Success Story - Dave the Dude.

We know everyone is in Christmas mode but  we wanted to end the year with a perfect tale showing why we do what we do. All our adopters are amazing and Dave proves with the right guidance a troubled tale becomes a fairytale.

"We got Dave in June 2024 knowing he had some issues. Dave was reactive
particularly toward other dogs but also people and noises. We immediately fell in
love with him despite his personality traits.
There were other aspects of his personality which we felt we could help him with
such as
1. When travelling in a car, he would only sit in the footwell, like he was hiding.
2. He would never release his ball and kept it firmly in his mouth like a security
toy.
3. He would not come to us and definitely didn’t do cuddles.
4. Would shy away when we came through the door.

The reactive outbursts by Dave were evident from the start and walking him was
challenging and there were a couple of particularly stressful events at the earlier
stages. However, we continued patiently and got him to a stage where the reactions
were less frequent. This not only made things better for Dave but for us too. Sadly,
this was all undone when on a third occasion, an irresponsible dog owner let his dog
approach Dave despite our yellow warning tag and us telling him to keep his dog
away as Dave is reactive. A horrible episode then occurred when the dog came up to
Dave from behind and Dave latched on to the dog's lip. We finally got Dave off and
although there were no real injuries, the effect it had on Dave and me just set us
back to the start, but even worse, it heightened my stress levels whilst walking as I
found the event extremely upsetting and frightening.
Shortly after this occurred my stress levels had overflowed, and I was becoming
quite unwell. So much that it reached the point where we felt we had to give Dave
back to UKBTR. It was breaking our hearts, but we didn’t know what else we could
do. Fortunately, I contacted Moira at UKBTR and got some great advice along with
the best advice of all which was to have a session with Jamie of Pawfect training
academy.
By approaching things in the way Jamie explained and using his amazing tips we
have made great strides, and Dave is much happier, still reactive but making
progress. We are also much happier, and we find ourselves wondering how we could
have even considered giving Dave up.
It’s not just the reactive part of Dave’s personality that has changed for the better.
Now Dave loves sitting in his car box where he can watch the world go by, rather
than hide in the footwell not being able to see anything.
Dave freely comes to us for a playful cuddle, and a fuss and even comes up to us in
bed for snuggle, and “kisses” now.

Although Dave would not play or fetch when he first came to us, now he runs and
fetches and even tosses the ball from his mouth at our feet as if to say get on with it.
Dave’s a bit of a Daddy’s boy. He waits for Dad to arrive home and welcomes him
with cuddles and excitement and of course, his ball.
Dave’s Playing in general has also improved, he loves running alongside us, lays on
his back for a belly and chin rub, etc etc.
Yes, Dave is still work in progress but progress being the key word. At home he’s
calm, playful and has a much-improved personality but when out on walks, he’s still
having his nervous moments and protective episodes, but he’s improving. Small
steps are fine by us, and we love being the ones who can continue to love him and
help him progress even more. So, Dave is not going anywhere. He’s a treasured part
of our family.
Thank you UKBTR and thank you Jamie……..."