Cassy the Cavapoo

When our Cavapoo pup arrived at eight weeks of age, we thought “It’s only a puppy” but then the mess, jumping, chewing, tripping and general chaos began to get us down. The grandchildren were frightened because of the pup’s exuberance and jumping up so we kept them and their toys separated from the dog. A man at the puppy training class asked “Is she always as bad as this?”. We even considered giving the dog back, but this didn’t seem fair to anyone. We had wanted an intelligent and feisty dog but instead we seemed to have a problem pup.

Then we heard about Sally who visited us for an afternoon. Her message is that dogs are pack animals by nature and need to be led by a pack leader they trust and will obey. With simple instructions, consistency, and us thinking as pack leader, things rapidly changed. We have been communicating with the dog in ways it can understand so that we can walk it on the lead without pulling, prevent jumping up and twirling, sort out feeding and toileting, and get it to obey simple commands such as “sit”, “down” and “leave”. The best command of all is “away.”

The dog is now calmer. It has stopped jumping up and is much less excitable. It will wait, sit, obey, down and away, and walks on the lead. It is also clean and pees and poos in a designated place in the garden. The grandchildren love it and they can play alongside without having their toys raided. After the dog attempted to chew one Lego brick, we told it “leave” and it has not touched the Lego again. Amazing! See photo.

We now have a happy, well behaved pet. There is still work to do but we are delighted at how things have been transformed in only a few weeks.

Hilary