 Social
Club Success Stories
Heaven and Harvey are two littermate boxers
who first came to social club after they had attended
their puppy classes. They were obvious litter mates
with no idea how to interact with other dogs individually
or how to approach other dogs with respect and manners.
Canine etiquette was just one of the skills that they
have now learnt! They are now a year old, neutered,
well mannered and are getting much better at reading
other dog’s body language. The owner said to me
recently that she finds them a pleasure to take out
for a walk together. Heaven and Harvey are currently
attending the kennel club gold award.
Wilf is the most huggable staffi with a cheeky
personality. His owner has worked very hard with him
and has had a real challenge at times. Wilf attended
puppy classes and then quickly joined the social club
to master the art of which dogs not to pick on! The
tutors had to be strict with him but it has paid off
and my dog Simba enjoys a regular walk with him to help
keep him in check throughout adolescence.
Marcus joined the confident group straight after
puppy class at about five months of age and was very
exuberant when approaching people and other dogs. It
only took a few sessions with the correct tutor dogs
for Marcus to start having respect for other dogs and
learning how to read if they were telling him to keep
his distance and approach more calmly. The tricky bit
was choosing the right dogs for Marcus to socialise
with as he picked out dogs which were weaker and could
have learnt bullying behaviour, we prevented this by
doing some one to one work at one end of the field with
only strong tutor dogs this allowed Marcus to be kept
in line.
Marcus has completed his bronze training and his owner
has a lot more understanding of dog training, how to
get the results using positive clicker training and
has fantastic control of such a strong dog, he is now
about a year old and due to start his silver training.
He is a loveable dog with loads of energy and likes
to greet you with a huge lick and cuddle.
Takkr a male Malamute joined the social club
after we realised that he was shy and a little unsure
about life during his puppy classes. Takkr didn’t
naturally interact with the others and the field environment
at social club provided a bigger, less stressful area
to start compiling his social skills. The first two
sessions Takkr rushed out of the field and back to his
owners car, he was frightened, anxious and just wanted
to go home, with very careful interaction with some
of the quieter group tutors and starting to educate
his owner to not reinforce any fearful behaviour with
praise and reassurance Takkr began to start interacting
and showing signs of wanting to play with the other
youngsters.
It was great to see his confidence grow and his owner
so pleased that he was enjoying the world so much more.
The social club also provided an opportunity for training
practice and guidance from me as his character got stronger
and he started to become more of a challenge. Takkr
is a lot more settled and sociable and his owners have
just bought another puppy so no doubt he can share his
skills with her.
Rupert was one of the saddest puppies I have
ever met, he had a wonderful owner who took him on as
his 2nd home, he had missed all of his opportunity for
primary socialisation and not seen any of the big wide
world. He attended puppy classes at the age of about
18 weeks. Rupert spent a lot of the time at class hiding
under the chair both frightened of people and the other
puppies. After 3 lessons we were obviously making progress,
Rupert started to come out from hiding to mix with some
of the puppies, we decided to get Rupert into the social
club with a few of the quieter tutor dogs, it took a
long time to settle Rupert in, allow him to gain some
confidence and weigh up the best way to encourage and
support him and allowing him to gain his own social
skills. As he started reaching puberty at around 7 months
he become over sexed with other dogs and we weighed
up reducing his confidence – when he was already
fearful by removal of the testosterone or coping with
his new behaviour which could have turned into aggression.
We opted to castrate him and this turned out to be the
right decision. Rupert has since completed his Bronze
kennel club award.
For further information please contact Sarah at:
sarah@little-orchard.co.uk,
on 0773 6425527 or visit the contact
sarah form
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