FROM FIZZY-DOG TO THINKING-DOG

This sweet wee fella is SCOUT, who started working with me remotely during lockdown.

He's one of our many dogs who travel from the outskirts of Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire to work with us.

He is an ex gun dog and was very agitated when we started working, including some compulsive behaviours, such as spinning. If you look closely, you can see him spin when he moves away from the scent box.

His mum and dad have endless patience and are doing incredible things with him. He spent most of his time pacing and spinning, or rushing from one leaf to the next when he was out in the garden. Walks meant being yanked along behind him while he skittered from one scent to the next. He's strong for his size, and he barely felt anyone on the end of his lead as he tanked along.

This didn't just mean that walks were hard work; his family were also worried that he wasn't happy. They were well aware that spinning from excited agitation one moment to exhausted sleep the next wasn't the sign of a happy dog.

His eyes were often red, he panted a lot of the time and found it hard to concentrate. He was also very uneasy with unfamiliar dogs and when I first met him we could see he wasn't very comfortable with new people either.

He was completely dizzy-fizzy and couldn't even sniff his way around a tiny Sniff Trail without spinning on the end of the lead.

We're working with his vet to deal with any possible latent pain and have put a lot of calming strategies into his life to help him relax and slow down.

His mum and dad have a lovely relationship with him and are working hard to help their quirky, sweet little boy learnt to slow down and smell the coffee!