Sarah, Colin & Brian
Reactive and distracted to ‘relaxed’, ‘enjoyable’ walks
Sarah joined Scentventure with collie brothers Colin and Brian in January this year. You’d think, being brothers and growing up together they might be rather similar but there’s much more than a beautiful set of tan eyebrows difference with these boys!
As a puppy, Colin had a scary incident with an out of control dog and has been dog reactive ever since, whereas Brian is great with other dogs out and about. Sarah was grappling with the guilt of Colin always being on lead, worried and seeming to just want to get home again versus Brian’s excited eagerness to go, go, go and pull, pull, pull if he wasn’t off lead!
Sarah really got stuck into the Roadmap, understanding the importance of identifying all those triggers which were increasing stress and, therefore, challenging behaviours for both boys. Within a week she was able to say “Wow!” after coming home from a very relaxed walk because she was quick to implement Ugly Walks to begin stress reduction. For everyone - not just the boys! Sarah prioritised separate walks for the boys when family members were available to help, so she could give them that individual focus time, working on the Scentventure tools, like Distraction Defeaters, and tailoring the walks to their individual needs.
Changing how and where they walked opened up opportunities to give Colin some off lead time and allow Brian to be more of a social butterfly. Sarah said “For the first time in years, [she had] loved every minute of the two 1-hour walks with the boys and the boys seemed to love their Mummy time too!”. With a beautiful nature reserve right on their doorstep, she finally felt like she had the tools to enjoy walks with each of the boys there. They’ve even headed out on family days out to the forest and the beach! Colin has been able to enjoy more off lead time as he’s demonstrated how stress reduction can really reduce the intensity of response to triggers; he’s often disinterested and calm around other dogs!
Sarah really invests time in building Partnership with the boys individually, working on the Environment and Exploration Compass Point Awards and has been dedicated to the Roadmap journey.
Clearly, it’s all really paying off! Congratulations, Scentventure Superstars!
Katy & Rocky
Worried, overseas rescue boy to courageous scentventurer
After 7 Days of Scentventure in January Rocky joined the Roadmap as an overseas rescue dog with lots of worries about this new, very different world. Rocky could become quietly overwhelmed and be unable to engage with food and have bouts of little or no appetite. It was clear that Rocky needed some help with feeling more positive, rather than concerned about new things and Katy immediately got to work with activities from the Environment and Exploration Compass Points - great for building confidence and calmness!
It wasn’t an easy start for Rocky. He was worried to put his feet on anything unusual to learn Bear and walked away from his first Exploration Zone, intimidated by the novelty. Katy didn’t give up and sought help to break things down for him, building Rocky’s confidence up step by step.
It’s wonderful to see the change in Rocky and how he approaches novelty. He heads towards a Scentventure Sack with a waggy tail, excited to explore new things and the pup who was scared to put his front paws on a stool is now climbing park benches!
Katy and Rocky’s Partnership goes from strength to strength; she’s applied the learning from the Club on body language, stress and fear and sees those earlier signs when he’s unsure of anything new and knows how to respond - with Scentventure Stations! A pile of wood appearing in their street could have overwhelmed Rocky previously and potentially put an end to their walk. But Katy has the instinct to allow him the space and time to process and then make something fun and familiar out of it - Sausage Logs!
As Rocky’s confidence has grown, his hypervigilance in the environment and what may be scary out there has reduced… calm focus is building! Katy’s now reporting back from walks that there’s been “no nervousness and he’s been really responsive to everything in the Scentventure toolkit”.
Katy’s partner said it all about the work she’s put in with Rocky; “if you go back 2 or 3 months he wasn’t like this.”
Katy responded, ‘’I wonder why’’ 🤷🏼♀️
🤣🤣🤣
Of course we can *always* be quietly proud of our dogs’ progression - but when other people notice and comment, we can’t help but feel good about that!
Well done Katy and Rocky - your dedication is an inspiration 🧡
Netty & Boycie
Excited, distracted, aroused to ‘ARGUING ABOUT’ who gets to DO THE DOG WALK
When Netty embarked on the Roadmap after a 7 day challenge in January, she was struggling with Boycie’s excitement and distractibility. He really throws himself at life with total commitment! Excited dogs like Boycie can often appear as a bit of a contradiction, with stress exacerbating excitability. Something that’s absolutely apparent when Boycie has a vet visit… to the uninitiated he appears excited - exploring at warp speed, jumping up, lurching around on the lead - but that’s merely an expression of stress in an environment where most dogs struggle to feel safe and in control.
Making their walks ‘more Scentventure’ has transformed their experience. Boycie would previously have been nose plastered to the floor, pulling ahead and lurching toward distractions as if Netty wasn’t at the other end of the lead. Netty has been able to actually enjoy walks now! Boycie’s walking on a loose lead and there’s been a big reduction in lunging as using the Distraction Defeater tools has taken over. They’ve even been able to gradually expand their horizons - branching out to new areas from existing walks and exploring totally new places without all the major excitement at anything ‘new’ creeping back in!
The Spring Scavenge brought some unexpected successes for Boycie. The emphasis on mindfulness, slowing down, enjoying the moment and finding the beauty in our surroundings really benefited him, slowing his pace and being more settled too! Netty’s kept it up, stopping to take lovely photos of Boycie and enjoy the moment whilst he slows down and explores his environment too.
Beyond finding their walks much more enjoyable, they’ve been focusing on fun at home too! Boycie loves his scentwork and refocusing his super nose on Linear Searches, Exploration Zones and Scent Collector has been invaluable to reducing that hyperfocus to sniffing on walks.
Netty has absolutely wowed us with a Scentventure space transformation in their garden and it’s been a joy to see Boycie’s confidence in exploration growing as he works on the Environment Compass Point Award around all the new obstacles to interact with.
Sarah, Katy & Netty were just where you were now, at the end of a 7 day challenge and they took the leap of faith and trusted the wider process.
How would it feel in 6 months to be ‘arguing about’ who’s turn it is to walk your dog?