Mabel & Myrtle - Two Dachshunds With Different Needs and Different Wins.
Lucy joined Honest Hounds in December of 2023 for help with her two very different Dachshunds, Mabel & Myrtle. Both dogs were showing signs of over-reactivity.
Lucy has worked so hard since becoming an Honest Hounds member to help both dogs in their health and reactivity journeys.
This blog shares two of the big wins Lucy has had with the dynamic duo over the last few months.
Just had an amazing walk with Mabel with so many wins!
”We dropped Myrtle off at the vets for the day (which always makes me nervous), and so I took Mabes into our local town for a walk about. We do regularly go up and down the high street but I tend to avoid the park and this woodland path that runs to a promenade where there are lots of off lead dogs.
We passed well over 20 dogs, most off lead, no reactions from Mabel. In the park we played gundog games, had a couple of dogs run into our space (one when I was sitting on the grass too) and I just threw the dummy away for Mabel, as I displaced the other dog. I was feeling pretty calm about it too, it finally feels like my intent with other dogs is on the right path… firm and calm no thank you. Mabel barely looked at them. We even had a whippet come into her space, I pushed it away and then stood and chatted to its owners, Mabel went to sniff it, I kept it to 2 secs and pushed her away and on we went, literally amazing.
Along the promenade I had her off lead, she just plodded and sniffed, did do a snort and high tail at a dog running past but recalled straight to me and engaged. All other off lead dogs she ignored.
We’re 10 months on since our residential and it’s just so amazing to see her getting even better, beyond what I had hoped, especially given that she’s now almost 10, her pain isn’t going to go away and yet she’s still able to make kind choices!
And I am like a different person too! Having been working on my stress levels in general and with more and more practice with her, so that I am calmer now in all these situations, has definitely helped. I can still feel there’s more to relax into, but now I’m enjoying our journey!
Never did I think I could walk her through parks and promenades off lead, playing games and training again with so little stress for her and me!”
Myrtle and play! The big win!
“She was never a dog that wanted to play with me or even that much with Mabel.. as a puppy she liked to steal Mabel’s toys and run off with them or it was her chosen toy in the evening on the sofa that she would suckle, lick, chew and then fall asleep with it stuffed in her mouth.
So last year I started working on retrieving.. she would give a chin rest on the dummy when I put it front of her, but using the Lez Graham retrieving roll, which lets you put food in and wrap it into a dummy shape, she soon learnt that retrieving it back to me meant I would open it up and give her food.
She was never a dog that wanted to play with me or even that much with Mabel... as a puppy she liked to steal Mabel’s toys and run off with them or it was her chosen toy in the evening on the sofa that she would suckle, lick, chew and then fall asleep with it stuffed in her mouth.
So last year I started working on retrieving.. she would give a chin rest on the dummy when I put it front of her, but using the Lez Graham retrieving roll, which lets you put food in and wrap it into a dummy shape, she soon learnt that retrieving it back to me meant I would open it up and give her food.
Then she got IVDD so toys were off for the time being. Once she got to a place in her rehab that I could introduce it again, around Feb/March, I removed free access to toys in the house and started to work with chosen ones. She is still a fan of the toys I can put food into but is now tugging with them too as well as retrieving and from just seconds of engagement to mins now, and she is doing this outside the house on walks, in town and as per the videos below in the barn we do scentwork in.
it’s so so lovely to see and opens our world up to focus anchors, less treats and less weight which if you own a dachsie you know is the constant battle!”
