The first of many (hopefully...)

OK so this is the story of Sonny Dog

I was born on 4th June 2000. Unfortunately I did not have very good beginnings. My mum was old when she had me and according to sources had had a masectomy. I lived in a back yard, I had only one brother that I know of. Right from the start the world was a scareeee place. Everything was a problem and I soon learned that the best way to deal with anything new was to hide away. This I did on a frequent basis and once the lady who wanted me came to fetch me, I found the best place to be was behind the sofa or, better still hidden somewhere under her skirt!

Everything was great because I was small and cute. I got loads of fuss from the lady who owned me. She had lots of other animals too and I soon learned that I was her number one boy and when no one strange was there I would play around with lots of toys.

Then I got bigger and I started to get to know the lady next door who had a dog too. My owner was not very good at walking so I went out with the lady and her dog. I loved it and got much braver, I would rush around in the park and play with the ball. Holly and I became good doggy pals and I became pals with the lady who owned Holly too.

Time went on, and I got bigger. I started doing things that I shouldn't, like I would get really upset if my owner went out of the room and I didn't know where she was. Because I was scared I chew up things that smelled of her, like her favourite books. When my owner came back she used to bark really loudly at me and sometimes I got smacked which made me even more confused, because suddenly the person who looked after me was hurting me too, I didn't know what to do.

Sometimes when somebody came to the door I would bark loudly. My owner would tell me I was a good boy and this made me think that I needed to be the one to look after the house. So I couldn't understand it when she disappeared because the pack is supposed to stay together and I would spent ages looking for her and then chewing things up.

The situation was not going well....

By the time I was 8 months old I was chewing things up on a regular basis and the bad things still kept happening. I began to get scared of other stuff like loud noises and dogs in the park. Sometimes I chased them away when they came to sniff me, because after a few minutes I got scared that something BAD would happen. Holly and I were still great pals though.

One day, the lady who owned Holly came and got me and took me to her house and guess what.....I've been there ever since.........

Thanks Sonny, I'll take over from here (which by the way is what we should have done years ago) but have to date failed to manage.

As you have heard already, Sonny was a rescued dog. His first owner loved him but really couldn't cope with him and after a lot of heart searching she finally agreed to give him to me. And that was the start of it, my journey into the world of dog training and dog psychology. I owe a lot to Sonny who, despite being utterly impossible at times, has and still continues to teach me so much about myself and how to persist with what appear to be intractable problems, even when they last for years.

I hope this blog will help those of you out there who are also on the point of giving up on your dog to keep going and to believe that no matter how many trainers and behavioural approaches you try, there will one day be someone who CAN help you understand your dog and him you.