Kessel is our second rehabilitation case. Kessel comes to us all the way from the state of Maine. Kessel is a young male Plott Hound which is a hunting dog that has been used in Germany for hundreds of years. Kessel was given up by his owners because he bit their twelve year old son on the head. They were told by trainers back east that the dog was going to be difficult to rehabilitate and that they should probably euthanize the dog. As parents, of course their concern was for the safety of their son so they made the very difficult decision to give him up although they loved Kessel very much. As a parent I know how hard the decision had to be but they made the difficult choice not to endanger their son again. Through the Camp Bow Wow Network I became aware of Kessel's plight and offered to donate my services and give him a second chance!
Kessel's bite incident happened relative to food. All hounds have very powerful noses and if you get to watch a hound dog like a Bassett Hound or a Beagle, their noses are almost always on the ground sniffing those great smells. Food to a dog with as sensitive a nose as a hound dog becomes a huge motivator and without setting rules and boundries can become a huge obsession! These breeds of dogs more than any other type of dog are ruled by their nose! We will work very hard on setting boundries around food and exerting discipline and control to make sure we establish a relationship of respect around food with Kessel. Plott Hounds like Kessel are large in stature and look like a Coon Hound. Hopefully we will be ale to get some pictures in the next couple of days to post on the Blog!
Kessel had a great trip from Maine to Colorado and his previous owners paid out of their own pocket to get him out here via an animal transport service out of the state of Tennessee. We are excited to get to start working with Kessel. Our goal is to rehabilitate Kessel within 2-3 weeks and get him into a rescue situation or a forever home! Keep checking the Blog for more details about Kessel and our adventures with Kessel's rehabilitation in teaching him respect for discipline and leadership and setting rules and boundries for him about food and learning how to control those urges driven by his nose!
Kessel's bite incident happened relative to food. All hounds have very powerful noses and if you get to watch a hound dog like a Bassett Hound or a Beagle, their noses are almost always on the ground sniffing those great smells. Food to a dog with as sensitive a nose as a hound dog becomes a huge motivator and without setting rules and boundries can become a huge obsession! These breeds of dogs more than any other type of dog are ruled by their nose! We will work very hard on setting boundries around food and exerting discipline and control to make sure we establish a relationship of respect around food with Kessel. Plott Hounds like Kessel are large in stature and look like a Coon Hound. Hopefully we will be ale to get some pictures in the next couple of days to post on the Blog!
Kessel had a great trip from Maine to Colorado and his previous owners paid out of their own pocket to get him out here via an animal transport service out of the state of Tennessee. We are excited to get to start working with Kessel. Our goal is to rehabilitate Kessel within 2-3 weeks and get him into a rescue situation or a forever home! Keep checking the Blog for more details about Kessel and our adventures with Kessel's rehabilitation in teaching him respect for discipline and leadership and setting rules and boundries for him about food and learning how to control those urges driven by his nose!
No comments:
Post a Comment