My own pets; Dylan, our family dog

Having had Daisy, the agility dog and Harry, the TV personality, both dogs were very active but were now sadly gone, so all I had were the cats. But I loved having a four-legged friend with me and I was also eager to introduce my son, now a toddler, to a pet dog.

Vet Nurse seeks scruffy dog

I had experience with different breeds at work and so I knew I wanted a scruffy mongrel, ideally a rescue dog. I started my search by looking at a website that shows dogs that need a new home from all over the UK called dogsblog. Searching through their dogs I saw Dylan listed. He was black and scruffy, exactly what I was looking for. I looked at his bio and the photos and clicked the ‘apply’ button! A few days later I got a reply to say I was a perfect match, however, Dylan was not in the UK yet…

Dogs need rescue, from all over the world

Dylan was actually coming via the Action Aid for Animals Charity who were bringing him over from Croatia. Initially, I was unsure as I know that there are so many dogs in this country needing homes however with my job working shifts and having a toddler most rescue centres wouldn’t accept my application, despite my years of veterinary nurse and training experience.
The charity was very honest and said he would go to a fosterer first who would test how Dylan was with children and other dogs, also check his personality first and then I could arrange to see him.
After Dylan was checked out he came and stayed with us for a week. My son, Jacob, was a toddler, a lot of rescues wouldn’t be happy with a toddler, but his response was good and also with other dogs. But he hadn’t been tested with cats…!
The dog rescue charity was amazing, they let me take Dylan as soon as I had seen him. If it didn’t work out they would take him back without payment. So, I took him for a walk, and what did he do? He obsessed with a cat that ran away under a car! Oh no, this doesn’t bode well… but, I remembered, Harry would chase cats but not mind our own ones. So I watched Dylan’s behaviour. I also gave him a brief vet exam, with my long work history I knew what to look for, he checked out fine. Dylan was also good handling wise, so I agreed to take him home and work on our relationship further and introduce him to the rest of the family, cats included.

Dylan and the cats

Initially, Dylan thought the cats were amazing playmates, but obviously, that wasn’t going to work. So over the next few weeks at home, I had him on a lead. This would help desensitise him with their smell and the noises they made, especially in and out of the cat flap. We would also stand by the flap and push it making noise so he wouldn’t associate it so much with the cats. After those few weeks, Dylan stopped being predatory and he became a part of our family as I agreed to adopt him.

Winning and learning

Six weeks later we had paid the charity for Dylan so he was officially ours. By this time I had entered him in some local dog shows. Dylan won ‘Best Rescue’ and then won the Best In Show. One judge, who was part of the Kennel Club, remarked how good he was and that I should definitely keep him. It is not uncommon for dogs to initially seem quite relaxed and amenable when they first arrive in their new home however after a few weeks they can start to show bad behaviour, they start to let their guard down, become shy and can become less responsive. Dylan sadly fell into this pattern and became lead reactive towards other dogs, I knew at this point we had to get help.

Respect the Lead, where it all started

With the help of three external dog trainers and my knowledge from two previous pets, we mapped out our own training regime. Different types of training work with different dogs, they all have personalities and characteristics like humans. I found Dylan like most dogs worked best with positive reward-based training. If there was a dog in the distance Dylan would react and so with lots of training and repetition seeing a dog in the distance = Dylan would get food. This soon became the norm and even today 4yrs on he still will look up at me expectantly when he sees a dog approaching him in the distance. Let us just say I think every pocket of every coat has treats!
So this is how the Respect the Lead campaign all started. Dylan was great on the lead 99.9% of the time, but if another dog comes up he will defend his lead space, or if the meeting is too long, it should be brief. So I have to be vigilant and that’s how I started the campaign.

Loveable Dylan

Being a rescue means we don’t know exactly how old he is. We think he was 4 years old when we adopted him, so he may be around 8 years old now. His agility is very good and very fast, which shows as his only vice is chasing deer. He is a great family dog and can run for miles which I think maybe his favourite thing to do, or get up on the sofa which I try to tell him not to do! It makes him great for Canicross and Bikejor where dogs are attached to a harness and either yourself or a bike. It allows them to run and focus, leading the way. Dylan still has some street dog in him, once he nabbed my tea bags, and he also got up on the kitchen side and licked the grill… thought it was a bit clean!