littlegirlbunny

Oh, I have a photo, it's sat here on my hard drive More pics will be posted when I get chance later - goog (the better half) took loads and I haven't even looked at mine yet!

more pics - maybe even more coming tomorrow

Thanks for the walk today everyone, good to meet you all - Sophie had a great time too I have numerous photos to post up, it'll take a while so i'll do them in batches. Watch this space!

Excellent thread

I agree with the above. It makes me so angry that a dog can get the death penelty for so very little, especially when so often the reason they have shown aggression is due to human mistreatment. Yeah, I hope you are right with regards to the bad encounters. I can avoid bad situations, and get him socialised a bit more, then hopefully we can have a few months of rebuilding trust in both me and everyday life in general. I'm sure we can operate on a variation of the same theme as the scotch egg approach..... 'go to the park and eat sausages' approach may well work! In particular, he has problems with big men - well, luckily for me I go to the gym with a big group of powerlifters. They are all big guys who sparky has never met. I'm hoping to rope them into a bit of socialization practice as well, although i'm going to try and talk to a trainer about the best way to go about it. Thanks for all the advice and input, much appreciated

Ah, thanks for the support (this site has more emoticons than I know what to do with :lol:)

I adopted him quite a while ago now, probably somewhere near two years ago, so that's why you don't remember him! I haven't tried ringing the Dogs Trust at Evesham TBH. When I first got the dogs to their new home the Dog's Trust were supportive, but in the end they just recommended socialisation classes which I enrolled them in. I had kind of lost faith in the post-rescue stage a little because they wouldn't let me take the dog I wanted because I had cats, and that dog had failed the 'cat test'....but Sophie and Sparks were terrors with my two cats at the start anyway, so the 'cat test' had not been particularly useful, and I still had to deal with the situation (not that it couldn't be dealt with, but it was frustrating that they had been so restrictive about the dogs I was allowed). Then there was the issue of my other dog sophie having serious allergies, which nearly didn't get covered on the insurance she came with because of the amount of 'patching up' that had been done with steriods. Finally the best advice they could give was to go to socialisation classes, so I figured the only (and understandably, because I imagine you are under horrendous pressure down there) real job the Dog's Trust do is 'patch em up and ship em out' along with some very sucessful awareness campaigns. This isn't a criticism of the Dog's Trust, I think they still do a wonderful job at rehoming, just an explaination of the situation. Thanks for the link, much appreciated. When I mean berating him, I mean me loosing my temper and shouting at him. As I said in the first post, I know I make the situation ten times worse by panicking, but when you have an angry man looking like he may any minute call the police it's difficult to stay calm. It's not because i'm angry at sparks for what he does, but because it scares me so much that the consequences could be so bad that I loose it. Yeah, i'm not a perfect owner, but unless you can find a better one for him, i'm all he has got right now - and at least I am trying to deal with it

T-touch seems like a really positive therapy. I was actually recommended it for my other, incredibly nervous, dog too. Does anyone know a good practioner in Manchester?? What about behaviourialist recommendations in Manchester, anyone have any ideas?? I'm quite happy to phone around and talk to several, but it's always nice to get a personal recommendation He tends to be pretty good with people normally. He shows a huge amount of excitment when he meets people he knows well and is incredibly friendly. Once he knows someone is not a threat, he is totally placid. I have never seen him show any aggression to someone he has taken to. Nor for that matter, has he shown any aggression to me, even during our worse moments when I have berated him for barking at strangers. 99% of the time he will happily mill around at the park/forest/field with people and walk past them without even blinking. Sometimes he'll show people intrest and go up to them and sniff, but this is an activity I have discouraged. I guess that may be a two way sword, it means I don't give him too much chance to socialise with strangers, for fear of them approaching and unnerving him, but maybe that just reinforces his behaviour to be suspicious of people. The only time he really kicks off is if he gets taken by surprise (either the guy who came out of nowhere in the park, or the guy who came out of nowhere on the bike) or if he is threatened by the human first (the guy that lashed out at the group of dogs, and the young youth who was shouting at the dogs). However, I do understand that just because their is a 'rational reason' for his behaviour, this is not an excuse for his total lack of recall when scared and lack of trust in me (totally my fault, I know). I guess, actually, he is not too good with people that come into his territory, it can take a long time to settle him down if strangers come in the house, and he kicks off at the slightest noise outside. He is very territorial in that way, (but not with people he knows, who he thinks are more than welcome to come in the house and fuss him) Maybe I should work on this aspect as well??

Yeah, I agree, except he has one more behavioural problem. He will not poo on the lead. He never has. It took me months to house train him because he had been so badly beaten (im assuming) for going in the house. I have tried a couple of times to get him over it, but it is almost impossible. All that happens is he holds it until he gets inside and does it in the house instead. He is 100% housetrained. But not if he is on the lead 100% of the time. I think I would rather have him put out of his misery than make him stay on a lead, even a lunge line. Is would so dramatically reduce his quality of life, even if I did manage to get him to go on the lead. That sounds like a good idea. My flatmate had already suggested I look into behaviouralists. Have you any idea of the approximate cost? I'm actually manchester based - I must change my profile Oh yes, I am only too aware of this. Despite the fact that he is a small-medium dog with a great big muzzle, people can still ask to have him destroyed. This is why i'm so worried.

I have a dog some of you may know. This is him: He is called sparkily dog and tries so hard to be a good boy. He came from a nasty home in Ireland to the Dog's Trust at Evesham where I found him with Sophie (my other little dog). Myself and my ex took them on, with the intention that my Ex would train sparky up and make him a lovely dog. Of course, he lost intrest in sparks, and then we split. So the dogs have been shifted from the country to two city homes this year. The city seems like the worst place for sparky to be. 99% of the time he is fine, but recently we have had several incidents, which (considering the current climate of dog hating in this country) he has been lucky to get away with. He has always been nervy of men, but a few months ago I was walking him out at night and a tall guy (in a fluorescent coat) came past. One of the other dogs we live with kicked off at the guy, and sparky just went mental at him. Jumping up and barking in, what would have come across as, a very aggressive way. Luckily the guy was extremely understanding (after a million apologies from me). After that incident I decided to muzzle sparky, more for his own protection than anything. Good job I did, because only a few weeks later, he (and the five other dogs I was stood with) were attacked by, what I can only describe as a human with a great deal of fear aggression. Unfortunately, sparky was the only one off the lead, and I had real trouble getting him back. I never apologised for his behaviour that time, he was, essentially, only responding to an idiot (as were the other 5 dogs, most of which are totally placid). However, if the guy had reported him, he could still have been regarded as aggressive or uncontrollable. Then last night, a rather drugged up youth started mouthing off at sparky, and the other dogs we were with. Luckily he was on the lead, however, this clearly unnerved him. At lunchtime today I was walking the dogs in a small, rarely used area to the rear of our flat. I heard the gate go to the entrance and called sparky over enthusiastically (not panicky), however, the guy was on a pushbike and got to me before sparky did. Sparky went mental again, and the bloke got off his bike and started trying to fight back. Eventually I finally grabbed sparks and got him back. Luckily he was muzzled as always, but jumping up can be very aggressive to someone on the recieving end. Can you imagine the horror if it had been a child on the bike? Anyway, the guy was OK about it and we had a long discussion about sparks and everything he had been through. I am so worried that one day he will do it to the wrong person, and then there will be trouble, either from the law, or from someone who sucessfully hurts him back. I have been working religiously on his recall recently, and he is pretty impecable. But when he is scared, that overides EVERYTHING he has learnt. I make the situation ten times worse by paniking and shouting, which I know is the worst thing in the world to do. I know it is only fear aggression, but it is aggression none-the-less. The situation is usually harder to control, because most walks I have three other dogs with me, one of which tends to be pretty loud on the barking front herself, which just encourages sparks more. I try so hard to keep an eye on the situation 100% of the time, but, as today's incident shows, even with the best intentions sometimes its difficult to do. What I really want to do is to rehome him. But I know the chances of getting him a good home is pretty slim, and I would rather he get put down than be shifted around from pillar to post with other useless owners like me who give up on him too. I have worked on recall, recall, recall. But that just isn't enough. So i'm stuffed what to do with him now. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

I couldn't resist once i saw the site, its brilliant (and im rather likin this smilie -> )!!!

Hey Everyone Below are my two dogs: Sophie (black and white) and Sparky (Mostly Black). They are both Irish rescues and have been with me for just over a year now. Both have come on so well, considering the nervous wrecks they were when they first arrived at their new home. We all love running and walking the malvern hills, chillin on the sofa and spending weekends in Manchester with our friends linky