I am about to bring home a rescue dog in 2 days time – his name is Buddy and he was a stray/farm dog from Ireland so has very little understanding of living in a house or garden. We are very fortunate to have a nice big garden and I decided to use my Sprinkles ™ concept to help him settle into his new garden. Now, I am sure you will be thinking that I will put Sprinkles on the grass ready for his arrival – but in this instance that is not the case. Buddy is fortunate to be happy and friendly around other dogs but is struggling from long term stress issues (see this link for an explanation about stress in dogs - dog-games.co.uk/stress.htm) and being in a rescue centre for 3 months. So we wanted to make his first impression of his new garden to be calm and relaxed, in order to help him relax, and also have good positive associations with my best friend’s dogs – Pye the Border Collie, and newcomer Gino the Pug. Therefore, today I invited my friend round to my house so that Pye and Gino could have a nice calm and relaxed Sprinkles session – leaving their pheromones of contentment behind for Buddy to enjoy and explore (very similar to the Snuffle Garden Project concept - the-snuffle-garden-project.jimdo/ While Buddy has been at the rescue centre he will have only been able to sniff the highly charged and stressed scents of the other dogs at the centre (both in the air and on the grass in the exercise areas). This first impression will help him feel safe and also informally introduce him to Pye and Gino who he will eventually meet doing parallel walking at a nearby common some weeks in the future. I will monitor his progress and stress levels over the next few days after he has settled in and, when I think he is ready, I will then use part of the garden as his first Sprinkles Spot. For more information on how I am helping Buddy you are very welcome to follow his adventures on my Facebook Profile - https://facebook/sally.hopkins.714 youtu.be/l5dBzP4EfO4
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 21:12:25 +0000
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