Introducing Molly - my springer spaniel

Dear Readers

I hope you are well and enjoying the many inches of snow that have fallen today near Cambridge, England - the first this year. My little dog Molly  a black and white springer was so excited she raced around with tail wagging furiously this morning wrapped up well in her little fleece lined coat which she hates me putting her on . When we got back she was zipped up in her towelling bag which she hates even more but at least got her dry. Her heat lamp on maximum and a hot bowl of milky sweet barleycup went down well with her though.

I wouldn't be without her, but there was as time when she was not yet one year old when we nearly had her put down, she was behaving threateningly, staring and warning biting our hands - without breaking the skin though. We called out a dog psychologist - who took a look at her and said - "basically you have a fox there" she hasn't been socialised at all either with houses, people or dogs.

From what the breeder told us she was an only pup in the litter - taken off the mum at a few weeks old and isolated in a kennel on her own until we came and found her at 5 months old. She appeared hyper sociable but once back home with us this turned into fear.

We'd had a pair of springers before and thought we knew how to handle them. But after talking to the psychologist we had to relearn everything. She appeared to crave fuss but actually was just appeasing us - the more we fussed - the more she appeased us - the more we interpreted this as wanting more fuss. We had to just let her be - stop looking at her - which also frightened her - and if we did have to at her we had to break eye contact regularly - blinking for example. We had to label actions so she could predict what we were about to do. So for example if I was going to put her lead on - I had to say "lead" as I leaned down towards her. So no longer did she feel I was randomly lunging down to her. We also said "fuss " whenever she was stroked  and various other things. This worked very well. We also minimised contact with her - giving her lots of down time. Almost like she had social anxiety. Down to one walk a day too.

Today she is lovely, she introduces herself to all we meet on walks, dogs and people alike. She keeps me company during the day - she'll sit on the sofa next to me and lean briefly, then have a happy graunge on her back asking me to tickle her tummy. But I have to keep the latter brief. She will then usually go straight to her bed on the floor nearby to sleep Unlike me last springers who loved nothing better than snoozing one either side of me while I watched tv. Having a dog either side of you is so physically comforting I found. I miss that.

I think the main thing the psychologist (Kendal Sheppard) did for us is to explain how anxious she is  - so I used gentleness, positivity with rewards and labelling. It took a few years to really get there, but now I love her very much - I'm glad I never had her put down.