New Dog, 2 months in
On February 12th, we took in a (nearly) 5 year old Border Collie in need of a new home.
Unfortunately, the home that Bonnie came to us from wasn't looking after her needs very well: despite there always being someone home, she had been spending most of her day shut in either a 4' x 6' kitchen or in the garden, with no real forms of enrichment available to her in either.
At night, she slept on a towel in the kitchen (apparently she'd previously wet her bed and it had been thrown out and never replaced). Despite living next to the park, she didn't get a daily walk unless their neighbour (our friends) went round to take her out.
On one of the days that they were unable to do so, the sound of Bonnie howling and whimpering at the back gate carried across the park as she tried to come out and play with the other dogs. It was one of the most heartbreaking sounds that I've ever heard (and nearly prompted me to knock on their door to try bring her home - it was only a concern I might make things worse that stopped me)
The owners were a young family who, with a bit of encouragement, came to realise that the situation was neither fair or tenable. With their agreement, the neighbour contacted a few friends to see whether anyone was able to give Bonnie a new home (avoiding a potentially traumatic trip to a rescue centre in the process).
Days later, Bonnie moved in with us.
Not unexpectedly, it soon became clear that she had a few behavioural issues that we hadn't previously been aware of.
As we approached the two-month mark, it occurred to me that it might be good to put together a post so that we've something to look back on and see just how far she's come already.
Pre-Move Preparation
Unfortunately, we didn't really have the luxury of time to do staged introductions between Bonnie and our dog (Pepper).
Instead, to help Pepper and Bonnie get used to each other's scent being around, I met Bonnie and her owner at the park with a couple of blankets. One was from Pepper's bed and the other was for me to rub over Bonnie - the idea being that, ahead of the handover, the scent of each could be placed near where the other slept.
Thanks to the neighbour, the two dogs also had opportunity to play together at the park a few more times.
The Handover
On the day, Pepper and I met Bonnie and her owner at the local park. I then had them write out a note to say that they were passing over ownership:
That was that, Bonnie walked into the park with one family and minutes later walked back out to join a new one.
She didn't really come to us with much of anything (just 2 leads), even the collar that she was wearing was borrowed from the neighbour: they'd lost hers after taking it off (apparently her tag was banging against the water bowl and disturbing their littlun).
Toilet Training
Mid-way through the first afternoon, Bonnie left an unmistakably large clue that she wasn't fully house-trained, right at the bottom of the stairs.
After that, Bonnie received a treat for each and every toilet that happened outside. She picked it up pretty quickly and there have been no significant accidents since.
I suspect that she probably was house-trained at one point, but through being left to her own devices had fallen into a habit of just going whenever and wherever she needed to.
Grumpy Sleeper
Bonnie can be grumpy in the evenings.
I ascribe this to the fact that she was generally shut in the kitchen. Whatever the other problems with that, it did also mean that when she curled up and went to sleep she'd have had little to no disturbances.
If someone encroaches on her space whilst she's sleeping, she'll growl and might even show teeth. There have been a couple of stronger reactions, but generally it's a gentle (if somewhat jarring) warning.
During the first few weeks, she tended to chose to separate herself, moving onto the sofa-bit (making my previous effort worthwhile):
As she's grown more comfortable around us, though, she's started to spend the evenings asleep on the end of the main sofa. Sometimes she curls up for cuddles, but she generally seems to like to sleep upside down:
Towards the end of February, her confidence had grown enough that she crawled into my lap for a cuddle and a sleep. Unfortunately, just as she hit the point of dropping off, she got space conscious and growled at me for having the temerity to be the lap that she'd sat on.
It's clear, though, that that discomfort has eased with time, with her now even occasionally allowing Pepper to use her as a pillow
I've also since been "permitted" to act as a seat, including once when she crawled in through the arms of my chair whilst I was working, leaving me reaching over a mid-sized dog and trying not to accidentally tip her off my knees:
I'm hoping that, as she continues to spend the evening in a corner of the sofa with people (and Pepper) around, her tolerance for evening disturbances will continue to increase.
There's a definite element of tiredness to it too - Bonnie had a particularly grumpy day after we stayed up quite late one night - that's obviously something that's relatively easy to be aware of and manage.
Let Me Through!
When Bonnie first joined us, her sleep-related grumpiness wasn't limited to just the evening, instead it was any time that she was trying to sleep.
Unfortunately, she often chose to flop down at the very top of the stairs, leaving Pepper unable to pass by without being snapped at. This led to Pepper standing nearby and whining in protestation until one of us heard and came to effectively escort her through.
The trust between them has since grown and Pepper can now pass freely.
It also helps that Bonnie has developed a tendency to sleep near me if I'm working - recently when I was putting up my new desk, she claimed her spot before I'd even finished:
Where before she'd have been tetchy at any movement around her, she now tolerates my legs moving around as well as Pepper picking her way through to find somewhere to curl up. My desk is the place to be, it seems.
Towels and Fear Aggression
It turns out, unfortunately, that Bonnie seems to be all but terrified of towels. Being touched with one, even briefly, causes a growl and a snap (whether or not my other hand happens to be dispensing treats).
From talking to the old owner the cause, unfortunately, is quite clear: The approach that they took towards drying her was to grab her, ignore her growls and quickly rub her as fast as they could before letting her go.
Undoing that is going to take a lot of time and patience - in the meantime, we have had some level of success with leaving towels on the floor and having her lie down on them, so we're running with that (unfortunately, with Pep about, the towel can't start magically sprouting treats to help hasten things along).
With malting season approaching, it does give me some concern about how happy she's going to be about being brushed to help with blowing her winter coat through - we're starting to leave brushes lying around in preparation.
Commands
When Bonnie came to us, she only really knew two commands:
- Speak
- Paw
She did also respond to "sit" but it's not clear that she actually recognised it as a command: Sitting was her default when trying to get a treat and so she'll sit for any command that she doesn't know - suggesting that she's recognising the tone rather than the words. Still, it did make sit quite easy to reinforce.
We're working on introducing other commands, using the same vocabulary and techniques that Pepper was trained with.
With a bit of search and recover play, she's currently starting to pick up Find It.
Leash Anxiety
When we collected Bonnie, she had a yellow "Nervous" lead and I was warned that she didn't like strangers (or, gulp, children) approaching her.
During a walk the next day, a stranger ignored our warnings: "I've got a collie at home, I'm used to them" (twat) and then, despite her being flat on the ground with a nervously twitching tail, approached, stood right over her and looked straight into her eyes.
Bonnie jumped in the air and started barking at him which, of course, had the desired effect: he toddled off rather quickly... thanks for triggering and then reinforcing the behaviour dickhead...
We also found that she's wary of other dogs approaching, particularly if they're pelting over (usually to say hello to Pepper). She'll drop flat on the ground as they approach and then lunge forward to bark and (potentially) snap.
But, only when on the lead: she's not nearly as fussed off-lead.
Given that she was never really taken out, being on the lead around others clearly wasn't something that she was used to. Combine that with Collies generally being a bit shy around strangers and it's easy to see how anxiety might build.
Although far from perfect, through gentle exposure and calm reactions, she's now happier on lead around strangers (at least, as long as they keep their grubby mitts to themselves):
- The last time that we were at the vets, we came out to find that the (previously empty) waiting room was completely full of strangers. Where previously she'd have barked or dropped flat on the floor, she walked by without issue.
- One day coming back from the park, we were walking down an enclosed path when a class full of school children (led by their teacher) entered and came towards us. Bonnie walked calmly by them
There have been setbacks too: it only takes someone to reach out to touch her and she'll be nervous and barky towards strangers for at least a few days.
Other dogs can also still be quite bit hit and miss.
Over the last week, though, we've noticed a new change in behaviour: she used to be quite happy to let Pepper go ahead (almost as if she were a sacrificial lamb) and then approach if she saw it was safe. Now, she seems to get concerned about dogs approaching Pep - that probably says good things about their bond, even if the guarding behaviour isn't particularly desirable.
Once we've made a bit more progress on comfort around others, we'll start taking her to dog school. As well as it improving her understanding of commands, it'll help socialise her (plus, they've some awesome agility courses that I used to run Pep on).
Before that can happen, though, we need to make sure that all the strange people and busy-ness isn't going to trigger enough anxiety to negate the benefit.
Inter-Dog Communication
Bonnie, of course, moved into a house that already had a dog. Pepper is about a year younger and full of play.
Unfortunately, they weren't very good at reading each other at first:
- Collies can be quite nippy when playing, which went somewhat unappreciated (once or twice, it turned our "cute little dog" into a writhing twisting blur of furry vengeance).
- Bonnie was completely unable to read Pepper's play signals: the first time that Pepper went down into a play stance, Bonnie responded quite aggressively.
Pepper, though, has always been very good at drawing the play out in other dogs and, with careful supervision, they've learnt to read each other's signals.
They now seem to play at almost at every possible opportunity - most commonly by playing bitey-face:
It's incredible, really, just how good they both are at keeping it gentle: even I don't get hurt when pulled into a game (before Bonnie joined us, I was Pepper's bitey-face opponent, so she sometimes still decides that I need to play).
Whilst 1:1 play seems to go well, individual play with toys can still be something of an issue.
Bonnie's clearly never had to share toys (in fact, it's not even clear that she had toys before) and thinks nothing of trying to take a toy off Pepper. She does seems to be learning, though, that it's trouble for nothing as we'll take it off her and return it to Pepper.
As time passes, I'm less and less concerned about their interactions - they spend most of their time thick as thieves now, joining forces when it's time to start nagging me for lunch/walks/whatever.
Jealousy
When we went to collect Bonnie, we took Pepper with us so that they could spend some time together at the park before coming home (rather than bringing Bonnie into a strange building with an unexpected and overexcited dog already there).
Bonnie growled a little when Pepper first approached, which caused the owner to explain that she sometimes gets jealous of other dogs going near him, but that she'd never snap or bite.
As it turned out, that... wasn't quite true.
We've had a few instances where Bonnie has had an apparent pang of jealousy, snapping and/or lunging at Pepper. There isn't much force to them, they're nips rather than real bites, but it's still unwanted mouth action.
Unfortunately, my lap seems to be a source of contention: Sods law really, I've been round the house removing things that might cause conflict only to find that I'm a big walking trigger.
The first time that it happened, Pepper was sat just next to me when Bonnie came over to crawl into my lap. Halfway in, she decided that Pepper was too close and lunged (fortunately, I was watching closely and so was able to prevent contact).
The response in each of the small handful of instances has been the same: Bonnie's made to get down and has to curl up somewhere else.
She also gets quite jealous if she thinks that Pepper has received or found something tasty (whether or not that's actually the case). If we haven't spotted the signs and intervened, it can result in Pepper receiving a nip.
It's no longer too common an occurrence in the house, because we try to be careful about leaving stuff lying around. Unfortunately, because people seem intent on dropping litter, it does come up more frequently on walks.
Although we're likely not out of the woods yet, the gap between each instance has grown (and, litter aside, it's been different scenarios each time rather than the same stuff repeating over and over).
Food
We were warned that Bonnie can be quite fussy about food at times. At the same time, it was mentioned that when she was fed in with a bunch of other dogs she ate really quickly.
Unfortunately, that experience seems to have left her with a food guarding issue.
Meal times aren't too big of an issue because the dogs are separated by a tall stairgate before being fed, but her experience almost certainly continues to feed into the jealousy issues we see around tasty finds.
Whilst it's true that she was a bit fussy about eating, we've had absolutely no issues with fussiness since we transitioned her off of Pedigree.
We actually had a similar experience with Pepper: When she came to us as a puppy, she'd been raised on Pedigree, but after a few months started refusing to eat it. Dog school suggested switching to something like Harringtons and she's never refused to eat a meal since.
For me, Bonnie's food guarding is one of the more frustrating behaviours, because of how unnecessary and avoidable it was. There's a good chance that putting her in to eat with other dogs has left her slightly traumatised when all that was actually needed was to change her food to something a bit less shit.
Unsupervised Time
When Bonnie first moved in, we worked quite hard to ensure that she and Pepper were not left alone together - we needed them to start to build bonds that couldn't grow if they got into fights.
From day 1, they've slept in the same room, but in crates opening out into separate pens (at night, we leave the crates open but close the pens), giving each their own little space:
When we've needed to go out during the day, we first separated the dogs into different parts of the house.
However, at the beginning of April, they had their first properly unsupervised time - left together for 30 minutes as the first step in getting them used to it. When I returned, both dogs and the room were still in the state I'd left them in.
This week, I separated them whilst we were out for a couple of hours. When we got home, Pepper came rushing down the stairs, briefly saw us and then rushed straight in to play with Bonnie - they seem to have more or less reached the point where they want to be together.
It's still early days though, so we'll probably still separate them for some time to come, but it is important that they get used to both.
Impact on Pepper
Obviously, we had to try and make sure the transition was as easy as possible for Pepper too.
She's always been very good at sharing space (and toys) with visiting dogs, but there's a huge difference between a temporary visitor and one who doesn't seem to leave at the end of the day.
We didn't have any particular concern about Pepper's resilience - she might be small, but she's used to playing with much bigger dogs (even at a young age, she used to rough-house with a huge lab-shepherd cross called Jax) and is more than happy to tell them off if boundaries are being crossed. At the same time, we also didn't want her to be unfairly impacted.
For the most part, though, it's not proven to be an issue.
For the first week or so, she did seem a little unwilling to stand her ground, but she soon got past that - I'm not quite sure what happened (I only heard the resulting yelp) but I think Bonnie probably delivered one nip too many and unleashed Pepper's inner Daxie:
Whatever the trigger was, Pepper's response seems to have helped - there's been much less "rude" behaviour going on.
There have been times where Pepper's got a little FOMO, trying to insert herself between Bonnie and me, but she largely seems to be coming to realise that there's ample room and attention for both.
Conclusion
The circumstances and manner in which Bonnie came to us were very much less than ideal. Although she and Pepper had met before, in any other situation, I'd have liked to do staged introductions over the course of (at least) a few weeks.
But, things were obviously coming to a bit of a head and it didn't feel right to make Bonnie wait any longer than it took us to arrange a bed and (vaguely) prepare the house.
This resulted in the timing being inopportune in other ways: Bonnie ended up coming to us just a few days after my wife had had foot surgery (leaving her officially laid up for the better part of 8 weeks). For me, February was a busy month.
But, despite the somewhat chaotic circumstances, Bonnie quickly settled in and has made fairly steady progress (not that there haven't been some challenging days).
Everyone we know that had met her before has commented on how much happier she seems to be, that she's started to fill out a bit, and that her coat has regained its shine.
Despite the length of this post, there's also a ton of stuff that I haven't included, including
- how good she is in the car
- how quickly she seems to have bonded with littlun
- her obsession with balls
- her habit of bringing me a pine-cone if she can't find a ball
The transition has been helped a lot by Pepper having always been very good at sharing space. She's also well socialised and used to playing with much bigger dogs so we haven't had to worry too much about small-dog syndrome causing conflict.
It's early days, with a lot of work still to do, but we definitely seem to be headed in the right direction. Realistically, the next stage of progress will probably feel like slower gains because we'll be working on harder things (like unpicking the fear of towels).
But, it'll be worth it: it's only been 2 months, but I don't think that any of us could imagine her not being part of our lives.
