Indi's climb

When I got Indi he was perfect, but he came with a load of problems. The first one being his nervousness, I remember my nan telling me about his first night with her and saying how he yelped when her Springer barked at him. He did that almost everytime we passed another dog, but with socialisation at our local training class he came to love all other dogs, especially puppies. Then at 6 months he was chased by a very big staffie, which scared the life out of him. Then a few months later he was attacked again, this time at Flyball and this time he fought back. And then he became aggressive towards all other dogs, and wasnt able to go off-lead around other dogs. Then, to make it even worst, he even started becoming scared of people and wouldnt let anyone else touch him. I was devastated, everything we had worked on had just vanished.
On top of all this he had no loose lead walking whatsoever. It got to the point where I couldnt even walk him anymore, my parents had to. I was absolutely devastated, he was my brand new puppy that I had worked so hard on and suddenly I couldnt control him anymore.
So for a year I worked hard, training him, socialising him and teaching him lots of tricks to just build his confidence and trust in me. He pushed me to tears at times, but he taught me to never ever give up. I took him for walks with my Nan's 7 dogs, and that helped him a lot as when they all went running up to a new dog, so did he and where he knew the dog wasnt going to attack he would be completely friendly with them. I would also take him on walks with my nans friends and there dogs, which were dogs he didnt know. One time he went on a walk with 8 BC's he'd never met before, and this really helped him as he was completely friendly with all of them. I also took him to flyball, we never trained flyball as he was so nervous of the other dogs and people, but at the end all the friendly dogs were let off-lead to run and play, so I let Indi off with a muzzle and just let him socialise.
We are still not at the point where I can trust him off-lead around all other dogs, but we are getting there. He still barks at other dogs, but its a different bark now, more of a 'I'm here' bark than a 'im scared of you' bark. The video of him meeting my nans new puppy really does sum up everything. That was the first time he'd met him, in fact it was the first time I'd let him near a puppy since he was attacked, and he showed absolutely no aggression whatsoever. He wasn't sure what to make of the strange creature, but he let the puppy (havent decided on name yet!) climb on him and even play growl at him. The only time he'd seen the puppy before the video was filmed was from a distance and through a window.
Also, another thing that inspired me to make this video was, while I'm doing flyball with either Ernie or helping my nan race her dogs Indi was tied to the post and just sat there. This was the first time I'd done this, usually he's either crated or put in the back of the car. And usually if a dog went past he would go mad barking at the dog. Today, I was watching him as BC's ran around him, I was nowhere near him, and he just sat there and even lay down and was completely unbothered.
He has just come so far. His confidence is just going up more and more everyday, his trust in me is just increasing all the time and his joy for life is increasing all the time. He'll be 2 years old next month, and it sure has been a bumpy ride. We still have a way to go, but now I can walk him with a smile on my face and not worry everytime I bump into another dog. He is such a special dog, and I am so glad he is in my life. He acts more like a collie than a Spaniel, most Spaniels I see would rather run and hunt than do any work, but Indi loves to work probably more than he loves to hunt. Springer Spaniels wouldnt have been my first choice of breed, but I'm so glad that it was a Springer Spaniel we ended up with. He was, just like Ernie, the left-over puppy no one wanted, but hes way more special than any other Springer I've met.
After first having Ernie who was just a bit tempromental around dogs bigger than him, and training him to not run over to other dogs and then getting Indi who had the same problem magnified it sure has taught me a lot about handling and training aggressive dogs. Indi has just come so far, and this video really does sum up just how amazing this dog is.

Oh and if your wondering why hes so mucky and wet its because theres a stream behind the flyball field, and Indi being Indi absolutely LOVES this stream and has great fun running and splashing in it =].


He is just such an amazing dog =].

I do not own the song!

The Climb - Joe Mcelderry

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• English Springer Spaniel
• dog tricks
• clicker training
• dog obedience
• agility

[danzi13]

cheesy as hell, but Indi is cute.

[mikadogluva]

@danzi13 Well no one else thought it was cheesy and if you dont like it dont watch =P.

[danzi13]

@mikadogluva I didn't say I didn't like it. I said it was cheesy. Cheesy doesn't mean bad.

[Orcaberbrandy]

Fantastic .What a wonderful partnership you have .

[zsianz1]

I think that it is one of the hardest things when they get attacked at a young age, that happened to Holly too. that's wonderful work that you are doing, he's a lucky boy to have you!!

[1949pink]

Great job! I was touched!

[hunkymonkeykaine]

"You never fail until you stop trying."

You are doing an amazing job with Indi. It is difficult when your dog gets attacked by another dog, especially during their fear periods. Indi has shown amazing growth to be able to trust again:). Thank you for sharing:).

[JessieTheJack]

aww you did a great job with him! He's come so far! =)

Love this song too!!