What a star

This is me and my housemate Holly, we get on well.

Another session at the lake. Sonny and I on our own this time. I am the one that needs the most work as my history of difficult experiences with him is extensive and I need as much desensitisation as the boy does. Sonny, trainer and I walk past lots of different situation, small children in pushchairs, pushchairs and small children walking, adult dogs, puppies in training. Why, I ask does Sonny always become aggressive around a pup, surely he must know they mean him no harm. Sally tells me that as a major cause of Sonny's behaviour is fear, it gives him a bit of confidence to bully up to a little pup. Yep, that makes sense, now I'm getting it. We spy a pair of brown collies, the owners know Sally and they stop for a chat. Tell Sonny to sit and we'll see what he does. I stand a few feet back. Sonny, on a slackish lead, is calm. The dogs are not reactive and sit too, one is slightly interested but not in a problematic way. I tell Sonny to 'watch', I offer him a treat, to my delight he gives me eye contact and takes it. This means his anxiety is at a manageable level or, he would not eat. After a few goes I decide to test him further, 'give paw' I say, blimey, he does! I now have a totally calm and relatively relaxed dog sitting a few feet from two stranger dogs. This is what we want!

We proceed on our way, a lively dog approaches, reading body language is so important to helping Sonny. It is no good introducing him to adverse experiences if we can help it. We *arc around this dog, Sally tells me providing we are purposeful it is OK to do this. What is not OK is being hesitant, stopping, faltering or, walking back the other way which only reinforces to Sonny that I don't know what I'm doing and then he won't trust me. Another dog approaches, a young staffie type. I had already spied this dog earlier and decided he was 'up there' so felt not a good energy for Sonny to meet. I say to Sally 'now that dog's up there', I stop, realising that I am not alone, now I'm telling the trainer what to do! What am I like, like a cruise missile that's what. With close to military precision I scan any situation where I am out with the dog and guess what he joins me, two cruise missiles together, not good for him or me!

On a narrow path Sonny is in a 'sit' with the same two brown collies and continuing to be really good. A toddler walking approaches, I am tense, but immediately Sally asks the mum if the child will be likely to reach out to Sonny. The mum can see he is wearing a muzzle and she is calm. I feel less nervous knowing that I do not have to take this child into account as well as the other dogs which would be too much for me at this stage. This is the moment when I am at my most nervous and I am struggling to focus on the dog without anticipating possible disaster scenarios. The child passes without incident and Sonny is continuing to get treats from me for his good behaviour. I concentrate on keeping my voice calm, I listen to my tone as Sally tells me it tends to go up when I am getting more stressed and Sonny reacts to this. I physically drop my voice to compensate, at the risk of sounding like Margaret Thatcher on a bad day (sorry Mags), it's better than becoming shrill.

As a finale we approach the local car boot which is in full swing. We stick to the outer edges meeting cars, people, other dogs old and young. In each case Sonny manages it and is at times showing interest in things around like the messages left by other dogs and looking at the scene. This is what real dogs do and it is great to see Sonny being a real dog rather than a scared boy. Finally we see a very young German Shepherd pup. The pup appears to be quite interested and so I instinctively arc around him again. Sally says this is really good and that Sonny has done really well today and I have done well at controlling him. Well done Sonny. Ideally we need to be doing this exercise once a week, work commitments and bank balance permitting, I am going to aim for that although on occasions it may be two weekly. However we agree that once a month would not give him enough practise and as every week goes by his confidence and body language improve.

Keep you posted

*for more information on dog body language and ways that dogs try to avoid conflict google Turid Rugaas