Sunday

OK taking stock:

• She's excellent with Sam, hasn't shown even the smallest bit of aggression towards him.
• She shows no food aggression whatsoever.
• There's no separation anxiety - some whining at first but then she settles in.
• She seems to respond fiercely to cats, which is why our cat is now living upstairs (the stair gate prevents her from going upstairs after her). It's not a situation that can continue indefinitely  our cat loves to be outside and must be able to move freely through the house. Introducing them, and making sure she knows not to chase/attack her, is a priority.
• She's very leash reactive - at first to people as well as dogs and birds and anything that moves. I'm keeping her on very short walks, familiar ground only, as little exposure to the stressors as possible. The behaviour seems to be extinguishing towards people and birds, but not to other dogs (where even great distance elicits a major stress response). Reducing the leash reactivity and making her safe around people and animals is a priority.
• It seems likely that someone tried to train the hunting reflex out of her with a fear/pain stimulus - she showed a lot of lunging/aggression behaviour to the chickens and rabbit over the first few days. I'm working on very short and safe exposures, desensitising her to the chickens and rabbit is a priority. It seems to be working but will take some time to have her safe with the animals in the back yard. I'm certainly not considering letting her loose out back anytime soon...
• The diet is sorted - she is 100% BARF now and will remain so.
• She's hardly been trained at all and there's the language barrier. She has to learn the most common behaviours such as sit, lie down, stay, heel... and/or learn the terminology. Training her in the basics of dog obedience is a priority.
• She does not respond to her name at all, so I've decided to rename her to Ruby. Getting her to respond to her name is a priority.
• She does not make any eye contact with me. That's also a priority, since it's hard to train her without eye contact.
• She is responding to clicker training, but I haven't found the best high value treat for her yet that she will also take from me when outside on the leash. Finding a high value training treat is also a priority.

I'm working on a number of things at the same time. I'm rather disappointed by the leash reactivity, I had hoped she had not been in the shelter long enough to develop major problems, but this could be from before. Thankfully, no separation anxiety!

All in all, this is manageable and should not take many months to convert her to a happy, safe and confident dog. Hopefully, my shoulder will withstand the strain.