Meet Patch

                                                                         I started working with Patch and his owners in April 2025 and in just 4                                                                          months he's transformed into a different dog.

                                                                         Patch is an 8 year old Boarder Collie and was adopted from a rescue                                                                           by his owners in April 2025. His owners had reached out to me for                                                                                 dog walking before they had even picked him up!
                                                                         Once he'd had a few days to settle in to his new home it was time for a                                                                          meet & greet to get to know everyone before I started walking him.                                                                                During this meet & greet I'd learned about some of his past, including his previous owner passing which resulted in him being at the rescue. He was also with a foster family for a while and during that time he'd reacted to something on a walk and as he was reacting he turned his head and accidentally caught his fosterer with his teeth. Because of this incident he wears a muzzle while on a walk as a precaution. I also learned that Patch is reactive, anxious and has a medical condition called Spondylosis Deformans, which is a degenerative condition causing bony spurs to form between the vertebrae of the spine leading to the spine fusing together between vertabrea. He has pain relief to offset any discomfort this may cause him.

During the first few weeks of walking Patch he would really struggle to be out of the house. He could only handle about 15 minutes with me most days and the majority of that time he was sniffing the ground and was very hyper-vigilant with his tail tucked between his legs, we hardly managed to get to the end of the road. Some days he wouldn't even walk out the door.
After walking Patch for a few weeks his owners and I arranged a training session to work on building his confidence through desensitisation and counter-conditioning to work on his reactivity towards other dogs. We also worked on cues and some exercises which could be used on his walks to keep him calm/distract him before and after a reaction, such as 'go sniff' and 'look at me'.
Only a few weeks after this training session I began to see progress with Patch, both me and Patch's owners were applying the training from the session to our walks and it was really paying off. He was becoming much more keen to walk, getting through the front door with minimal hesitation and getting further on his walks. By the time July came around Patch was able to manage his full 30 minute walk  and his reactivity was much more under control. 
I began to take more of a training approach on Patch walks in July really focusing in on his obedience and desensitisation to other dogs and by the end of the month he was able to sit at a distance and look at a passing dog then back at me for a reward - something that I thought seemed impossible on our first few walks.

This month (September 2025) we really put all of Patch's hard work and training to the test.
I took Patch to a completely new place and his walk was much longer than usual. I had planned on 1 hour to take him up to a field to run around in all the tall grass but we ended up being 1.5 hours.
On the way to the field we walked past come construction and Patch became very nervous. Patch hates sudden loud noises so this was very difficult for him. He froze completely but after some comfort and some salmon fillet treats we passed the construction site an he continued plodding along happily :)
When we got to the field there was a dog coming towards us leaving. I got Patch into a sit focusing on only me and the treats in my hand. As the dog passed us they were very close and Patch broke his position and reacted, jumping around slightly and letting out just 1 bark. As soon as the dog had passed he instantly went back into his sit and focused on me. This was absolutely incredible from him considering he was in a brand new environment!
At the field he frolocked around, had a drink, modelled for a quick photoshoot and did a 'find it' exercise with some treats in the tall grass.

After we had left the field and were walking back home we passed a Spaniel who spotted Patch and immediately started lunging towards him and barking. This dog was only about a meter away from us and Patch managed to walk Past with no reaction, keeping his eyes on me and going into a sit once we were a few meters away from the reacting dog. I couldn't believe what he'd just done I was absolutely blown away!!
The whole walk the rest of the way home he was a star, we got past the construction quickly and had no more reactions. 
When he got home he dramatically slumped down on the floor to show me how tired out he was. I gave him some treats and updated his owners on how incredible he'd been!

While Patch has come such a long way and overcome so many fears he is still reactive but nowhere near the extent he used to be. His reactivity is anxiety based so I had no expectations of training this out fully but to teach him how to cope and how to cope with this fear in a more desirable manner.

Patch's owners have truly transformed his life and given him the most loving home a dog could ever ask for and built his confidence so  beautifully. If it wasn't for them having such dedication to Patch we wouldn't be where we are now.🤍🐾