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Success Stories > Shirley & Peggy

Peggy is a 5 year old Greyhound who was used for racing and had lived in a shed with 10 other greyhounds. When she couldn't race anymore her owner wanted to get rid of her. When she was given up the ends of her ears had been taken off, she needed 24 teeth removing, and she was severely underweight, she had fur missing and her tummy was covered in sores. Another couple had taken her in but couldn't cope with her, so called on Shirley who agreed to take her. When Shirley called me she was at the end of her tether. Peggy was unbearable to live with, she stole food, was highly strung and was growling and snapping at Shirley and her family. Peggy was terrorising the other animals in the house, growling and snarling at Shirley's other greyhound Morris and went ballistic at the sight of the cat Molly. Peggy also suffered from separation anxiety. She couldn't be left and the family took shifts at sleeping downstairs with her. Everyone was pretty stressed out and Shirley was questioning whether to keep Peggy at all.

The first thing we did was to introduce an indoor kennel for Peggy, the door of which could be shut meaning that the other animals in the household were safe and giving Peggy her own safe secure space. This worked wonders Peggy loved the kennel, went in, curled up and went to sleep. We also introduced a reward based training programme to condition Peggy into accepting the other members of the household. This required consistency and dedication over a few weeks, using positive reinforcement, love and patience but the end result is truly amazing.

Peggy is now a different dog. She is calm, relaxed and affectionate. She no longer snarls at Morris - infact they sometimes share the sofa! Her indoor kennel is gone and she now has a bed in the living room. She doesn't react to the cat anymore. Shirley tells me that they can be in the same room happily together and have even been nose to nose with each other! Indeed, when I last went to see her and take some photos, my two year old son was inspecting her ears and looking at her lack of teeth - a truly wonderful transformation. Needless to say, Shirley and her family have decided that she is now going to stay.