It has been a interesting week on many levels. Of course when the Springer showed up I ended up taking him in. After I agreed to keep him, his owners confessed he had planned to take him to the vet in the morning to be put down. The Springer has some confusion about the order of things in life but something in his face told me there was a good boy still in there. It is interesting that the number one thing that screws up dogs is the very thing people think is a great kindness. Dogs can not understand complete freedom. I am not talking about no fences or leashes (because in most American societies that means death), what I am taking about is no rules and babying bad behavior. A life without structure and with no leader is a heavy burden for dogs. The Springer boy stayed here to find himself and hopefully a better life. When I work with a dog with problem behaviors I mostly let them just decompress the first week or so. The only rules I enforce are things that are dangerous to themselves or others.

First order of business was finding him a new name. His name was Sage. I already have a Sage in my pack and since he may be here a while he needed an adjustment. With the help of Trish I settled on Gabe...Gabriel...naming him after an angel can't hurt...he needs all the help he can get. About day 3 I let him out for some paddock time with Aim, the golden. After about half an hour I decided to shake things up a little and add a dog Gabe didn't know. I chose a dog who I knew wouldn't react to him, I expected Gabe would try his bad dog hysterical act. I had no idea what a show we were all in for. I entered with the new dog and let him off lead. I stayed near with lead in hand just in case. Sure enough Gabe charged at the new dog barking like a crazed dog from hell. I stepped between them and swung the lead at him in a threatening way. Gabe stopped short and for just an instant I saw him think about taking me on...my no nonsense stance and hard look made him veto the notion. As soon as I saw him back down I called him to me and loved on him. The new dog came in for some love. I watched Gabe start to brace for another bout of hysteria and I very quietly slid the slip lead on him. When he charged at the other dog he hit the end of the lead flipping himself way up into the air and landing with a thud on his back. I never could have planned such a correction. Gabe's hysteria was now displaced, he began to thrash on the ground and scream bloody murder. I kept my eyes on the other two dogs who were completely awestruck. If they stepped forward I got eye contact with them and told them to "GET OUT!" It took about 2 full minutes before Gabe started to slow down. I just held the lead and waited. As far as tantrums go it really was award winning. He kicked, thrashed and screamed and we waited. Slowly the brain started to turn back on. He stopped moving and he laid there a moment taking inventory. "Hmmm I am not hurt. Hmmm no one seems to care I am hysterical. Hmmm everyone else is calm." Then he rolled onto his chest and stood up rather sheepishly. We moved around the paddock and he kept glancing at me with this befuddled look on his face. We stayed out in the paddock another 5 minutes or so and then headed in. He had a lot to sort through while he napped in his crate. Since that time I could see him shifting gears. The crazy behavior is still close to the surface but he is trying to fit in. Today is day 6, he is wagging his tail and his eyes are softening. I let him out this evening with another group of new dogs. He raised a lip but when I verbally corrected him and got eye contact with him, he seemed relieved to know I was in charge. He also is letting me touch him all over finally. Last week he was rock hard tense, would not let me to touch his rump and peed all over himself. Gabe will be a project for sure but I am learning from him. One thing I learned is the value of the growl. Because his owners punished him for all growling he learned not to give verbal warnings when he was uncomfortable. The end result was the owners felt he was randomly going off. In fact he was doing what they taught him to do, skip all the warning and jump right into the hysterical behavior. His hysterical behavior caused them to try to soothe him with calming words which he read as reinforcement. Like all behaviors that are reinforced the hysteria grew. And so started the cycle of behaviors that had him dancing on the end of a needle full of blue juice.