Behavioural Case Study	Bonny Bonny is a four year old rescue whippet cross bitch and has been with her current owner for over two years now. She initially was a very shy, frightened and flighty dog, showing possible signs of being abused in the past by a previous owner. She also has a spinal problem, meaning she needs occasional acupuncture.
Bonny had limited recall and showed behavioural problems such as  running at people, joggers, dog walkers, rushing and attacking other dogs in an aggressive manner. She also chewed around the house and gave an annoying high pitched and excitable whiny bark when on walks. Her rushing at dogs was obviously nervous aggression as she showed signs of being an insecure little dog; any raised hand or quick movement would often make her yelp or jump. Initially the owner naturally felt sorry for this nice looking little dog and showered her with physical attention and fuss to help undo any trauma she had undergone in the past. She was allowed to sit on the settee and furniture and be petted and spoiled and basicallybe get her own way. This fussing however seemed to make her position in the household appear elevated in her eyes, promoting her dominance over the other household dogs and humans. The key was to demote her status reminding her she was still indeed a dog.To do this the owner decided to be a bit firmer with Bonny supplying her with her own bed and only allowing her on furniture with permission. This started to help lower her status as she had started to see herself above her owner as far as the pack was concerned. On my walks with Bonny I started to work on her basis commands, trying to improve on sit, stay and especially re-call. Being a bright wee dog she responded well and I had to make a concerted effort to use positive re-enforcement due to her abusive past. The fact she was not too friendly towards other dogs was a sign she may have been poorly socialised as a young dog so I made an effort to socialise her as frequently as possible with other dogs and people. She is in fact a very friendly dog and it’s her initial encounters that let her down . Her excitable barking and yelping when released from a sit command was often off putting to any bystanders making her appear uncontrolled. To help get her out of this I used noise aversion in the form of stones in a plastic bottle which I shook at the right time to let her know it was not acceptable. If she was released from a sit command without a yelp or barking she was then rewarded. This worked very well with only a half dozen or so shakes of the bottle to help rid her of her barking. She does however occasionally slip back into an excited yelp but can be quietened with a firm sshh! (Which I had followed the bottle shaking with) As she improved with her commands it became easier to call her back if any other dogs came within range, however I noticed on walks she had started to step well beyond the pack order being out in front in a self promoting kind of way . This made it difficult to control her when she became escalated at seeing another dogs as she was often out of range. So the answer was to keep her walking behind me on our walks and only allow her free range in front when there were no threats. Then when we encountered any other dogs I could call her back in behind me letting her know I could take charge of the situation. This has worked a treat and the owner puts this into practice during his walks making him feel more in control of Bonny rather than the other way round.
Ebony Ebony is a lovely four year old Labrador cross bitch who has been with her current owner for over two years now. She is kept in the same household as Bonny. Like Bonny, before coming to her current owner she shows signs of having been abused.
Ebony has a close bonding with Bonny with both dogs being energetic and lively. The drawback however when I initially met her was,  like Bonny, she could become unfriendly towards other dogs even though she might not be provoked. In some instances Bony may rush at another dog from the front where Ebony would herd the other dog from the side or behind in a classic pack attack. Many unsuspecting dog owners would find this intimidating especially with the aggressive growling and barking that ensued. Neither dog usually would draw blood but it certainly was unsociable behaviour. Also like Bonny the tendencies Ebony showed were nervous aggression born out of insecurity and possibly poor socialisation as a younger dog. As with Bonny, myself and the owner, worked on control commands, especially re-call, which was difficult to begin with for me as she would not make eye contact at all and was always cowering. Positive reinforcement helped her get over this and again we used assertive touch (scruffing) techniques to correct her if she was aggressive to other dogs. We also stuck to the exercise of keeping her behind us when on walks and only releasing her to go in front with permission and when we could control any flair-up. These techniques combinedr have helped dramatically and although she may occasionally slip into wanting to be aggressive to certain dogs and may be a stickler for disobeying re-call when other dogs are nearby she is improving all the time using consistency and patience.
Conclusion Both Ebony and Bonny are making great progress with their owners consistent and patient efforts, reinforcing all of the above methods of correction and exercise. Ebony does still occassonally stray from her human companions side when other dogs are close but soon accepts she has to fall back into rank. Bonny too with occasionally stiffen when a dog is nearby but a gentle touch on the shoulder, because she is generally near-by to the owner now snaps her out of being fixated on other dogs and she soon relaxes. Hopefully before long they will both naturally fall in line behind whoever is walking them, allowing that person to cope with any potential threat so they both can relax and become more balanced and happier dogs.