I tamped the most challenging dog on social networks and that is how I did | United Kingdom | News

When you collect a 45 kg rotTweiler with “problems” in a peugeot soft-top and try to fasten it in a seat belt, you soon realize that you will have to make some changes in your life. This was the situation faced by the former sound engineer turned into Dog Simon Wooler, when he decided to give Tyson a last chance in a home forever.

“The people of the Dog rescue center dispersed when they saw Tyson, this should probably have been a red flag, and they told me that I had to stay away from people and other animals. But I have a weak point for the misunderstood, “says Simon, with an impressive euphemism.

“I was his last chance and wanted to teach him to trust me, even if he had a lifetime.”

In fact, his confidence link was destined to become an eight -year discovery trip together, and what Simon learned about Thomson, as he renamed him when he brought him home in Aberdeenshire, committed him to a new career.

“My own rescue dog ‘useless’ led me to look for effective training methods for problems with problems and during the last 10 years, I have performed behavioral training classes,” he says.

However, the dog that pushed Simon, 58, to the center of attention, and led to his first book agreement, rather than a simple dog, which has just been published, was a very different type of canine.

When I was previous BBC The technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones decided to adopt a woman from Romania, the animal in question seemed very lively in the videos sent before her arrival.

But when Sophie arrived at the west of London in the early hours of December 2022, he proved desperately anxious. He was trembling and terrified, and seemed desperately vulnerable.

His trip to trust, with the help of Simon, has now been followed by thousands online after Rory shared his experiences in social networks, after an initial thanks for help.

The painfully apprehensive animal was shrugged under the garden furniture, refusing to move or disappear behind a sofa, making only brief night excursions captured in a gloomy webcam.

Upon learning about Rory’s situation, he led Simon to contact him and his co -star, professor and economist at Cambridge, with an offer to help.

After a afflicted year, in which they had lost their beloved dog dog, the couple had thought a lot to adopt a new dog. But when they met the list of “a kind girl who loves everyone and is only looking for her home forever,” they decided to assume her. Little knew how nervous I would be on arrival. Simon was willing to help immediately.

“I gave them my credentials and took a zoom call,” he recalls. After his contribution, the first signs were positive.

In a few hours, Sophie cautiously took small pieces of cheese by Diane, “making positive associations between his presence and the jelly of good flavor food,” explains Simon. But when the dark room melted and hit the Christmas tree, the world of scared puppy fell and retired behind the couch.

Rory wanted Simon’s help to support Sophie, but also to obtain her own support due to her diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Simon says: “Rory had a vision of long walks that would help with his illness, but a dog that was trapped behind the couch was a source of anxiety, yearning and hope.”

When the journalist configured his mango
@Sophiefromromania, Sophie was catapulted in the center of attention. Captivated by their gentle nature and cautious progress, thousands of Rory followers began to like their publications and offer messages of support.

The link between the coach and the dog became even stronger when the human family went on vacation in August 2023 and Simon offered to move home meanwhile to take care and continue working with Sophie.

At this point, the dog had been in the Prozac Anti-Ansiety for eight months, as prescribed by its veterinarian and suggested by Simon.

“During the first four or five days I made some progress, but I would suffer great setbacks. The harness or the main work would go well, but the slightest indication of a sudden noise would send it back behind the couch, ”Simon recalls.

Then, one morning, a small but significant advance arrived.

A loud noise out of the house led Sophie to run to the kitchen where Simon was drinking tea. Instead of shrinking in the corner, she came and sat next to her.

“She was leaning,” he says. “I didn’t dare to move. This was the most significant moment of union we had experienced together and was not going to waste it. ”

After 30 minutes, his legs were giving up and slowly slipped through the cabinet against which he supported and sat on the floor. Sophie responded by establishing himself in a lie while Simon gently stroked her ears.

“Now it was obvious that ‘training’ for harnesses or potential clients was going to spend the background. The relationship was going to be in front and the center, ”he says.

From then on, every time I went to the kitchen, it rolled softly or threw a toy like Sophie looked.

“I began to take every opportunity to involve it at stake. If she did not respond, she would see if she was prepared for a coastal or a scratch of ears. If not, then I sat near and read and reserve. I became his portable ‘safe space’ forming a attachment security bubble. “

When Rory and Diane returned on vacation, they found a dog that began to get out of their cocoon.

Simon encouraged them to continue building positive associations every time, dropping the treats casually near Sophie and resisting the impulse to convince her more than she wanted.

“If you hold the food in your hand, or throw it too short and the dog has to stretch to reach it, they can be in conflict with the risk. Then they will grab the food and run to cover, far from you. His next opportunity will come later, often much later, that if he had trusted the process. “

And so it was with Sophie. Constantly. In the first weeks and months, there were little chances of being able to touch it. “It was a marathon, not a sprint, but gradually began to grow in confidence,” says Simon. Today, Sophie can leave the house and is a much safer creature in general, although she can still be nervous.

Speaking in October, Rory said: “Today, while now we walk Sophie a couple of times a day, it is still a job in progress, still scared by strong noises and even moderately full places.”

However, in her daily routine, she is a transformed dog and is no longer the same terrifying sofa. Now, he feels that he has options on where he could go.

“Diane’s Office is a popular place or the front room. And it is increasingly inclined to stay in the living room when people are there, ”adds Simon.

“She is widely playful with other dogs, and is much better with people when they have had time to get used to her.

“It seems that we have an expectation that dogs recover from fear quickly, but it is not an expectation we have of ourselves.

“I am a great believer in giving dogs their time and, finally, they will reward them with their own.”