Kessel Update

We spent the summer months of August and September working with Kessel and trying to figure out what his trigger for aggression was.  We experimented with many different things and as I wrote in my July post one of my suspicions was food aggression.  Dogs like Kessel are called Scent Hounds for a reason and these dogs make fabulous hunters because of their sense of smell and can track anything within a two mile radius.

Once Kessel arrived in Colorado I watched to see what his personality was and I was pleased that he was a very friendly boy and was very responsive to calm assertive leadership.  I have seen some hounds that are very stubborn and when you try to push them they want nothing to do with that and resist your attempts to establish leadership when you push them and this can sometimes result in aggressive behavior.

We watched Kessel for a couple of weeks and ran him through the paces, seeing how he fit in with our other rehabilitation dogs and everyone who worked with him.  Kessel loves to play with other dogs and would run around the agility yard and leap over a group of dogs causing the other dogs to startle and then chase him, this was always great fun for Kessel because no one could ever catch him!  He would run over to the swimming pools we had set up for the dogs and get in the water and the game was over!

A week after he arrived I started working with him around food to see what would happen.  We started with his regular meals and I would feed him after his morning walk and play time.  Kessel would let me touch his body while he ate and did not growl or try to defend his food.  I worked on this for several days and then we moved to wet food. 

We took Kessel out to one of the Doggy Day Care areas at Indian Tree Pet Lodge and kept him inside the building.  Ann brought out a bowl of wet food mixed with dry food and he went crazy.  His focus was totally on the food bowl.  I put it down on the ground and he started to eat.  I had a long mop handle for my own protection and started to put the stick in the bowl and try to move it away from him.  At first he didn't mind and then I tried to move the bowl behind me and he came around the back of me and tried to get to the bowl.  I tried moving it away again and then he eventually started to growl and then bit the stick!  He went into possession mode and was guarding the food in a hunched over way and anytime the stick came near he would bite it.  

I had Ann get another bowl of food and I put the food in the introduction portion of the play area with me guarding the food this time.  Kessel would not break his focus off of the food bowl and I started to put the food behind me and challenge him with a chain link fence between us.  Kessel barked and growled at me everytime I did this and he eventually made eye to eye contact and we stared each other down.  Kessel kept trying to get higher than I was so we eventually played the game of totem-pole.  He would try to elevate and then I would get higher until after several minutes of growling and barking he finally broke eye contact and retreated a bit.  I then started to utilize the mop handle.  I lowered myself  back down in a kneeling position and did the same thing with the food putting it in front of me and then moving it between my legs and eventually behind me.  Kessel challenged me for the food again but this time was met with the mop handle in his chest.  I gently kept pushing the mop handle forward to back him away from the fence and the food.  Kessel would bite the mop handle but I never retreated and kept going forward finally making him retreat!

It was as if the light bulb sort of went off for Kessel.  I put the mop handle away and told Kessel to sit which he did.  I then fed him some of the wet food under the fence.  I continued doing this with Kessel where he would get food for every act of submission.  We ended our day on a fantastic note and I felt I had made a real breakthough!

We tried wet food again the next week and I was pleasantly suprised to see Kessel give me space and distance when I was behind the fence.  I used the mop handle again and only had to push him away one time.  After that I made him sit and actually hand fed him throught the fence with him taking the food from me with great respect!  We had made a huge break through so I wanted to minimize his association with the indoor play yards as a negative place.

My next idea was to take him out to the agility yard and hide Kongs filled with food.  I had seen this on an episode of the Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan.  I hid some really odiforrous food treats in the Kongs and hid them on, under and in the agility equipment and tunnels.  It was fun to watch Kessel's nose at work as he "hunted" for the treats!  I would stop him during the game and make him come over and sit and take a treat from me.  We played this game several times over the next couple of months and Kessel became more aware that I was a better source of the food reward then it was to hunt on his own.  I felt that this was progress as he saw me as the provider of resources.

Over the next month we enjoyed Kessel's free spirit and saw no other aggression issues.  We upped his food intake to three cups of food three times a day and this seemed to help his disposition a great deal.  Kessel began to put on some weight and was a happy camper when he was with other dogs.  We moved from Indian Tree in mid October and housed him at another facility.  The yard at this facility was real grass and Kessel loved to run around and roll in the grass every chance he could!

Just this week we moved him to Camp Bow Wow in Northglenn in the hopes of trying to get him more exposure and get him adopted!  Kessel is a very special dog and I enjoyed working with him and his behavior challenges!  If you are interested in adopting Kessel call me or the Northglenn Camp Bow Wow!