A magical connection
When a special dog and a special adopter find each other and it is magical! And this is part of Ace’s story.
Found alone in a supermarket car park, Ace was a healthy young dog with plenty of energy and zest for life. He did, however, have little control over his excitement and frustration levels and was very under-socialised with other dogs.
He was so sensitive, even laughing around him wound up his excitement levels too much and he would jump up and body-slam you.
Being a muscly 33kg he needed some behaviour training to help him cope better in arousing situations and be more manageable for potential adopters.
He was well-loved by the behaviour and carer teams, as he was keen to train and gave great cuddles! In the time he was with us at BCDH he learnt
• To go from bouncing at the end of the lead when a dog walked past to being able to stand and watch
• To go from grabbing at anything you picked up to sitting politely for a toy
• Went from pacing around the paddocks to coming in for a cuddle and quiet time
• Went from pulling towards people to say a jumping up hello, to greeting nicely
• Went from spinning around the kennel as you put his harness on, to standing still on command
• More self control, to wait and to listen (and get belly rubs!).
Despite all his achievements, we understood that Ace was still a lot of dog to adopt and he remained overlooked for just over a year. But it only takes one person, and that person was Sam.
Sam had adopted from us before, including taking on an incredibly nervous husky cross over 10 years ago. When she died, he came back to us to see if we had any dogs that would fit into his home and particularly one who had been overlooked, and we suggested Ace.
For the boys, it was love at first sight.
Our team spent time with them both to show Sam how they handled Ace and his over-excitement, his triggers and tells, so his training was consistent.
The walks we had along with his dog Kaya however, were more difficult as Ace was over-excited. It required an intense program of meetings and careful observations - multiple blankets scent-swapped and 7 long parallel walks. As soon as these distance walks became normal for Ace, we took him a step closer, working towards a greeting.
Ace’s growing bond with Sam meant he was very responsive to him (sometimes even at the expense of ignoring his long-term carer!), and Kaya was a patient and good influence on Ace. We could see the start of a good friendship.
When we got to the stage of them being off-lead together in a paddock, Ace was behaving really well, and Kaya could read Ace easily - knowing when to approach and when to calm things down. She has clear doggie body language and Ace was listening to her - we all felt that it was a great match and Ace was ready to be adopted.
“To see Ace change over the months and accomplish so much was incredible, but to see him go home to the most perfect home was the cherry on top, I couldn't be happier and I am so grateful for Sam adopting him.” Ace’s carer Jodie.
Kaya and Ace at home - "Thank you for all the hard work the BCDH team do rescuing animals, they bring so much joy and are a privilege to share a life with." Adopter Sam.