Case 01 · reactivity · food-related anxiety
Hauru
German shepherd · malinois cross, adopted from a shelter at three, history unknown. Reactive to dogs, to people, to vehicles. Several professionals had worked with him before me, all of them using counter-conditioning with treats. On the surface it worked: he looked at his owner instead of lunging.
What was actually happening: the fear had never gone anywhere, and it came out around food, up to six times a day. Today: nothing left to sort out with people. With dogs, what remains is teaching him to say hello more quietly.
Case 02 · reactivity
Coubiak
Staffie cross, found after weeks alone in a garden, living in his own mess. Attacked several times while in foster care. A vet had put it down to predation, on the strength of one posture she had seen.
What was actually happening: a posture he had learned in order to pull on the long line and drive off the dogs he was terrified of. Defence, not hunting. Today: he passes dogs and meets them, muzzled while the work is finished.
Case 03 · second-chance dogs
Sally
Beagle out of a laboratory after three years of testing, adopted by a veterinary student. Outdoors: curious. Indoors: terrified, whatever the room. The first plan went nowhere; she was too frightened to take any interest in it.
Today: for the first time she chose to settle somewhere other than her safe room, with strangers in the house. And she is still settling further.
Case 04 · second-chance dogs
Denver & Lisbonne
Brother and sister, malinois. Ten years on a chain, almost no teeth left, found by the police when their owner died. Two years in kennels. Their guardian thought Denver was “protecting” his sister.
What was actually happening: he was reacting to Lisbonne's tension. A barometer, not a bodyguard. Today: relaxed passing and group walks. They travel in a campervan, at over twelve.
Case 05 · sensory deprivation
Alfred
Pyrenean sheepdog, one year old, intense aggression towards people. Born and raised in a mountain sheepfold: sheep, shepherds, mountains. Then the city, all at once.
What was actually happening: sensory deprivation syndrome. This was not nastiness, it was an avalanche. Today: he lives on a campus, surrounded by people and animals of every kind, with no trouble at all.