“Indigo is a gorgeous black Lab and belongs to a lovely couple who run a local pub. Indigo was very nervous of visitors, which is not ideal for a pub dog! If anyone walked through the Staff doors in the pub, he would come thundering downstairs, hackles raised and bark at them. His stance was quite forward and appeared aggressive, but he would also skitter backwards if approached, he was fearful of strangers and doing his best to appear scary to make them go away. If he was walked through the pub, he would also bark and lunge towards patrons, only held back by the lead and his owners were a little nervous of what would happen if anyone got too close. Outside of the pub, Indigo was generally fine, a little nervous of new people, but he would generally steer clear, rather than approach and bark.”
“I returned to the pub and was surprised at the change in his behaviour. When I walked through the doors, Indigo ran down the stairs… but much less aggressively than before…”
“I suggested his owners try the diet to help in our work to help Indigo work past his fear of strangers and I gave them 3 weeks to trial the diet and for it to take effect before returning and doing any work with them. I returned to the pub and was surprised at the change in his behaviour. When I walked through the doors, Indigo ran down the stairs barking at me, but much less aggressively than before, it sounded more like an alert than a deterrent, and when he got to the bottom of the stairs he stopped barking and walked away. His approach was still cautious, but quickly he gave me a waggy greeting and invited me to pet him.”
“We are currently continuing our work on desensitising him to people entering the staff area, but his lunging at patrons in the pub has stopped almost instantly, he now just enthusiastically rushes through to go out for walks and his owners are thrilled at the continuing improvement in his behaviour!”
Submitted by Corrine from Forpaws training, Guildford
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