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We first saw
Nessa when she was about 15 weeks old. Andrew, Tom (our son) and I thought she
was lovely. She was the last in the litter and had not been outside the family’s
home, apart from to the vets. This highly significant fact regarding her lack of
socialisation was totally lost on us; at that stage we had no idea of the
problems to come…
The next three
years with Nessa were really stressful. We went from dog training class to dog
training class. We even had trainers come to the house. Nessa was
confrontational with dogs, cats, people – in fact basically everything! She had
an attitude problem that we just didn’t seem to make any real progress with. We
knew things couldn’t go on but really didn’t know what else to do. Then one day
our post woman came to the door. Nessa knew her and Sarah was a ‘dog person’.
However, suddenly Nessa leapt out of the door and nipped her. Sarah was great
but we were mortified; this must not be allowed to happen again. We struggled on
and believed we were being stricter and yet things basically stayed the same.
One evening I
took Nessa out for a walk and on the way home we were walking along a narrow
path and a man passed us. He smiled and said hello and without warning Nessa
snarled and grabbed hold of the sleeve of his coat. I was totally
horrified. He was very understanding and said it wasn’t a problem. I apologised
profusely and went home in total despair. Andrew and I talked about what we were
going to do; she had gone too far this time…
We thought about
the Police, but she was too old. We thought about re-homing her to another
family, but was that fair? In desperation, I went on the Internet. I found some
contacts and some details of someone called Debbie, who trained dogs and ran a
German Shepherd Rescue. I took a deep breath and rang. Debbie was great and
talked to me for nearly two hours. She immediately appeared to understand Nessa
and what needed to be done. The relief was huge! Nessa could be an absolute pain
but she was still part of our family and we wanted to try and work something
out.
There was no
‘hard sell’ and Debbie suggested Andrew and I talk over what we wanted to do. We
knew what we needed to do and within days Nessa was on her way to ‘Boot Camp’!!
Arriving at Debbie’s, Nessa, was her usual ‘gobby’ self and strutted around
Debbie’s office. We also noticed, she realised that Debbie wasn’t responding to
her in the way she was used to. Debbie spent several hours talking to us and
observing and interacting with Nessa. Eventually, we took away our file of
homework and left Nessa for the agreed two weeks. This had to
work, because we had tried everything else…
We kept in close
contact with Debbie, learning that Nessa, within days, had earned herself the
reputation of a being like a spoilt child, who should have pink ribbons and
ringlets in her hair, and if she could do, would threaten to ‘scream and scream
until I’m sick and I can’, if she didn’t get her own way!!
I felt guilty at
this stage, because I didn’t miss her for the first week; the relief of not
battling with her was huge. Our three cats began to relax as they were terrified
of her and life seemed to return to normal. Over the ‘phone Debbie would give us
updates and explain that Nessa was making progress and that she believed that
with perseverance she would make significant progress.
When we went to
collect her we were all very nervous. What if she was the same? It soon became
obvious that whilst she still displayed the stubborn side of her nature there
was something different about her. Following our training, which included Tom,
our 11 year old, Debbie waved us off with instructions to keep in contact and we
took Nessa home.
For the first few
days she sulked. She appeared disbelieving that we were operating the same
regime as Debbie! There was a lot to remember, but we felt considerably more
confident than we had ever done. The support from Debbie was hugely important.
To have her understand the reality of living with a dog like Nessa and how to
address her behaviour was significant for us. We noticed, when we took Nessa for
a walk, that people reacted differently; we were in control and whilst Nessa
resented this (and she definitely did – though less so now!) the balance of
power had shifted. Additionally, grooming her is so different. Prior to ‘Boot
Camp’, I had to try and brush a moving target that would attempt to run off and
snatch the brush away from me. Now she lies on the floor and lets me do it.
Amazing! I took her out on a 30-foot long line and it suddenly dawned on me what
Debbie had been trying to show us when we collected her. It works! We have grown
in confidence and life with Nessa has calmed down. Yes, she can still be
difficult with other dogs, but our ability to manage this aspect of her
behaviour has helped significantly. She, at the end of the day, is the sort of
GSD that Debbie classes as ‘high drive’. She may have made a good working dog
and as such she is never going to be the sort of dog that plods through life. We
accept this, but we also now know and accept that we don’t have to put up with
the sort of behaviour that she used to display before she went to ‘Boot Camp’!
The relationship
we have with Nessa is very different now. She has the odd ‘temper tantrum’ when
she doesn’t get her own way. We don’t give in and we win the argument. She is a
real ‘drama queen’, to the point that if she gets a tap on the bridge of her
nose she will lie on her back, cover her face with both paws and whimper!
 I could write
down so much more about how Nessa has improved; we don’t have a ‘perfect’ dog,
but what we do have is a vastly improved, beautiful shepherd, that no longer has
an inflated sense of her own importance. She is liveable with. We understand
her. She understands us and just as importantly where she fits into our ‘pack’.
We constantly remind her who is in charge and her attitude is still improving.
Anyone who has suffered the stress of living with a dog like Nessa will
understand that such a change is HUGE.
Our only regret
about finding Debbie is that we didn’t find her sooner. As a family we were so
stressed and we didn’t appreciate that Nessa was stressed too; she has learnt
that life is better this way.
If you would like
to contact us about our experience of how Debbie rescued us please contact us
through her – we will be more than happy to reassure you that what Debbie offers
has been invaluable for us and what it was like being rescued!!
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