The first part of my daily routine is to check my business messages. Maintaining good communication with all my clients is an integral part of my services. Currently, I have 14 open cases, and my clients keep me posted on their ups and downs. Needless to say, after a long Sunday night’s sleep, there are always a message or two requiring my attention. This morning, I received one message from a client, and the news was amazing. The update concerned the progress she had made over the weekend with her dog. It had been eight days since I had worked one-to-one with her, and each day she sent me a progress report.
“Good morning Jenni, sorry to message you so early. I just wanted to share the progress I’ve made with Teddy this weekend. After a week of repeating the methods you taught us and gradually building up his and my confidence, we finally cracked it this weekend. I managed to get the lead on him with no fears, anxieties, or signs of his aggression. He then came for a walk for an hour with me and my husband, and there were no problems at all. It’s like a switch has flicked inside, and he’s now happy and confident plodding along in the outside world. I’m so happy I feel like crying – we have our boy back again.”
This is certainly the type of wake-up message I love to read over breakfast. It gives me immense satisfaction to help change people’s lives. I knew they could do it – I sensed it when we were together. Poor Teddy had become very afraid of any sign of a walk after suffering a traumatic injury to his shoulder. He had been given a clean bill of health, and six months had passed, but he wouldn’t go outside. He was becoming overweight, and his owners were struggling mentally with the situation. I’m delighted for them. I’ll see them again in a couple of weeks to reinforce these results further.
Next, I grabbed my diary and the paperwork for today’s one-to-one case. I had already studied the case notes I made during my video call with the clients, but as a true professional, I like to review them one last time before meeting them. Stella and Bella – the fighting Dachshunds – were a serious case that had them fighting and separated for more than seven months. It’s never easy for dog owners to keep their beloved pets apart, with family members constantly on guard duty to prevent interaction. This behaviour was happening both indoors and outdoors, leaving my clients at their wits’ end. Like any true professional dealing with this type of case, I felt a twinge of doubt and concern. I have dealt with similar behaviour hundreds of times, and with this breed before, so I know the processes and techniques to change it. However, I couldn’t help but worry about how far gone they were and if I could achieve the perfect outcome for the owners.
My husband and business manager joined me at 7:15 and, as my rock, quickly allayed any doubts with his usual “You’ve got this” speech.
As I was getting ready for my day, another message came through. One of my clients had regressed with her dog’s resource guarding. I spent five minutes on the phone reminding her of the steps we
took together last week. I sent her a video of the steps we made together, and she replied saying she had missed some part of the process. She assured me she would keep working on it today and update me later. Then, 15 minutes later, another message arrived. This one was from a client I had completed training with two weeks ago. Her dog’s reactivity was now a thing of the past, and she just wanted to share her news with me one final time. I congratulated her and invited her to become one of my future helpers in other cases. She accepted, which was great news, and I looked forward to seeing her again.
At 8:30am, I was out the door, first to drop my son off at primary school, and then off to Bulford village to meet my client. Upon arrival, I witnessed the pent-up aggression these dogs had for each other. Although it appeared to be a fairly acute problem, I honestly believed within my first ten minutes there that we could rehabilitate them quickly.
We started by taking them out separately, as they usually had to be walked individually to prevent fighting. We took each dog out for around eight minutes, allowing me to observe the interaction between dog and owner and identify any other potential issues. Surprisingly, both dogs were a dream to walk alone, displaying good engagement with the owner and trust during the walks. After this, I decided to tackle the issue when they were together. I helped manage their exit from the house without fighting, and once outside, we employed positive reinforcement methods to help them overcome their aggression. At around the 20-minute mark, we had made significant progress, and the dogs even ended up walking side by side, enjoying each other’s company. The owner’s beaming smile and her amazement were rewarding to see, but we couldn’t get ahead of ourselves – we still had to address their indoor behaviour.
I implemented some corrections, new commands, and management techniques for when they became aggressive towards each other. Although not perfect by the end of our initial meeting, I was pleased with the progress made and the methods in place for the owner to work on. I left her with homework, offering support via telephone communication until our next meeting in about three weeks.
As I arrived home, my phone rang. I stayed in the car to answer another client’s call, who just needed reminders about small aspects she had forgotten during their homework break. I then walked through the door to find lunch prepared by my husband – a much-needed recharge for my brain. Over lunch, my husband (the business manager) briefed me on three new jobs he had booked that morning.
I spent the afternoon walking my own dogs and catching up on paperwork before picking my son up from school. The day wasn’t quite over, as I had three video calls scheduled that evening with new clients. I spent an hour reviewing notes and setting up my WhatsApp calls. With just over two hours of downtime before it all began again, I cherished the moments of relaxation.
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