Ken’s Comments:
Owning and raising a dog requires a lot of work. When trouble occurs, whether that trouble is medical, behavioural or circumstantial change, it is often too easy to accept the “due to circumstances changing, I have to put my family first and rehome our dog” excuse that is often presented with “and please no judging, this decision is hard enough”. Fact is, it should be hard and in MOST circumstances, not “everything has been tried” and people need to challenge themselves to step up to the plate and live up to their responsibilities. I wrote a blog article on this a while ago that I still get some flack about when people read it.
Kathy is one of the many owners I have dealt with over the years that made me feel quite comfortable writting that article. She and Molly have been through the ringer with each other. Due to family circumstances, medical and behavioral troubles, Kathy could have presented the same excuses we hear all of the time for rehoming/giving your dog to a shelter/putting your dog down.
Instead of giving up, Kathy stepped up the the plate, addressed the issues head on and has done a remarkable job of turning the situation on it’s head. Kathy and Molly’s story could have ended so differently but Kathy refused to give up and the result, while still a work in progress, is totally beautiful. After recieving the above picture about a month ago, I requested Kathy contribute her success story. This picture made me smile big…
Here are a couple points of fact:
1. Molly came to Kathy’s care with WHOOPING vet bills
2. Molly returned to Kathy’s care with serious behavioral issues in which the she could not be trusted with Kathy’s young son nor for that matter, with Kathy
3. Kathy is a young mom whose husband works away
4. Kathy still found the time to attend obedience class, complete the work required on the one on ones, provide a safe and comfortable environment to help Molly overcome her aggression, attend group dog walks and daycare
5. Molly is now a week short of graduating advanced obedience
All this was very challenging for Kathy. There were setbacks to be expected but with hard work, patience and understanding, the results are evident.
Here is Kathy and Molly’s story:
Molly is our over the moon happy, hyped up, insanely energized Giant Schnauzer puppy. We got Molly at 8 weeks old. She was perfect, mild mannered, loved her kennel and knew to play gentle with our young son and our older dog. However, Molly came with a condition, she had Patent Ductus Arteriosus and at 12 weeks old she flew to PEI for major heart surgery. Molly stayed in PEI for 3 weeks, she came back healthy but she also came back with attitude.
Our once sweet gentle puppy now had food aggression, was all about her mouth (so when she greeted you, it was by putting your arm in her mouth), hated her kennel and would snarl and bite after our young child if he got close to her. We had our hands full!
We enrolled her in Basic Obedience at Topsailstar, she is extremely smart and was doing wonderful in class. We could (and still can) bring her anywhere and someone would always comment on how well behaved and mannered she was for such a young pup. Then we'd bring her home, and it would change; she had a completely different personality at home than she did everywhere else (we would joke and say she had an alter ego). Molly was growing fast and we knew we had to seek help sooner rather than later. After class one evening I told Ken about our 'situation' and we immediately set up a one on one.
After our session with Ken, she was tethered to my side for a little over a month. She now attends doggie daycare a few times a week, we try and make the group walks as often as we can, and along with numerous other tasks we can confidently say we have a happy dog and a happy home. While we still work with Molly daily, she no longer has any type of food aggression, will willingly go into her kennel for a nap, she no longer greets our house guests with her mouth AND most importantly she is our sons BEST FRIEND!!!
We are forever grateful for Ken's help and advice!!