When Hounds Fly!

Duke is my rescue beagle and he's the reason and motivation for everything I do.

When I adopted him, I knew very little about how to care for and train a dog.  I read a lot of conflicting information on the Internet, read a few inadequate books, got terrible advice from our ex-veterinarian - I was clueless!

Rescue dogs have a tendency to be very suppressed and their true emotional baggage and behaviors don't show up at first.  The rescue agency's assessment of Duke was that he got a long with cats, dogs, children, and was an obedient little beagle.

He actually was owned by a hunter up north who wanted to retire Duke because he didn't cut the mustard.  Fortunately he sought the help of a rescue agency vs. doing what a lot of hunters do (driving 50 kms into the city and kicking the dog out of their truck).

After the first two months of "honeymoon" ownership we started seeing some behaviors that were causing us problems.  Duke started howling and lunging at dogs on the street.  He'd get into fights with dogs at the park.  He would howl for hours upon hours while left at home.  We got some terrible advice from our ex-vet (you'd assume vets knew something about dog behavior) who said that Duke was dominant and that the answer was to pin Duke into a down position and force him down there for an hour.  We did as directed and Duke cried out and tried to bite us.  When we told the vet what happened, his recommendation was for us to punch him in the face (which we did not do, of course!  But how many of that vet's clients followed through with that advice? It worries me when I think about that).

Dog walks gradually became very stressful events.  My relationship with my girlfriend became strained as we stressed and fought over what was happening.  Things hit a low point when Duke aggressively chased and attacked a little french bulldog and bit the dog, puncturing it and causing it to bleed.  

Even at the lowest point - at our moment of despair - somehow I knew deep inside that there was a conflicted beagle that wanted to do the right thing, but had overwhelming feelings, anxiety, and instincts driving him to act the way he did.  I couldn't give up on him and I would not.

At wits end, we called in professional help, and thank goodness, the right kind of help.  A behaviorist and trainer that set things straight and set me on a path of learning that I have continued on ever since that first meeting.  In my quest to never give up on Duke, I knew I had to become a master at classical counterconditioning, operant conditioning, problem solving, and the physical coordination needed to pull it all off.

Leveraging my professional experience in adult learning and training, and my natural and practiced ability to clearly communicate, I knew that I could help others down the same path in which I was helped.

Duke, by most definitions, was a tough case - likely one that in the hands of someone less patient or commited, would have ended up hurting another dog or biting a person, and ending up put to sleep in a shelter somewhere.  But I commited myself to the process, and today, he is a healed dog that I am incredibly proud of - both because of what I was able to do, but more importantly, how he was able to change and grow.

I owe everything to my lovely beagle, Duke.