) he did what had to be done and took over in some situations. Dawn and Doreen had to take the lead to regain control and give Sonny a happy life.

I began with Dawn sending Sonny out of the lounge – she assured me that it would not work, but I knew it would! After a couple of repetitions of Dawn sending Sonny out on command and using her body to block his attempts to enter the lounge, he went and sat on the patio instead. Dawn was amazed and now I had her onside, I could deliver the rest of my advice.

My advice included having Sonny sleep in the kitchen and no longer upstairs in the bedroom (I ignored Dawn's open mouthed and panicked expression and continued talking!!), having to work a little harder for attention, a diet change to a natural menu and her commanding him to 'stop' when he was barking excessively and to teach him to go to bed on command.

I also went through a hook restriction programme for introducing visitors. Each time the door bell was rung; Dawn would attach Sonny to his lead and leave him restricted in the lounge after commanding him to ‘stop' barking. Then she could bring her guests in without fuss or fear, allow them to be seated and allow Sonny to be calm and comfortable and most importantly – not on laps and he must not under any circumstances be stroked or imposed upon. Sonny was not ready for that and we certainly did not need any more repetition of him biting people.

That was all I wanted her to do until the next time I saw her...more than enough for her to be getting a long with!

I left Dawn and Doreen to get on with it and promised to see them in a couple of weeks.

After four days, I got the following e-mail:

“ How are things progressing...........? Oh.....my.....god!  What took me so long to contact you!  I know I have miles to go with Sonny but if the first 4 days are anything to go by......

*He appears so much calmer in himself, first time ever I can leave the garden doors open when next door are laughing, talking, BBQ'ing ....he did nothing :o) no rushing out, no barking.

*Window cleaner completed all front windows was waiting to be paid...I didn't even know he'd arrived! Normally Sonny would be barking through the whole episode! It was only that I heard 2 small 'gruffs' from him that I came in from the garden to find the window cleaner waiting to be paid :o)

* First time in 5 years the postman has been able to deliver the post without being barked at constantly

*Monday..... First time I've taken him out for a walk in the evening! I came across 2 cats which he attempted to lunge at, told him 'STOP' he did it again so I did the same thing. For the rest of the walk he walked looking up at me all the way home. 

*Tuesday...... Sonny and I walked for an hour! Then again in the evening for 45mins! We passed lots of people.... he didn't lunge ....my neighbour actually asked if he'd had a brain transplant)

*I've had quite a few people in the house to throw food to him but I feel not enough strangers ... I even asked the postman this morning if he had time to come in and throw food to him, sadly he didn't. But I'm still working hard to find strangers. Every ring on the bell is helping.

*Today was another amazing day! Next door had a dog a BIG dog! with a very hefty bark, normally when the dogs there I have to get Sonny in close all doors because he's running up and down the fence barking which sets the BIG dog jumping against my fence! well Ross...today.......the dog next door was barking, Sonny got up to run out I said 'STOP' he looked at me turned round went back laid down in the conservatory??? A little later the dog was still there barking, Sonny just strolled along the fence, came back in and nothing? ..... I can't tell you Ross how pleased and actually proud I feel with him.

*The 'out' command is going well although; it's impressed everyone who's been in especially those that have never seen Sonny other than this mad manic dog!

* Getting up on the chairs is getting less and less

Putting him out of the room for 1 hour if honest is the hardest thing for me BUT I do it and will continue to.

Sleeping downstairs is no problem, he cried the first night for 2mins I shouted 'BED' he did no problem ever since. A plus to him sleeping downstairs I can now open my bedroom window at night when it's hot! Before he would start barking when people walked past 2, 3, and 4 in the morning.

Ross there's so much more that's improved in just 4 days I know I have a long way to go as he still tries to test me he's far from trained with the simplest commands but I'm determined to succeed.

I've been keeping a diary...the change is just unreal!

It'll be a HUGE relief when I know he'll let a stranger stroke him I know it'll take a while. 

Regards and many thanks

Dawn and Doreen“

I then asked to go and see Sonny again and along with Judy and two of my dogs, Vhko and Bh-li we set off.

As we pulled up at the house, I could see Dawn sitting by the window awaiting our arrival. Not because she was excited about seeing us again, but because she was terrified once more about how Sonny would be with my dogs and what on earth was going to happen!

We had a brief chat and I suggested that we 'get it over with' and then come back and have coffee and relax afterwards.

Dawn had a thousand questions, but I allowed time for none of them, each question and subsequent answer would compound the worry and so I instructed her to come outside on to the green and stand still holding Sonny on the lead at a fixed length. She did as she was told and I did the rest.

I took Bh-li, my little Spitz directly over to Sonny. I watched intently, his (Sonny) and her body language. Sonny appeared to like her; Bh-li was relaxed and was willing to investigate him – she's an expert at detecting a dog that is less than friendly!) Then I introduced him to the male German shepherd, Vhko. Sonny was a little aggressive in his approach and so Vhko stood still for a moment, then they sniffed and Sonny did a little play bow – what an excellent start.

Then we headed off to the local park to meet some more dogs with a now slightly more relaxed Dawn.

Dawn was a little nervous of larger dogs and so, initially, I allowed her to walk Sonny and Bh-li and then gave her Vhko to hold also. There was Dawn and Sonny walking alone with two other dogs – Dawn was speechless, but a little happier!

If I had told her that is what we were going to do, I think she would have either passed out or kicked me out of the house, but with a gentle introduction we were doing well.

When we got to the park, we allowed Sonny to run around on his flexi-lead and Bh-li and Vhko were off lead. There were no other dogs around as is often the case when you want to meet dogs! However, we spent some time in the park allowing the dogs to engage. Sonny relaxed nicely and thoroughly enjoyed his walk.

Sonny had never been released form his lead and so whilst Dawn was doing so well, I thought I would push my luck and get him off lead as well!

Dawn was reluctant and so we compromised and went in to an enclosed area and after Dawn thoroughly checking for any gaps where Sonny could make his bid for freedom, we released him to assess whether he would 'leg-it' or whether he would return to call.

Sonny ran around freely for about ten minutes, coming each time Dawn called him and rewarded him with a tasty treat.

After our walk, we strolled home and Dawn called at her neighbour's house with all three dogs because she still did not believe that she was able to get Sonny near another dog, let alone walk him with two more.

We then returned to the house to see Doreen, who had waited patiently at home. We took Vhko and Bh-li in to the garden and allowed the three dogs to romp about. Doreen was speechless as we all traipsed through the house!

We sat and had coffee in the garden and spent some time with Sonny and eventually we could stroke him without being bitten, when approached in the right way and when giving him time to settle and become trustful.

Dawn and Doreen still have a long way to go following my reformation plans. Basically, Sonny needs to get out more...he needs trips to new locations, a spot of recall training, controlled socialisation with about 20 dogs per week as well as leadership in the home, the hook restriction plan to aid his introductions to new people – on his terms and without imposing.

I have encouraged Dawn and Doreen to take Sonny out in the car and enjoy long walks followed by a Ploughman's and a pint! Once Sonny has more confidence in his leaders, more consistency and unity between his owners and a fun life with other dogs...Dawn and Doreen should go from strength to strength!

Dawn and Doreen are exceptional. Rarely when I visit homes do I meet such honest, welcoming and caring people. As is common, Dawn and Doreen had not caused Sonny's problems. They did maintain them through avoidance of situations and a little overdose of love and affection, but they are dedicated to Sonny and most keen to see this programme through to the end. They want a better life for Sonny and for themselves.

What is often not mentioned is that it takes a huge amount of courage to ask for help, to call people in who go through the most personal aspects of your life – it's not like calling someone to fix the dishwasher, it is a little bit of an intrusion into your history as well as your dogs. I admire Dawn and Doreen immensely for seeking help, being so honest and so very open to change. Dawn was nervous about my visits, because of Sonny's behaviour and what might happen. She had no need to be and she knows that now.

I have left Dawn and Doreen to 'crack on' with following my advice and I shall await the updates; I hope they get enough support and encouragement from each other to do what is required and to make Sonny's life and theirs a little brighter!

Dawn Says…

"What can I say about my little Sonny .........I never thought Sonny would ever be fixable!  I made the mistake of treating Sonny like the child I never had.........BIG mistake!  If you ever think you can't change your dog, you're wrong!

Honestly....I can't believe I didn't contact Ross before!  Since Ross and Judy's visit instructing both me and mum what we needed to do, Sonny is changing already! 

Sonny was an absolute mission! he ruled the house, me and mum, lunged at people while on walks, barked at any dog he saw..............but not anymore :o)  I was becoming a nervous wreck!!

After implementing the changes Sonny is becoming a different dog!  I never ever thought he would ...but he is :o)

Although I know we have a lot of hard work still to do, I'm confident that we'll do it.

Already, Sonny has met dogs on his walks I wouldn't have dared let him near before ....now ...he wags his tail and is fine :o) we now walk past people without him lunging and barking.....walking has now become a pleasure instead of a nightmare! :o)

In the house Sonny is definitely calmer and happier, no longer jumping at every little noise and movement, running to the window barking at everyone that passes is no longer a big event, pre planning and worry of someone arriving invited or uninvited has now gone :o)

There's still along way to go with training, not just with Sonny but also training ourselves, but in such a short time the difference is something I never thought I would ever see!  The pecking order has definitely changed without a doubt.....although Sonny does still test us sometimes ....but now we know how to deal with it :o)

I can't wait to get Sonny obedient with the most basic commands ....... having seen and met Ross's dogs ... that's what I'm working towards :o)

If I hadn't seen Sonny in my own back garden with two other dogs........... I would never have believed it could have happened!! But Sonny was so good! In fact he was so laid back he couldn't even be bothered!!  I have to say that day will stay with me for life! The relief and excitement of MY dog mixing with two other dogs in my garden.....it was amazing! Not to mention by the end of it Ross and Judy were able to stoke Sonny without him taking a bite!! 

It just leaves me to say, I'm just sorry I didn't contact Ross as soon as Sonny's unacceptable behaviour started, thinking you can fix it yourself by watching dog programs just doesn't replace hands on, one to one advice.

Contacting Ross and having Ross and Judy visit Sonny in his own environment I have to say was money well spent!!! Meeting them both with the dogs has definitely changed me, mum and Sonny. 

'm looking forward to sending Ross and Judy updates of how well Sonny is doing.....although after 5years of him running the house I know I have a lot of work to do!!"