When It All Comes Together...

I just wanted to take a moment to muse about how good it feels when everything comes together.

For those of you unfamiliar with my occupation, I am a part time dog trainer and work full time in a veterinary hospital. My passion is keeping dogs healthy and dog training and I treasure seeing the changes for the better in my students and patients.

Months ago I encountered a little 10 week old Cocker Spaniel puppy in the hospital. Sam was purchased by a well meaning, loving couple who had just lost both of their elderly Cocker Spaniels. Sam was an adorable puppy, Lady and the Tramp all the way. He could melt your heart with his big, brown eyes. However upon beginning his examination we found something was wrong very quickly. Sam was snarling and snapping and had to be muzzled at only ten weeks old. We immediately began asking questions. Turns out Sam was purchased from a "breeder" (I use the term loosely) and these well meaning folks kept Sam "safe at home" until this first veterinary visit. Sam was terrified to say the least, as were we knowing what potentially lay ahead for him. His well meaning but naive family did not realize the severity of what we tried to get across to them and our pleas to get him into immediate training fell on deaf ears.

For months every doctor and nurse who saw Sam stressed to his family how abnormal this behavior was. One doctor told me she actually had a nightmare about him after seeing him and said this was the first puppy who actually scared her. Finally his owner approached me during Sam's last vaccine appointment and said she was interested in my classes. Sam was well past his optimal socialization window and older than my usual cut off age for my Puppy Pre-School class, but I could not let their interest pass, even if it meant I ended up moving Sam from a group class into a private session. I let them know that my next class started the following night and I looked forward to seeing them there.

After two weeks in class focusing more on "Control Unleashed", "Click To Calm" and "Calming Signals" than any obedience work, Sam came bounding over to me to say hello. I almost cried when he began jumping against my legs and kissing me when I crouched down to his level. The next week he began slowly making the rounds in class and soliciting pats and treats from the other students. He is still uncomfortable with the other puppies, but making strides at every class. It is also so fantastic to me to see all of the other students understand Sam's fears and go out of their way to make him (and so importantly, his family) feel safe and welcome in class.

Well, today was "the big day", Sam was due to be neutered. I discussed my ideal plan with his owners at class last night about how I envisioned today working. I met with the other nurses and doctors this morning and relayed all of the work I've done with Sam and what I hoped to see today. The doctors were exceptionally accomodating to my requests and made sure to find me no matter where I was in the hospital for anything Sam needed to be handled for and wouldn't you know it, today, of all days and for all of the handling Sam needed to have done, today was the first time Sam did not need to be muzzled in the hospital! He also visibly perked up every time he saw me enter the treatment room which made me feel like he really was coming to trust me.

Despite the potential for additional stress to Sam today, I actually feel like this event went better than I could have hoped and I feel like it even was a positive experience for Sam. He spent an entire day with us, did not practice his panic attack behavior and he really attached himself to me with genuine trust.

So if you have made it this far, thank you for allowing me to celebrate Sam's big breakthrough. I feel so truly blessed that I am able to combine my passions of medicine and behavior to help pets and I love being able to be there to see it all come together. It is the "little things" in life that mean the most, and although many people may think that a stress free event for a dog is a little thing, to me and more importantly to Sam, it was everything. So, also thank you to Dr. Chmiel, Dr. Fischer, and nurses Brian, Danielle and Jackie for tolerating my mother hen neurosis with Sam!

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Jessica Janowski
Puppy, Please! Dog Training, LLC
www.puppyplease.com
Goffstown, NH

"I don't whisper, I translate!"