Our clients Nathalie and Mike were excited about sharing their life with dogs and adopted rescue beagles, Kez and Suki, who packed an energetic punch, joining Nathalie on hikes and outdoor adventures. Sadly, Kez passed away sooner than expected. While Nathalie and Mike grieved her loss, they kept an open heart and felt ready to adopt another dog after two years.
Nathalie discovered Rescue Dogs Lebanon-Canada, a Canadian rescue agency that helped dogs from Lebanon get adopted. Nathalie was impressed by their work helping dogs who were abandoned, neglected, ill, and left to fend for themselves.
Nathalie was drawn to Yin – a large, black, mixed-breed who was hairless from a bad case of mange. Something about this “ugly” dog spoke to her – his gentle demeanor playing with a smaller dog, his soulful eyes, his kindness despite the suffering he’d endured. But there was a catch – Yin had a friend: a shepherd mix named Oreo. Nathalie applied to foster Oreo along with adopting Yin. Just days after the dogs’ arrival in Canada, Nathalie and Mike decided to keep Oreo as well.
We wish that the fairy tale ended there, but regrettably, Nathalie was soon after diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. The dogs had to take a back seat as Nathalie went through surgery and treatment, wrestling with a life-threatening diagnosis and feeling guilty for having to neglect the dogs.
Luckily, Nathalie made a full recovery and was eager to return to her dogs. But they were now manifesting a range of behavior issues. While generally calm and affectionate, Yin was nervous, leash reactive, and drank and peed excessively, with no medical reasons found. Oreo was friendly and goofy but easily excitable, barked any time the other dogs moved, and was difficult at the vet.
Nathalie felt a lack of real connection with their dogs and guilt at seeing them reactive and nervous as opposed to happy and relaxed. She dealt with it as best as she could with what she knew – heavy exercise, food rewards, and avoiding sources of reactivity. But she was looking for a training method that would go beyond obedience and not involve corrections and tools that hurt her dogs. She finally came across The Way of Life Method and promptly signed up for our programs. Slowly but surely, things started to make sense and the dogs began to change.
A year into their new way of life, Yin is now steady, thoughtful, and no longer reactive. He no longer drinks and pees excessively, because the stress that caused this behavior is now gone. Oreo no longer barks at the other dogs. He is more responsive when out and about and a little easier to handle at the vet.
