Milo’s Big Win

Julia and Milo joined us on a Retreat and have been working hard ever since. From building confidence to making real changes day-to-day, their progress has been a joy to see. We love hearing reflections like this, it’s what the community is all about.

“Big day for Milo and I today! We visited the beach at midday, Saturday, peak sunshine, crowded, very excitable toddler nephew in tow and family who are really supportive but feel quite uncomfortable around Milo (and dogs in general). I was feeling pretty stressed heading into the day, since Milo can be dog and human reactive, but we have just had the best (6 hour!) outing - it was a lot to ask of him but he has been a total champ.

I created space for us both at the start and focussed on meeting Milo’s needs, running, seeking, engaging - getting the initial excitement of being at the beach out of his system. Once he had adjusted, I used a downstay and calming touch to help him wind down before bringing him into the family group.

I switched up our tools depending on the situation - muzzle always, off lead when we had space, short lead when I needed to normalise things a bit, a longline when I felt a bit wobbly (it happens!). This might have seemed a faff but having different tools to adapt throughout the day was just what I needed.

The highlight - while working on relaxation a lovely dog-savvy family came over with two young girls who wanted to say hi. I’d met Milo’s needs, he was calm with great body language, so I gently advocated - no strokes, but we arranged a little hand feeding while he wore his muzzle. It was such a lovely moment for me and him!

Not a single reaction to other dogs, even though they were everywhere. Totally unfazed by my bouncy 3-year-old nephew. Our connection upheld all day and I’m so proud of both of us!”

Want to know more about Julia’s journey with Milo? Listen to her on The Honest Hounds Podcast now.