Page 16 - Assisi Paw Prints issue 95

News from

THE KENNELS

Storms Story

Since I started at Assisi 5 years ago, I have worked with
dogs of all sizes and shapes, some with behavioural
issues, ranging from simply not liking strangers or other
dogs to guarding or being possessive of toys or food,
handling issues, reactivity, and very occasionally a bite
history. No matter the issue, I give every dog the same
amount of time to settle and get to know me and, by day
2 or 3, we are usually getting along fine and with some,
I have a bond that no one can break, something that is
so special to me and that is why I want to tell you about
Storm.

Storm is a 2-year-old Staffie who arrived at Assisi a year
ago. She came from a private home and unfortunately,
through no fault of her own, Storm had to be rehomed.
She came to us as a very nervous dog, scared of where
she had ended up and so she took a while to come
around to staff and would even growl when being fed
as she was so frightened. After a week or more Storm
started to become a normal young Staffie – hyper,
playful, mouthy, and very loud with her singing voice!
She loved her walks, meeting new people and off lead
exercise in our fields where she would have a toy for
around 3 minutes before it would be in pieces.

Storm was booked by a lovely couple who had a
lot of Staffie experience and, after several visits and
getting to know all about her and what training she was
undergoing, she was able to be rehomed with them.

Unfortunately, in the home, they experienced a different
side to her that we hadn’t seen, and she was returned to
us. She had been very stressed on her walks because
of strangers and dogs passing, children playing out in
street were setting her off from inside the house and a
fish tank with bright lights inside was causing Storm to
get very stressed.

After her return, we really noticed how stressed she had
become, and we started to see different behaviours from
her in the morning and during walks. We immediately
took her to the vet to make sure there wasn’t any
underlying medical problem. Her blood results weren’t
100% and, with advice from our own vet, we consulted
with Earlswood Vets in Belfast. After explaining what we
had experienced they agreed that an MRI would be the
best option as this sounded like Storm was experiencing

16 ISSUE NO. 95 | SPRING / SUMMER 2022