Nessa embodies the typical problems we are asked to retrain
in GSD's. She is a hyperactive, vocal and over confident girl but with a
tremendous brain. This type we are seeing more and more these days. Of
course this is my breed and I am biased! Nessa has one other great
advantage................... wonderful owners who love her and took their
responsibilities seriously. I have been to the home and seen for myself
this improved but rather cocky dog!
Trained in March 2004
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!!