My recent experience bringing calm to a bad situation. Read on as I share a simple, useful technique to have up your sleeve in a bad situation.
As many of you may know, my wife Laura owns a dog day care, where she looks after an
average of thirty dogs per day, has five staff members, and a frankly incredible premises of both indoor and outdoor areas for the dogs to enjoy. Woof Club has the largest outdoor areas ever, with dogs able to enjoy a total of six separate areas, some natural grass, some with astroturf, and all filled with engaging equipment.
Setting up a business like this requires attention to detail, lots of paperwork, training, and like all businesses, complete dedication. Training courses in Canine First Aid, Animal Care and Welfare, and Canine Body Language are just some of the extensive training courses Laura and the team have done. Laura has also undertaken the Reactive Dogs Course too, where insight and training is provided in what to do, should any canine conflict arise.
The day care centre has separate areas for many reasons, including a dedicated puppy area, areas for various sizes of dogs, but also, because dogs are dogs, and like children, they have their various buddies, with whom relationships are generally great. Occasionally, a dog may not take a liking to another dog. It doesn't mean they are going to be aggressive, it just means dogs are just as selective in their relationships as us humans!
But what happens when a dog is aggressive? Well, this is where I've listened to Laura talking about the various courses she's done, particularly the Canine Body Language and the Reactive Dogs Course. I don't often pay as much attention as I should when we're talking, but one day, she was discussing a technique shared at one of her courses. This technique was popular in the dog training community, had a great success rate in disorientating a dog who was potentially seeing red, which is where I felt equipped to deal with a situation I came across the other week.
I was travelling through Bolton a month or so ago, and going down a very long, straight road. In the distance, I saw a huge dog bolt out of a side road, across my path, and into the opposing side street, shortly followed by a man doing the same thing; pegging it as fast as he could, running after his dog. As I drove past the side street the dog had run into, all I saw was a scene of complete panic. An old lady, with her terrier being frantically attacked by this larger dog, who had spotted this white terrier in the distance, and gone for it. It materialised that the man trying to get his dog to stop attacking the terrier was actually not the dogs owner; he was just taking care of him for a week or two.
Having seen this scene from my car window, I knew I could be useful, just because of the knowledge imparted from Laura. I stopped the car, ran over to the dogs, and whilst the man was trying to separate the dogs from the front, I knew the thing to do was to go for the back legs. I went to the rear of the attacking dog, and lifted both his back legs off the ground. This instantly distracted the attacking dog, resulting in him letting go of the terrier. The owner put the lead on, and apologised profusely. The lady was so upset, but, of course, relieved. The terrier didn't have a mark on him luckily. He had plenty of fur and by good fortune, there were no signs of injury.
After the incident, I called Laura to tell her what had happened, and that I'd been useful! It felt good to have an idea of what to do, which could potentially separate and distract the attacking dog. Of course, I say this with caution. Dogs are dogs. They can be unpredictable, you never know, and this technique may not always work. It may end up in others getting hurt. But on this day, the suggested technique from the training course did work. Fantastically well.
So, if you're in the park, walking down the street, or on the beach, and a dog takes a disliking to yours, remember this. It could help get your dog out of a sticky situation.
