Although he gave us his trust and followed Crystal's paw-steps, it really did take just
to repair. It took me 6 years of attending behavior conferences, training seminars, $$ spent on not only gas but behavior books and text books to learn more about what happened to him, why it happened, and more importantly -
AUGUST 2012. Up until a year ago, Niko was isolated from dogs. He still had a wonderful life living alone with Crystal
until she passed away from cancer April 2012. Niko was a fearfully aggressive dog who had lost his way, lost his trust in his own kind - and having no experience with any other dogs being fearful or aggressive,
NIKO's story is important to me - I have dug up everything out of the archives to revisit and summarize what caused the fear aggression in him, how it happened, why it happened and the
best part - how we've overcome all of it to have the friends he has today.
So many people write one-sided stories about dog bites and attacks - but I've been on both sides of the fence ... and there is no such thing as a better side, they're both just as bad being the victim and the "attacker". Niko became an "attacker" at one point and Crystal was a victim of
many dog bites and attacks and she was not an instigator of any of them. She was always in the wrong place at the wrong time - and it happens to some dogs, dogs like Crystal who seem to have the words "attack me" written on her forehead or something. There is a reason behind
every dog bite of why it happened, and the victim can be a victim without even being the cause of it. There are so many stories behind a dog bite that it frustrates me to read about one-sided stories in the media and the stupid pitbull ban in Ontario. But let's get back to NIKO's story.
Crystal was his role model, he watched her every move, she practically raised him. She was a very resilient girl, with lots of experiences under her belt, she managed to get through her entire life hardly affected by anything that came at her. But while she was resilient and strong mentally, this wasn't the case for Niko.
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NIKO had no fear of Crystal's teaching.
Crystal was teaching him to learn to back away when he hears a growl. |
NIKO (3 months old)
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NIKO (3 months)
OSPCA Walk-a-thon (May 27, 2007) |
Niko was in training the second he arrived home. He also practiced clicker training and positive reinforcement based training with me in Kitchener once a week with a trainer who believed in training dogs without touching them, without pain, or force. It was definitely worth the drive! Niko did so well in training at the age of 7 weeks(!) that we started going to dog parks that Crystal
loved going to, to practice his training.
(Each time you change the environment for a puppy, you start from scratch with training until they generalize that training applies in every situation, scenario, and environment). So, we practiced everywhere!
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| Crystal's punctured ear. Pierced. |
One afternoon, we were practicing at Miller Ave Off-Leash Dog Park (
which I do not recommend going to ever!). I was clicker training Niko for his basic cues while keeping an eye on Crystal as she plays with her buddies at the park and that was the
very first time Niko witnessed Crystal being attacked by a dog she did not know. A dog was playing fetch in the park, Crystal happened to be running past the dog's ball as she was coming towards me (with no intent of taking that dog's ball), the dog reacted, pinned her to the ground and nipped her ear. She screamed a high pitch scream, got up on her feet and looked for me. She came running with blood gushing out of her ear. Luckily, an RVT was at the park and fixed her up quickly to stop the bleeding. Niko's reaction? He was in shock. I didn't think anything of it but as we went through the behavior consultations, and digging into what caused Niko's fear aggression, this specific incident definitely had its impact in his behavioral development (at 3 months old).
"Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair ..."
- unknown
NIKO (6 months old)
Three months went by, Crystal's ear healed without a scar. One afternoon, I was babysitting my little cousins and decided to go to the dog park (
note: this is before I knew any better about dogs, aggression, people and the types of people who frequent this park). Niko was playing with three of my little cousins and another puppy his size while Crystal was playing "fetch" with me. While this was happening, a German Shepherd came into the park and seemingly (as I don't recall if anything else in the environment was happening with the other dogs and the German Shepherd), he ran straight for Crystal, pinned her to the floor and literally ripped out a piece of her cheek resulting in
4 staples and a permanent scar to her face.
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Crystal
July 2007: Attacked by a German Shepherd at Miller Ave Off Leash
Dog Park requiring emergency vet care at the VEC - 4 staples. |
Niko was traumatized by this incident. Nearby vet techs came rushing over to bandage up Crystal the best they could, I grabbed Niko and threw him in the car with Crystal in the backseat gushing blood. He sniffed her and didn't move for the entire ride. Even when we got to the hospital, he stayed quiet and still in the car as I rushed Crystal inside. Not a peep from Niko.
Still, at this point, I had no idea that all of this had already impacted Niko's behavior development and ultimately changed his life for the next five years until the final incident ...
NIKO (9 months old)
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| Ski-Jorring at Seneca (King Campus) |
This was the final incident and the very last time we were around any other dogs we did not know off-leash. We went on a ski-jorring adventure with Dog Paddling Adventures where dogs enjoy activities with their owners generally off-leash. Crystal was off-leash as we were heading into the area where we would gather our equipment from the log cabin. Niko was on-leash as his recall was a bit rusty at this point in time due to my diverted attention to Crystal's health over the past few months.
Crystal took the lead as she knew the trail that led to the log cabin. Little did we know, a few skijorrers were already there and a black poodle with two other dogs running behind it came charging out of the trail and Crytsal froze in shock and the poodle pinned Crystal to the floor and gave her puncture wounds on her forehead. This time, Niko reacted but he was on-leash - he lunged up in the air towards Crystal almost as if he wanted to go and "protect her" but that didn't happen - and I believe here is where he developed his fist real 'leash frustration' (great! Another behavioral issue I had to learn to tackle on top of his fear aggression). And since he could not get off his leash to help Crystal, he made his first attack on a little black shih-tzu that was passing by him on leash (luckily with no damage on this dog this time). Ever since that day - we stopped frequenting dog parks and tried to avoid dogs all together in every which way possible.
Without me knowing at the time, Niko had already profiled all German Shepherds (GS) to be dangerous since Crystal's facial mauling. He started to react to ALL GS's that passed by us or within eye sight. Shortly after, he profiled dogs that looked like GS's to be dangerous, then dogs of black and tanned color, and eventually ... ALL DOGS.
THE RESULT: FEAR AGGRESSION
And so ... within less than a year of Niko coming home, the unfortunate series of events that fell on Crystal created my perfect puppy to develop fear aggression. For the next 3.5 years, I invested my time and energy attending as many conferences on behavior as possible. I spent endless hours driving to and from these seminars and I attended training with Niko on the side - in Kitchener. I even worked as a receptionist at a veterinary clinic just so I could work alongside the veterinary animal behaviorist to learn more about canine behavior problems.
But the most important thing to note after reading all of the above is:
It's not the end of the world! Fear Aggression can be reversed. And Niko is a daily reminder that we made it. We finally made it to the finish line!
I'll blog more about his training and incidences he endured in a later blog ... from a dog who once attacked to a dog that now gets attacked and how he deals with it. In a natural animal's instinct of 'fight or flight', he was counter conditioned to flight ...
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