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| Nico - relaxed and happy at home |
My parents came to visit yesterday, Dad was desperate for a pee and went
straight to the loo .. (necessary info ..honest!!! Lol) Anyway Nico was in the
living room when Dad came in, he was still in his coat and baseball type hat. As
some of you know we have low doorways and you have to duck your head to come
through into the living room. As Dad came in Nico freaked and dived backwards,
he cowered and then slowly moved forward. Dad put his hand out over Nico's
head and said "it's Ok mate," but he backed off growing and really freaking out.
(Dog people will know with a nervous dog the hand should always go under the
chin - sadly my dad is not a dog person) I Told dad to take his hat off and sit
down and Nico came round and was friendly with him within no time. I found it such a strange response,
totally OTT for a dog who minutes earlier had been jumping all over my mum. It's
been a long time since he responded badly to anyone but this was the worse we've
seen and it was quite upsetting to watch. There is no doubt, though there are no
issues with Steve, Nico is far more comfortable with women. I wondered if Mr
Belgium or someone around him wore a baseball hat and decided to ask someone who
would know! Yes he does, so we have an answer to that one! (I'll be wearing mine a lot now I guess.)
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| Kai - would never have been pushed |
The person in the know also had more information, they have since heard
that Mr Belgium "Pressure Trains" his dogs. Though I've over 30 years of experience in dog training it's a term I'm not familiar with, but
it doesn't leave a lot to the imagination! The description given to me of Pressure
Training is basically forcing a dog all the time. Instead of encouraging them to
do anything and getting reward they use pressure to make a dog do everything, the pressure being both
mental and physical. If a dog's not strong in character it can destroy them. Apparently some dogs
become quivering wrecks after this style of Sch training. I guess it's a
testimony to his strength of character that he's able to recover so quickly and
trust again .... I'm telling you Kai would have bitten the Belgian bastard!!!!! (But maybe that's what they want!)
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| Nico - Such a Happy boy |
The more I hear about the way GSD's are treated by some of the
kennels/trainers abroad the more respect I loose for them. All I can hope is
that the bad trainers are in the minority and that there are people who are
not afraid to name and shame!
I love the bones of this dog, without him right now my life would be
extremely empty, he's the dog that's most like Louis in his ways here. 99.9% of the
time he's just happy, bubbly and silly , but it's sad that something in his past
still triggers such a response. Ah well like I said it's been ages since we saw
anything and with love, time and compassion I'm sure he'll get over it and
completely forget the horrid past!
