Ollie Begins to Reveal His “Issues”

We had only had the dogs a few days.  As is usual, Russ is up before me every morning.  He got in the habit of letting the dogs out for their morning constitutional.  On this particular morning, Ollie had managed to get a small twig caught in his “feathers” and he couldn’t dislodge it.  Russ followed him and kept trying to grab the twig.  Ollie must have thought Russ was chasing him and it scared him half to death.  He snapped at Russ and  came running into the bedroom to me and wanted nothing to do with Russ.
 
Later we took the dogs to the dog park.  No other dogs were there so we walked around a bit and then began to put the dogs back into their crate in the car.  As Russ was zipping the crate and giving the dogs their “car cookies’'”, another car pulled in and started to unload their dogs.  Ollie freaked and apparently associated his fear of dogs with Russ reaching into the crate. He snapped at Russ again.  He didn’t break the skin but he definitely made contact.
By the time we got home, Ollie was calmed down but he had decided he did not like Russ – AT ALL!!  

We spent weeks sitting on the sofa at opposite ends with the dogs between us.  Jewel loved sitting with Russ but he would not move towards or look at Ollie at first.  Eventually, Ollie began to move towards Russ and sniff him.  Russ would place his hand flat on the sofa and let Ollie sniff but not make any moves towards petting him.



It took over three weeks, but little by little, step by baby step, Ollie began to see that Russ was not a threat.  Looking back, we think that Ollie didn’t show any aggression the first few days because was so scared, and most of the pictures taken early on show Ollie with “big eyes.”  Normally, an Aussie has almond shaped eyes but Ollie’s eyes go big and round when he is afraid.  He was definitely afraid.  Our mistake was in not realizing that Ollie had fear issues and that those fears could lead to aggression.  I guess we expected him to be as happy to be with us as we were to have him.



I’m happy to report that Ollie’s issues with Russ resolved fully after about three weeks.  In fact, I sometimes accuse Russ of trying to steal my dog!  I’m so glad Ollie got over his fear of Russ.  His fear of dogs and strangers is another whole issue.



Conquering that fear shows me two things…1.  Ollie has a big, courageous heart and  2. behavior can be changed.  Just how hard we have and are still working to change that behavior is what a lot of this blog will be about.  I’m sure we are not the only ones with a “problem child” and if our experiences can help someone else then I will be happy.  Take heart – there is help available.