a little catch up

[ZiiPAngelclaws]

its been a while since i posted or even logged on, hope you are all well!

its been a hectic couple of months for us in our personal lives and in the pups!

Mainly Torsten was attacked, whilst on lead sitting next to me. A off lead staffy type dog came over sniffed him and attacked. After getting the dog off him (took 3 people) we turned and headed straight home. He was limping and whilst carrying him he went into shock. Straight to the vets and a thorough check over it turned out he had cuts on his paws, shoulders, neck and head. His shoulders were badly swollen and bruised too. After a few days pain killers and restricted exercise we went for a little stroll and my friendly, happy, quiet boy became scared and reactive. Luckily (i guess) with all the work i have done with Elica i knew how to help him and thankfully he is back to his normal confident friendly self, but a little more cautious around new dogs.

Whilst Torst was attacked Elica kept out of it and was very scared, tbh the noise alone and Torsten's cries still haunt me so its not surprising she was scared, and became very protective of her big bro. Her reactivity which we had under control came back and i have had to do more individual work on her.

This was in october and both are back to "normal" and Elica's reactivity is back under control, so much so that whilst walking in the pet store we turned a corner face to face with a staffy and she didnt even bark. Torsty still has the scars though

hopefully "life" is settling down again and i'll try and pop by when i can. but for now i leave you with christmas pics of the pups and wish you all a very happy new year

[Oscar 12345]

God Hayley, your very worst nightmare. Thank goodness you are all ok now and people wonder why staffies (or their owners) have a bad reputation. The problem being if they do attack they can do a lot of damage. Oscar got attacked by a staffy and he had Oscar's head in his jaws. Took two people to get the dog off him. My husband came off worse than Oscar fortunately who was a just a bit bloodied but mainly traumatised. The trauma did completely disappear over quite a short period. I am just thankful that I wasn't there. Goodness knows what I would have done.

When you have a moment, can you post a few tips on improving confidence in our little ones. Otto seems to have gone backwards and we have done a huge amount of socialisation. He is only 6 months old so I think this is natural but would like to help rebuild his confidence.

[jacdales]

Hi Hayley poor Torsten He still looks so much like Hamish. I'm glad he has recovered so well. It must have been such a scary experience for all of you. I bet you feel good having the confidence to get him back on track like that well done you. Mahri my 12 yr old airedale was attacked when she was 1yr. To this day she will not tolerate a dog running at her and when we pass the house where the dog ran out of the garden you can see her visibly stiffen and wait for the dog to appear.