Ken’s Comments:
Raising a dog is hard work. Life happens, times get tough, dogs get sick, work changes….nowhere is this more true than when you are just starting off as an adult.
I remember first meeting Kylee and Mushu. Mu was a hyperactive puppy completely lacking in manners with no sense of personal boundaries. Given his limited experience at the time, he was amazing but VERY VERY challenging.
I met with Kylee and was so impressed with her maturity and the dedication she was already showing to her new puppy. It would have been very easy for her to say “I am in over my head”. She stepped up to the plate big time. I have loved watching Mu mature. Now they have a second joining the family…Mowgli.
Here is their story from Kylee
Let me start off by saying that I’ve always had at least 2 dogs in my home, ever since before I was born, it’s always been a pretty big constant in my life. In fact, of the 3 dogs that currently live at my parent’s house, 2 of them are mine. Slushy came into my life when I was 9 and Mikki joined our family when I was 14 years old, and as much as I wanted and would have loved to have them join me in St.John’s when I moved away for school I knew deep in my heart that it wasn't the right choice for them. At this point, Slushy was 10 and had never been without my parent’s and the 4 other animals in our house and Mikki was extremely attached to my Dad’s dog Kobe. I knew, as much as I loved them, that it wouldn’t be fair to them to take them away from that. And that is where Mushu came in…
Just after I turned 20 I finally moved into a place where I was permitted to have pets, so I immediately started looking for a dog to bring into my home. Being from Goose Bay, I naturally wanted to adopt from and support the absolutely amazing SPCA there. My best friend and his Mom are both on the Board of Directors for the SPCA and were both sending me pictures of which dogs they thought would suit me, and then I get a video of a tiny 11 week old , malnourished and frostbitten little, grey and white puppy wandering around giving lip to just about anyone he passed…
Flash forward a couple of days later… I had just gotten off the flight and insisted on going up to the shelter as soon as it opened. I spent about 20 minutes just simply playing with all the puppies. Mushu, at the time, came over to play for a moment but didn't quite stick around or seem super attached… Until I left the room to go see a litter of puppies that were just born a week ago. This little, skinny, baby followed me and sat outside the door until I came back in… and that was that. There was no way I could have left without him after that.
Now as far as new puppies go, Mushu was not a typical puppy. Everyone’s main concerns when it comes to new puppies are house training, kennel training, and them chewing up things in their home. But from the very first night Mushu has slept solid through the night in his kennel without a fuss, has not had an accident in the house since he was about 14 weeks old, and has never chewed up a single thing in my house. I could leave food on my coffee table and counter and he wouldn’t so much as sniff at it. A seemingly perfect puppy… except he had more energy than both he and I knew how to deal with.
Slowly he started to get more and more aggressive, particularly about the couch. I basically was not allowed to sit on my own couch at all. He would lunge, bark, and bite. I actually have scars on my wrist from this time with him. I couldn’t walk him without him basically hauling my arm off, and no length of walk seemed to touch this energy. For the first time in my whole life, I found myself terrified of a dog… my 16 week old puppy of all dogs, which is when I found Ken Reid. I emailed him about my situation and immediately set up a one-on-one with him. And of course when Ken came over Mushu was wound up like a clock, despite the walk we took earlier that morning, and immediately began to nip and jump and bite at Ken. As we sat and talked, Mu slowly calmed slightly and Ken gave us our homework. Daycare, Group Walks, Obedience Class, and Tethering (Which to this day has been the hardest, most frustrating thing I have ever done with Mu).
I quickly signed us up for Level 1 Obedience and got him into daycare twice a week at A Dog’s World. Class has always been a tad bit of a struggle for Mu… He’s almost always the loudest one there and the amount of excitement was overwhelming for him. But slowly he began to make progress, with much thanks to Ken and his training team. His energy level wasn’t so high between daycare and class and he was beginning to really rock all of the commands in class.
The one piece of homework I put off of a little bit was the group walks. I remember being so so nervous and actually waited until my Mom was visiting before we attended our first one. I was, and still am besides the kids, one of the youngest regulars on the group walks which can be very intimidating. Add in a hyperactive puppy that loves to bark and pull, and well that’s enough to make anyone nervous. But we went, and it went just about as well as I expected. Mu was so excited he literally did not know what to do. But we kept going and kept working.
Mushu at A Dog’s World Daycare
Then came our first attempt at Level 2 Obedience…
Mushu finished off his Level 1 class so well that I immediately signed him up for Level 2, which seemed like a fabulous idea at the time… but keep in mind that Mu was still only 7-8 months old at the time. He was still running on puppy excitement, which quickly became very frustrating. Due to the excitement he wasn’t able to hold eye contact or even think about giving the leash any slack. Time outs and outbursts during class became a regular thing and I left the first 2 classes literally in tears. And despite encouraging words from both Susan and Ken, I emailed Ken and asked him to hold Mushu’s space for a later set of classes because I didn’t think he was ready yet.
For a few month’s life simply got in the way and we couldn’t attend any group walks. Mu had calmed down significantly so I thought let’s give Level 2 another go! We committed to going back on the group walks and got back into classes and started using a prong collar (At the advice of Mu’s bestie Chelsey, which to this day is the best decision I ever made). This time with much improvement! He was still the loudest in the class, but his behaviour and focus were so much better! I remember 3 weeks in I actually put the leash down while he was in a sit, with dogs walking in circles around him and walked away. And he stayed! I left class crying that night, and not for the same reason I did a few months ago.
We recommitted to the walks BIG TIME. Not only to the group walks, but to the evening training walks. We try to make at least 1 group walk a week and walk at least 2-3 times a week with the evening walks. Not only has Mu gotten more comfortable , so have I! Mu and I have made friends on these walks that I never could have imagined making a year and a half ago. As long as Mu has Mace, Leo, or Dakota he is good to go, and if he see’s Susan, Lesley, or even worse Chelsey I better be holding on tight because we’re going over whether I want to or not!
A year and a half ago Mushu was a hyperactive, busy body with no way of controlling his energy and I was a shy 20 year old that was clearly out of her depth. Now, I pull up to the group walks with confidence knowing full well that my boys are going to cause a racket during the first few moments, but within a few minutes Mushu will be walking calmly up near the front with his friends, and I never in a million years thought I would ever see that happen! Thank you so much Ken, Susan, Lesley, Lacey, Chelsey, Danielle, Sarita and all of the lovely people who have helped shape who Mu is today… I couldn't be more grateful if I tried! Now to tackle noisy little Mowgli…
Mushu on the group walk.