Ken’s Comments:
In this line of work, sometimes you come across some really unfortunate stories. Dogs will be dogs. They cannot tell us when they are feeling uncomfortable. It is up to us humans to read the signs and interject ourselves accordingly. Sometimes, we owners do this very well. Other times, we drop the ball. Unfortunately when we drop the ball, it is often our dogs that pay the price. We let our guard down, miss the signs and cues our dogs are giving us, misread the body language or minimize the issues our dogs are having. Being a responsible dog owner is an important job. It is one an owner needs to take seriously. Failure is not an option.
When I first heard Chris tell Pepper’s story, it was heart breaking. Chris and his wife are two of the kindest, most generous people you will ever meet. They are good people. When they told me of the nip, they were heart broken. It meant a strained relationship with their family. However, they wanted to do what was right.
I remember travelling to CBS with Heidi Peddle, my intern, to meet with them and Pepper. Pepper presented as a shy beagle. She was a little timid but was quick to warm up. Heidi had her eating out of her hand in no time. It was evident that many of Pepper’s issues could be attributed to her timidness.
I helped set Chris up with a plan to boost Pepper’s confidence. Chris and his wife worked hard with Pepper. Despite the distance, they travelled into St. John’s to attend class. Despite health problems, they attended the group walks. They got Pepper into daycare and Pepper started imediately improving. Not only did Pepper become more confident but her newfound happiness was evident. She grins ear to ear now even in strange situations. She is content when confronted with unfamiliar things.
It was amazing to watch.
So here is Chris telling Pepper’s story...
Wow where to begin?
First let me say that I have been a lover of beagles and have owned them for over 30 years.
I have to admit, like a lot of beagle owners, I kept them outside in a kennel for the first 15 years or so but always tried to be responsible when I did this. As I got older I felt guilty about keeping my dogs out there and in 2000 or there about I transferred them into my home having up to 5 in my house at one time. I did manage to house train them all and believe it or not they all slept in our bed.
The last 2 of these beagle’s died just over 8 years ago within 2 months of each other. One with cancer and one of old age (she was almost 15).
We were heartbroken and wanted a break from dogs for a little while.
One day I was visiting a friend of mine in Chamberlains and noticed a dog kennel in his neighbour’s garden. This was the first time I ever seen Pepper.
Well, over the next month or so while visiting my friend 3 or 4 times I would notice her and she looked so sad. I finally got enough nerve to go over, knock on this person door and asked about her.
He wasn’t rude or anything but wasn’t overly friendly and guess was wondering what I was up to inquiring about his dog. I told him about my history with beagles and asked if he would be willing to part with her (unbeknownst to my wife). He said that he had no interest in selling her and wanted to keep her for a rabbit dog. I wasn’t willing to give up so every time I visited my friend I’d look over in the neighbour’s garden and if the owner was out I’d go over and have a chat with him and kept bugging him about Pepper (wasn’t her name at that time).
He finally did tell me that he hadn’t had very much time to spend with her and she had only been out of the kennel once since he had her. She was 10 months old at the time. I kept offering him money and kept upping the amount by $50.00 each time. Finally he said he figured that I would give her a better life and relented and sold her to me.
Well now I had to tell my wife that I was bringing a dog home that evening. She had the bath ready when I got her home. She was really afraid and pooped in my wife's car on the way home.
I brought her in the house and my wife was waiting with the bath tub downstairs ready.
Poor Pepper shook like a leaf as she had never had a bath before and as far as we knew was never in a house before. We tried to feed her but she would not eat anything she just kept pacing around our coffee table in the living room.
That night she slept on blankets next to our bed where I left my hand drooped over the side and every now and then I would wake up to check on her. She didn’t move all night and continued to just shake.
It took her 3 days before we finally got her to eat anything and the first thing she ate was tuna fish (she still loves it to this day).
She was very very timid and would not go in our kitchen for 3 months. So timid and afraid that she would shake if we brought home anything new even grocery bags. She would just go in our bedroom and shake, and drool.
After a few years of this things did get a little better but she still had anxiety issues. If the wind was high and making a lot of noise or if the rain was pouring and making noise there was no way that she would go out on her own. Myself or my wife would have to put her on a leash and take her out to do her business, and of course thunder or fireworks would be the worse (still is) and one New Year’s Eve a few years ago the poor thing pooped up and down the hallway in our home she was so afraid.
We did try and kennel train her but she would just shake and drool so much in the kennel. I couldn’t take it any longer and put the kennel away for good.
I did take her in the woods and she loved it there. She seemed to lose her anxiety and didn’t seem afraid of anything, but going anywhere in the vehicle she would drool and shake (still does but has gotten better). When we would head home from the woods she would be so tired she would just lay down on the seat and sleep. Anyway this went on for a few years she still had several issues but she was so much better than when we first got her.
Then something tragic happened Pepper (yes my beautiful timid shy Pepper) bit my grand-daughter.
This basically happened from Pepper being harassed by my grand-daughter and a family members young dog. Pepper tried to escape by running away but the other dog and my grand-daughter chased her and continued with the harassment.
Unfortunately they ran into another room and no-one saw exactly what happened.
This caused a bad situation between my family and one of them demanded that we put Pepper down.
I wasn’t about to do that when it wasn’t really Pepper fault. It was only a minor bite which didn’t draw blood and the child wanted to play with Pepper again in about 30 mins. We attemped to deal with this on our own but there was no way that one person was ever going to relent and kept insisting we put the dog down or our grand-daughter was never going to be able to visit her Nan and Pop at our house again if Pepper was present.
Myself and my wife were crushed and didn’t know where to turn. I thought that I heard about this guy the Newfoundland Dog Whisperer who may be able to do an assessment on Pepper to ensure that she was not an aggressive dog and was no threat to any child.
I made the call to Ken Reid who came and did a one on one with myself, my wife and Pepper.
He gave us a plan to deal with issues we were having with Pepper, addressing her anxiety and we told him about the biting issue. He did assure us after hearing about the situation that Pepper was not a threat and was not a bit aggressive in his opinion. He said that this problem was caused by the other dog and the child and that Pepper was trying to get away from the situation.
He did give us some suggestions to ease the family members fear. He suggested that we could place her in another room when they visited or put a muzzle on her when they visited while working on addressing the issues.
We went out right away and bought a muzzle but unfortunately the family member still refused to let our grand-daughter visit.
On a happy note, the other issues like her anxiety have gotten so much better.
She will now go outside by herself no matter how windy or rainy it is. She no longer is afraid when we bring anything new into our home. She had a issue with pulling on her leash and trying to jump and bark at other dogs when we took her for a walk. Ken told us about the group walks and daycare and these have helped her so much with her social skills. She would always back away if someone tried to give her a pat on the head or to say hello but she has overcome those fears and for the most part will let anyone pet her and she now seems to like it. She would never ever give anyone other than me and my wife a lick/kiss but she has given some of the girls at daycare licks, which amazes me.
She has gotten so much better and I believe happier I just wish that we had known about Ken and his help earlier.
Pepper has now finished Level 1 training with Ken. I thought at times she would never get through but she did really well.
Myself and my wife shed a few tears when we think about how far she has come. Pepper is now on the waiting list for the My Dog Is Awesome course which we hope will help her even further with her anxiety.
Many people have asked me about Pepper’s story and I could not think of a better way to share it.
If you have any issues with your dog and wondered if Ken Reid can help you. Please don’t put if off and only wish that we had known about Ken earlier. He really has changed Pepper’s and our lives for the better.