Dr Kelly Fleming

For 21 years I had dogs that were trained by an organization. I received each of them without any knowledge of what they were like as puppies and the time they spent at school learning skills. I was told nothing about their personalities. I was simply shown how to maintain the skills they had learnt.

If I knew over the years what I’ve learnt in the past 3 weeks, my dogs would have had a healthier, happier lives.

I was never told that after they ate and played or worked, that they needed down time. I was never told how much rest they needed throughout the day to maintain their stamina.

The mental health of my boys was never taught.

In the past 3 weeks I’ve learnt so much. I use YouTube to find soothing music that I put on for Bobby (checking with hearing people about appropriate sound level). He knows during the day the music I put on for him means it’s quiet time and he gets a good deep sleep (about 20 minutes) to rejuvenate him.

At bedtime I have found a couple of favourites that work well. He has his crazy play time (he can do whatever he wants with his toys and running around for up to 20 minutes to get that last bit of energy and craziness out of his system), then he goes out for one last plumbing time. When he comes in, I direct him to his spot. He has several favourites that he plays with while the bedtime cool-down music is on until he falls asleep.

As he falls asleep in the living room, after I put away the toys he has put on his blankets, I turn off the light and say time for bed. Within minutes he heads to bed with his favourite toy. He plays a few minutes on the bed with his toy, gets his belly rub etc then falls asleep. If he plays for more than 10 minutes, I put the music back on and in a few minutes he’s fast asleep.

It’s unfortunate that the organization where the other boys came from, gave me no background on any of the boys. Nor did they teach me how to accurately handle reactivity and the importance of rest and ways to improve and maintain the mental and physical health of the boys.

I’ve learnt some of these things through a training program that is well developed by trainers and in book format. Simple pieces of information that relate to calm, addresses anxiety and so much more (such as nutrition, positive training methods) and au much more, including skills.

I will work with his trainer to help me improve more but all these things that would have made a significant difference with the other boys.

I’m grateful for this opportunity to work with Bobby and learn how to make things easier and more positive for him.

I hope that the organization begins to incorporate some of these methods, as well as provide information to the handlers about the dog’s personality, medical history, issues that were present while they were fostered as well as in school. Simply handing a person a paper that says the dog has been neutered/spayed, microchipped and up to date with vaccinations is not enough information. It does not provide their future vet any information that could potentially improve their physical health and care. Knowing any past medical treatments, no matter how minor would provide vets the ability to provide appropriate care and be aware of possible issues that may come up in later years. That would be the best scenario to create strong teams and less carrier change dogs.

It’s not necessarily a wrong match between a dog and their human, it’s lack of information shared with the human about the first 2 years of their dog’s life that would provide vital information to create stronger teams – stronger bonds.

My prayer is that current and future handlers request this information from whatever school their dogs have been trained so that the dogs receive better health care and handlers are fully aware of all issues the dog may have during their first 2 years as these issues may reoccur, particularly during the first few months as they learn to trust each other and become a strong team.

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