After experiencing an influx of challenging dogs with extensive needs, Forest Dog Rescue, an organisation that has been supporting dogs in Worcestershire for over 40 years, decided to seek support and expert advice and signed up to the мÓÆÂÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½± Academy.
After attending an Academy course, the charity’s staff returned armed with new tools to enrich the care of their dogs. The kennels were reorganised to control admission numbers and create calmer spaces and staff introduced games and agility courses to boost the dogs’ mental stimulation. Other measures included updated behaviour and rehoming evaluations, and specialised trainers were brought on board to provide targeted support to the animals.
These changes directly benefited dogs like Wednesday, a high-energy stray who arrived with challenging behaviours and no training in place. She was destructive in kennels and pulled relentlessly on walks, injuring herself trying to access the stimuli she required. Despite months of struggling to manage Wednesday’s behaviour, time constraints had previously meant she had been receiving little customised training.
However, with intake controlled and staff training now enhanced, Forest Rescue was finally able to dedicate resources to understand and meet Wednesday’s needs. More walks, trick training and off-lead playdates revealed her intelligence. She rapidly improved, learning impulse control and social skills and her kennel destruction ceased, with her energy now being channeled constructively.
In fact, Wednesday became a staff-favourite for enriched one-on-one outings. This special time and attention from staff, a direct result of knowledge gained via мÓÆÂÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±, revealed the sweet companion within the destructive stray. From stressed and understimulated to carefully supervised and fulfilled, Wednesday flourished; and within weeks, her new training and personality led to her finding a loving new home.
