Senna’s Strides Towards No Sound Sensitivity

Arjette joined us from Amsterdam with her dog Senna. Already working as a dog trainer, she joined to help learn more and advance her own knowledge. We’ve seen both Arjette and Senna take huge strides since becoming part of Honest Hounds, and this recent win for both of them exemplifies that.

“Major progress in Senna's noise anxiety!

Today we walked right past a busy construction site, without stress. Something that would have been impossible a few months ago. Not a single flight attempt. No tail tucked to her belly. A bit apprehensive still, but she looked at me for guidance and stayed close to my leg for safety.

This is the first time ever, she's done that and it feels so good!

After my session with Jess W and Jess P, I knew it was my turn to do some deep work. I booked an appointment with a therapist to work on my own insecurities and lack of confidence and incorporated a lot from the Conditioned Relaxation course to calm my own and Senna's nervous system.

Last week, I encountered a woman on our walk who called me an animal abuser, for not letting Senna interact with her two off leash dogs. She did a whole lecture on how dogs are social animals and me being a cruel person for not letting her say hi to her dogs. And in that moment, something inside me clicked. I've been such a people pleaser, that my "normal" response would have been to defend myself and spend the rest of the walk or day figuring out what I could have said instead to confivince her that I was not an animal abuser. Crazy. I don't even know this woman. It's like I finally realized how much I've been clinging onto other's opinions instead of my own. So, instead of hearing this woman out, I said that I knew what I was doing and wasn't looking for advice and walked away. And from that day, we've been walking with more and more ease. Senna now falls back on me when she hears a loud noise, but it's getting less and less super quick! So many noises don't bother her anymore. We enjoy our walks again, in the dark, afternoon or evening, it doesn't matter anymore.

Then, yesterday, she made two new human friends in a pet store. Both men she had never seen before. They were able to pet and stroke her, and she was honestly just looking to see if they had treats, but it was a nice win to end the week!

I just can't wait to see how much more further we can take this. There is still so much more to gain from the Conditioned Relaxation course, we haven't even taken that outside yet.”