Scraggles

From scared pup to confident leader

Scraggles, a little yorkshire terrier, was a very scared pup when he first came in, nervous to interact with the behaviour team.   

Behaviourist Kirsty explains “I went in day after day and sat with him quietly doing my language app, teaching both me and him German! On the fourth day, Scraggles gained enough trust to come up to me.” 

The pair started a new routine of slowly increasing Scraggles' confidence when walking outside. As the days progressed, he was able to venture further and go on longer walks in the surrounding countryside.  

Still, Scraggles was cautious when meeting new people. Knowing that he liked to be in the company of other dogs, the Behaviour team would meet at a bench with a dog each and simply sit and chat. Scraggles would relax with the dog, and then feel comfortable enough to approach the new person to say hello.

Helping other dogs on their adoption journey

With all the positive development that Scraggles was doing he became quite the leader with other dogs. He helped those who used to be the same as him - nervous to interact with people and go on walks.  

Henry, another terrier who was fearful of going out, started to go for longer walks when accompanied by Scraggles. Frost, a shih tzu, was found to be able to live with other dogs because of how well she interacted with Scraggles, who accompanied her on her first ever walk off site. 

At BCDH, all dogs are assessed meeting both a female and male dog to see who they get along with and what home might be best for them. Scraggles became one of the dogs that others would meet for their assessment simply because of how ‘loose’ and friendly he was with other dogs. Scraggles helped other dogs out more than anyone could have thought.  

Now Scraggles has been adopted and is doing well in his new home, bringing joy to those around him, leaving a legacy of happy rescue dogs behind him!