Meet Farida and Juno
Overview:
Farida recently rescued Juno who is an adult Jack Russell. Farida contacted me after discovering Juno was showing signs of separation anxiety even though she was only being left for short periods. Juno was also pulling on lead, had an unreliable recall and got very over excited when anyone visited.
Health: luxating patella and in season when rescued.
Recommendations: For Juno’s separation struggles, I recommended creating a ‘cozy corner’ a place where Juno feels safe and where it is always a good deal eg she gets quite a bit of her food in this space. Using boundary training, I challenged Farida to move about in the room while Juno is in her cozy corner and gradually build this to being able to go into another room. It was really important that Juno stayed relaxed and happy at all times, if not Farida had pushed her too hard and needed to go back a stage. It’s important that Juno is happy with Farida being in another part of the house before they start to work on Farida leaving the house.
I also recommended Farida mixed up her leaving the house routine so Juno wouldn’t get triggered by predictors - these are things like picking up car keys, putting on shoes etc.
As Farida will need to leave the house while the cozy corner training is happening, she needed to create a safety net. Usually I would recommend leaving the house by a different door, but as this wasn’t possible in this case, I recommended wearing a distinctive outfit, the idea being that Juno will associate being left with that outfit, rather than Farida.
During the session we also played some scent games to help Juno relax, as well as games to help with loose lead walking and recall.
Farida was already using a child stair gate to stop Juno charging the front door when visitors arrive which is great. I also suggested having her lead and harness on so once guests are sat down, Farida can bring Juno into the space calmly on lead and if that’s too much, gently take her out of the room again. I anticipate these struggles will reduce once Juno’s season has finished.
Juno is still seeing the vet from the rescue centre and taking their advice on health.
Ongoing: Frida is bringing Juno to my Super Stars class where we are continuing to work on loose lead walking and recall as well as introducing fitness exercises to help build muscles to help support the luxating patella. This also gives Farida an opportunity to keep me updated on Juno’s separation struggles and for me to give next stage advice.
Feedback: After one home visit Juno was really chilled out at home and Farida is sure it’s down to the games which she is playing every evening. Using Juno’s brain rather than just walking is tiring her out more! Juno is also choosing to stay downstairs in her cozy corner for most of the night. Also, when Farida had to leave her, her parents came over to check on her and found her curled up on the sofa asleep as quiet as a lamb, which is a huge step forward.
