Ex Shelter Dogs Giving Back Helping Anti Social Shelter Dogs | #germanshepherd #mastiff #kelpie

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Our last Shelter Dog Day we tried something a little different. There’s been a few weeks the shelter haven’t been able to make it to the farm, they’re very busy and their priority is always saving animals plus resources aren’t always available, but when they can make it, we’ve been trialling a few different ways of best making use of the day from our end.

The shelter will turn up with a handful of wonderful staff and volunteers, who are able to exercise the dogs in the available paddocks or playground.

Behind the scenes we’ve been trialing different training strategies… boot camp style, focused training on certain issues, expanding social circles, formal assessments etc etc. Trying to work out how we (as in Luke personally) can best help some of the dogs, beyond simply offering the farm for the day as a place to run free and play outside of the kennels.

Short term training can work for some dogs. In those situations is just proof that with a little guidance, this dog can overcome whatever issues are presenting as possible barriers for adoption.

Our long termers we have here at the farm are in a different category. Short term training style techniques would not be of benefit for them.

But for a dog like Rover here, it’s of great benefit.

Hoping you all might remember Rover’s story.

He was a adopted out as a young puppy from the shelter. He then was rehomed again. And then finally surrendered a few weeks ago at the young age of one with the recommendation to be euthanised for aggression.

Dee contacted us. She felt like she’d let this guy down. Normal response for a person like Dee. Always thinking how can I or how could I have done more for this animal? Well, Dee does far greater than the average person’s share when it comes to animal welfare. Her whole life is devoted to it. Her health and everything else takes a back seat to the welfare of any animal she comes across.

So … when Dee said she needed to help this dog and she refused to accept the euthanasia request, we wanted to see how we could help.

Firstly, Luke did a formal assessment on Rover. A boot camp session over about an hour. Then some further testing with dogs. He identified that of the shelter dogs there on the day, Winnie was the best fit to give Rover a positive social experience/interaction. It went better than expected. They got along perfectly and played so well. Winnie was also a dog that was not able to be socialised with other dogs. There is a video of all of this.

But fast forward to this week. We’d been thinking about the dogs like Rover and Winnie. Dogs that had been categorised as anti social. In Rover’s case, aggressive. Knowing that with just a little training and then some positive guided socialisation they could prove that they were not those kind of dogs that they had been labelled. That actually, they want to be very social dogs. Perhaps this could not only help them finding a suitable home, but it could even benefit them by simply being able to be rehomed into home with other dogs. A social life, as opposed to a life with no other dogs.

This is a long introduction but I wanted to share our thinking.

So long story short … the exercise went INCREDIBLY!

I actually got really emotional off camera.

Why? It wasn’t just the fact that this was something big for a dog like Rover. We’re pack living people so we love seeing a dog living a social life, a dog that is social inclined that is. Most dogs are, definitely some are not. Rover is one.

But it was also emotional, this light bulb moment. This big pack of farm dogs, misfits themselves, colourful pasts, some that had lived a lot worse situations than Rover … are here together and can help a dog like Rover.

Technically, they’re all now responsive, positive, social dogs. You need that for a dog like Rover to learn that dogs aren’t threatening. But emotionally, they are different … they’re incredibly and uniquely accepting of a dog like Rover. They’ve been there, done that. They don’t care that he’s socially awkward. They want to play with him anyway and happy for him to join the pack.

Since this day, Luke and I recorded a video of us discussing the uniqueness of this situation and how it differs to our Therapy Days. I’ll post it soon.

Anyway, it was just a truly amazing experience for Rover and for us humans.

Hopefully Rover can be seen for the social dog he is. Sure, he’s still a rookie in terms of social experiences. He’s not going to do well in a home with a younger dog. Because he’s not the well experienced one yet. The pup will learn from Rover. Rover needs his own more socially experienced dog/s to be his pack. He’s also likely been homed previously with a dog that was anxious or shy or something of that category. A dog that had their own issues that were not being positively addressed. Not a good situation again for Rover. He needs to go to a home with well balanced dogs.

Rover is up for adoption. He is an incredibly sweet dog both to humans & DOGS.

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31 thoughts on “Ex Shelter Dogs Giving Back Helping Anti Social Shelter Dogs | #germanshepherd #mastiff #kelpie”

  3. I loved the way Miss Red just went right over to Rover! It’s like she was saying “ Hi, you’re new! Let me show you how we play here”😂. Shadow is so sweet and hilarious barking at the birds😂. I think Rover was amazing. More work to do, but he will be a great dog for someone. Thank you Luke and Sam. Your videos always make my day🐾❤️

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  5. And so you should be VERY proud of your beautiful gentle pack now giving back to newbies that walk through that very “special “ gate of yours into THE FARM , I call it doggie heaven . Yes all our hearts 💕 melted when he started zoomies & then felt so safe he could just be happy & play , bless 🐶 changing one dogs life at a time once again , Thankyou Luke & Sam ❤👫🏼

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  11. Rover has that look in his eyes that I have seen in the shelter dogs before – ‘human can I trust you to be good to me for ever’
    All he wants is some guidance and be loved and have some fun. I cannot it believe that he was about to be euthanised. Thank you Dee you should be anointed as a saint of unwanted animals 🙏🏼💕 Also a big thank you to Sam and Luke for your compassion and love of dogs and what you have done for these unwanted dogs.
    Roscoe is the one in a million- does what he wants. So glad he is yours Luke and Sam and the Evans family. I can’t imagine him being cooped up in a domestic house with a 6 ft fence – ‘not happy Jan’. Glad he is yours and is safe and loved 🐅 ❤️

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  12. Luke certainly read Rover correctly. He worked it all out so that Rover was shown to just need some caring and instruction. Rover has the patience of a Saint as even I would have taken a nip at Miss Red before it was all over. But he played very well with the others once he understood what was allowed and expected. He was so thrilled to be off lead and allowed to run until he dropped. He appeared to be taken with Shadow. Thank you Luke, for proving once again, this was not a dog that needed to be euthanized. So wish there were many more like you, that could see the good hiding inside so many dogs. Love you all!! 🐾🐾💜❤🏃‍♂🚶‍♂🐶🐕🐩🐕‍🦺🥰

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  13. Rover did really well getting acclimated with all the other dogs. It looked to me as though he kind of avoided the bigger, older, more serious dogs. It looks like he got on pretty well with Shadow. Although it wore me out just watching Rover running off all that pent up energy. I loved seeing Hope, at the end of the video, relaxing amidst the other dogs, and not hanging back alone.

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  16. I just watched this for the third time, focussing on Freddo. He is such a treasure. He was absolutely in 2IC mode – me and dad, we’ve got this – only stepping aside from the role when there was a tennis ball being thrown. So special.

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  17. Took me 3 days to watch this due to a crazy weekend so have forgotten the beginning..lol
    So good to see Rover being able to just be himself among the calm pack. He's a beautiful boy.
    Shadow being the bird hunter and her daughters running and running living their best life. Seems their stamina has increased significantly. Hope being so sweet and loving her cuddles from Sam.
    Loved the whole video.
    Thank you.
    💜🐶❤️

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  19. I hope you all are getting just the amount of rain that you need. It is so beautiful and so green. Of course, your summer is coming. Where I live in the US we are in “extreme drought” conditions. I’m not commenting for negative connotations, it is just so beautiful to see rain. A blessing from above. We actually had some last week and hopefully some more in two days time. not only is the sight of rain boosting my morale, but all of the wonderful dog adventures certainly are uplifting.

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  20. Just a comment on the great undergrowth you guys are growing. Not you personally, but in the paddocks and play area and so forth. I know it's Luke's inner Navy Seal to want to flamethrower all the 'weeds' he keeps spotting, but I hope you'll consider letting it grow. You don't need to keep that neat-manicured-lawn look now that daycare is no longer running and I've noticed how much the dogs love the long grass.

    In that same vein, I kept meaning to say to you that I'd noticed a weird pack thing happening with the Bush Grass Buffet. There's that spot that they all stop at, up in the bush, and I noticed from WAY back that although the grass wasn't very long then, several of the dogs would attempt to have a good snack on it. It caught my eye because i know dogs are supposed to eat grass when they feel poorly or have an upset stomach, but I noticed that this was a regular thing and so I started watching out for it. I became aware that slowly but surely more of the dogs were eating the grass, including daycare dogs. I thought this was quite funny, as they were obviously copying the behaviour.

    Well, now we have a more or less fixed pack, and that grass is SERIOUSLY tall nowadays, but I've noticed that EVERY SINGLE DOG stops there now, and with deliberation eats the grass. They literally do it as if it is a pack ritual – 'Here is the Bush Grass Buffet – we must eat". It really tickles me that you are sort of seeing a wolf pack follow its primeval instinct – pack says we eat grass here, so we eat grass. Recently I've also been wondering who is the matriarch in the pack. Wolves have one and I wondered if that instinct was still in the dogs. I thought, if it's anyone, it's Joey. Now I have a new obsession, watching for matriarch behaviour…..

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  21. Good boy, Rover. Hopes and prayers for a forever home out there for you. 🙏🏼🙏🏼❤❤👍👍 Great job, ex shelter dogs and thanks to Uncle Luke and Aunty Sam. ❤❤ Run, Rover, Run! Good job, boy. 👍👍 Good girl, Hope. Going to Aunty Sam for some love and attention. You are so learning to trust. Good girl. 👍👍❤❤

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  23. Many years ago my dogs and I passed a big scary mastiff barking at us from the other side of a gate, but when she jumped up on it, it sprang open, and she turned and ran for her life with her tail between her legs, it was so funny.

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