"BIG D"... A New Adventure.

For Both Of us!

I adopted another rescue dog 3 weeks ago & drove over 700 miles to collect & bring him home… He is called ‘Big D.’

A nickname that the lady who was fostering him & I gave him the day I went to collect him.

He is a huge, (donkey sized), Rhodesian Ridgeback-Doberman crossbreed, & he’s beautiful!

He reminds me so much of Theo, my best buddy & another Rhodesian Ridgeback cross, who was sadly sent to an early grave in July of this year…

‘Big D’ had a bit of a rough time of it previous to being fostered for 6 weeks with the lovely lady who cared for him down in East Sussex. He was passed around a bit we think, as his microchip had been registered with 3 different companies in a very short space of time & he was also very nervous around other dogs & just wanted to lunge & attack, despite the woman who had given him up to the charity telling them he had lived with another dog previously, prior to her ex taking him when they split up.

His aggressive behaviour took me by surprise when I drove home with him, as the fosterer hadn’t realised he was reactive around other dogs except for being a bit jittery with those walking directly behind him or on the other side of the road, so there was no warning when he suddenly roared like a lion & lunged, first for one small fluffy white dog we passed in the park, & then for another a couple of minutes later, which left the male owner of the second dog so scared he was frozen to the spot wide eyed & totally unable to move, leaving his wife to come & pick up their dog to stop ‘Big D’ trying to eat it whilst I struggled to control him … He is donkey sized & very, very strong!

I tried my best not to smile as I apologised & told them he was ‘‘A new rescue & still adjusting’’!

Upon getting home with him I decided to see what the rescue knew about his history & they duly sent me what they had…. It said he had never been off the lead & would run away. It also stated he had lived with another dog when he was younger so I knew there was hope in the challenge that lay ahead to calm his aggression around other furry things!

I hired a private dog exercise field for a block of sessions close to where I’m staying at the moment here in Plymouth & observed what he was like when I let him off the lead…. I was surprised to find he barely left my side except to pee! No signs of wandering off & really good recall. I took a bag of sliced dried sausage with me just in case he needed extra incentive to listen to my commands, but he was a breeze.

When I adopted my previous Ridgeback Theo from Cyprus back in 2019, he was wild/feral, but was really easy to train to recall…so much so that I ended up, after just 4 days, never using a lead at all, except for when we were walking through town… I miss him terribly.

THEO…

I took ‘Big D’ to the field again twice over the course of the first week he was here to make certain he would come to my recall, & I then decided to try walking him on the small seafront here in Plymouth where a lot of other people walk their pooches…

It varied in terms of his aggression & ambivalence towards other dogs so I played it carefully until one day early last week (week 2), he decided that a ‘Cockapoo’ puppy was moving around its owners legs a bit too fast for his liking & lunged for it with a roar!… I was horrified to find he slipped his collar right over his head as I was trying to pull him back & advised the owner to grab his dog before ‘Big D’ got to it….

‘Big D’ did indeed reach the flailing fur ball before the man could pick it up, but thankfully there was no bloodshed. Instead the puppy ran around its owners legs as ‘Big D’ tried to catch it & I scrambled to get his collar & lead back on!

The owner of the puppy was great about it all & we chatted for a good ten minutes whilst ‘Big D’ sniffed, & the puppy sniffed, & they touched noses a few times before ‘Big D’ decided he’d sniffed enough & sat in front of me with his back to it signalling acceptance of its presence.

I walked him back around the seafront to the car feeling very positive about the prospects of rehabilitating him & gave him lots of praise for not trying to eat the puppy!

After that encounter at the start of week 2, I decided to walk ‘Big D’ in the same area but was careful to avoid too much contact with other dogs for a few days afterwards before then taking him to a national trust woodland walk last weekend where there were about 30 other dogs along the same route, at various distances….

It was a 40 minute circular route in the grounds of a country estate that takes you through meandering woodland pathways where you can’t see what’s coming around the corners, then along the river where again you can’t see what’s coming around the corners, before it then winds uphill back to the main car park areas.

I decided to ditch the harness I was supplied with & the very short 15” chain lead that came with it & instead used a choke chain that was Theo’s, together with the extendable 15 metre lead that was also his, & we set off on our trek into the woods…

All was going really well & he was fairly easy to control each time someone went past with their beloved pooch. I made certain to shout out to people approaching who had their dogs ‘off lead’ that “Mine’s not friendly” & we ticked along quite nicely for the most part. ‘Big D’ only showing marked aggression when bigger dogs went past who dared to look at him!

I started to relax after the first 20 minutes & the halfway mark was reached without incident, then we stopped for him to take a poop… I duly bagged the elephant dung sized heap in my extra large poop bag & carried on the path towards the river, only pausing momentarily to admire a very sizeable & magnificently shaped Oak tree… THAT is where we hit a snag…

Whilst I was lost in a moment of awe for the Oak tree, a Collie came bounding up towards ‘Big D’ chasing its ball, & before I could react ‘Big D’ roared & lunged ferociously at the Collie as its ball & its head collided with his ribs & the lead I was barely holding onto as I gazed lovingly at the tree, was violently snapped from my flailing hand & the poop bag, caught up in the lead, burst all over my right leg as I was pulled sideways at speed by ‘The Donkey’….

I rushed to grab the lead which was being dragged on the floor behind ‘Big D’ as he growled at the Collie, which by then had realised it might possibly not make it home in one piece, & after giving a warning growl back as it grabbed up its ball, it then ran towards its thankfully very calm owner, giving me the opportunity to stop ‘Big D’ getting another shot at it as I grabbed his collar & picked up the lead.

It was whilst I was profusely apologising to the Collies’ owner that I noticed firstly that my thumb nail had collided with the end of the lead as it was snapped from my hand & was split down the middle & throbbing madly, & secondly that my right leg was covered in poop due to the bag getting caught in the fray & exploding under the pressure of the leads tape dragging me sideways as I struggled to react quick enough to keep myself upright!…. I had put my favourite raspberry coloured jeans on that day too…freshly washed in Borax!

The Collie & its owner departed with a sigh of “It happens to the best of us” as I tried to clean off the poop with a hand full of Dock leaves, before shaking off the shock & resuming the walk along the trail with the lead FIRMLY in my grasp!…

I decided this week, week 3, to take things easy with ‘Big D’ around other dogs, & kept him at a safe distance whilst walking around the park that adjoins the seafront here in Plymouth. I picked quieter times to minimise any stress for him so that he could get used to the routes from & back to the car without any distraction.

I duly warned others that, “Mine’s not friendly… we’re still in training” as they approached with their dogs off lead, & we skipped along quite happily without incident for the most part. It’s been a good week, if a little boring for ‘Big D’.

THE TRAINING PLAN…

My initial decision by the end of week 1 was to use the private exercise field I paid a few sessions for as a training ground to get recall sorted, gauge his walking habits, & also get him used to mine… I was also going to ask a local dog trainer if they would be prepared to bring a dog or two into the enclosed field with ‘Big D’ so I could get him used to being around other dogs on walks to prevent him being aggressive…

This morning I decided to scrap that idea & take the plunge alone with the beast!

I waited until 4pm when I knew most people would have come & gone from the National Trust owned country estate woodland walk where we had our ‘poop explosion session’ last weekend & duly parked the car in a quiet spot before tentatively setting off on the trail towards the river…

As we rounded the first corner we were greeted by a smallish dog who was thankfully on-lead as ‘Big D’ did his best to lunge with me firmly holding him back & calmly telling him “No”, which to my surprise seemed to work!

The next dog was a large Husky type which appeared to be owned by a military type guy who mercifully had it fully trained to recall as I doubt ‘Big D’ would have listened to me had it decided to approach him, as it was off-lead & looked capable of a good fight!

This time I came armed with a warm Cumberland sausage purchased at the supermarket on the way to the woods, so gave ‘Big D’ a piece of it & some praise for not reacting.

This behaviour continued for the next five minutes & the passage of three more dogs, so I then decided to just ‘be the pack leader,’ go for it, & unleash the beast…

I UNHOOKED THE LEAD & HOPED FOR THE BEST!

According to the assessment that came from the rescue centre, ‘Big D’ had never been off lead & they were told by the previous owner that, “He will run away if not on the lead at all times” so they hadn’t tried it when he was fostered for the 6 weeks prior to my adopting him 3 weeks ago today…

Yes I was a little nervous he might devour someone’s dog due to there being a great possibility I might not be able to catch him if he decided to go full tilt for it, but I had to see what he was like off lead as some dogs are simply aggressive when tethered, some are aggressive due to being previously attacked, & others are just unable to cope with the presence of other dogs due to not being socialised properly, & they spend their entire lives being walked on the lead except when in private enclosed grounds…. I therefore needed to assess which group ‘Big D’ fell into to properly gauge my chances of being able to walk him freely & without fear of being prosecuted & sent to prison for being in charge of a dangerous & uncontrolled dog! (As we all know here that the Police are just itching to find a way to make me disappear!).

I knew ‘Big D’ had lived with another dog with his previous owner before she split up with her partner & he took ‘Big D’ with him, so the ‘Non-Socialisation’ tag could be safely ruled out... I also knew from his few ‘up-close’ encounters with other dogs during the first 2 weeks, that he was quite happy to tentatively greet them once he realised they weren’t going to try to fight him, so the ‘Aggressive When Tethered’ tag could also be ruled out…

That just left the ‘Previously Attacked’ tag & I knew there was a good chance I could shake his nervousness off around the presence of other dogs if I handled it properly.

THE WARM CUMBERLAND SAUSAGE CAME IN REALLY HANDY!

I only had to run to grab his collar a couple of times to let two pairs of dogs at a time go by with their owners being informed “ ‘Big D’was a little nervous aggressive & was still being trained”… I then bit off a bit of sausage each time he let them pass unhindered & gave it to him with masses of praise.

We enjoyed our ‘off-lead’ walk for the first 30 minutes, with a few repeated recalls for a piece of warm sausage & some praise, then a man approached with two small dogs & ‘Big D’ quickly lowered his stance & rapidly set off towards them with me giving up the chase & instead calmly saying “No” as I told the man “he would probably groan a bit & chase them but he was harmless & still being trained.”

The dogs all sniffed each other as I told ‘Big D’ to “be nice,” & the man & I chatted for a few minutes before we all set off back on the trail in opposite directions… I gave him lots of praise & some more sausage with a feeling of immense relief… ‘Big D’ had not only greeted TWO dogs at once, but had not tried to devour the one who kept trying to run away from him…. He has a very high prey drive! - (Ridgeback/Doberman).

We walked the rest of the trail completely alone until the approach to the car park when a woman & her daughter came past with a very nervous female Labrador that did her best to give him a wide berth, but whom ‘Big D’ simply sniffed once she laid herself in the ‘submissive’ position on her back… He cornered her by her owners nervous legs as I assured her he meant no harm & was nervous himself!

After their departure I gave ‘Big D’ the remaining inch of the sausage, which by now was cold, but he was very happy to receive it, & I was very happy we had made it around the entire trail without incident…

I NAME THIS SHIP ‘SUCCESS’!

All in all today was a great achievement for him & I think it’s safe to say we can be assured that ‘Big D’ can be safely allowed to meet & greet MOST other dogs when faced with them & can be walked off-lead in most situations that are away from traffic & noise.

A few more practise runs should see him adjust satisfactorily to being well mannered around other pooches when he’s got free reign on walks so I don’t have to freeze & shout out a warning “Mine’s not friendly” every time someone with a dog approaches!

YAY!