12/04/2026
A picture I've been working towards for the past 3 months 📸....
I've been taking Luna out since January and anyone that follows my stories will know how anxious she was when she started with me. She had an unfortunate start to life - didnt leave the house for the first 6/7 months, missed out on a lot of key social skills in that time and also developed a lot of anxiety towards the outside world. I received a message from her owner explaining all of the above and that she just wanted to see Luna at ease with the world. I knew I had my hands full but I put a plan in place.
Step 1 was making her comfortable with me. We got her in for some solo walks to build her confidence up and to show her being outside isnt scary at all. Her first two walks she was reactive to almost every sound she heard and didnt move too far from my legs. The more walks i done the more independent she was getting, leaving my space to explore herself and becoming less reactive to noises, and after a couple more walks i knew she was ready for step 2.
Step 2 was making her comfortable with dogs. Lunas owner had told me she would go on the park and ignore all other dogs and it was quite concerning. This was because the environment was all wrong for a dog that has serious anxiety, too much going on and it was shutting her down. I picked Ron one of our spaniels to join Luna on her weekly walk, mainly because of his independance and confident personality which i was hoping would rub off on Luna. It took about 20 minutes for Luna to even acknowledge him, but once she did they get on like a house on fire and i knew we was getting somewhere 🔥
Step 3 was integrating her into a full pack. We'd put everything in place for her to go and thrive in a pack environment and she done exactly that 🤝. Watching her now in a pack of dogs to the one i took out in January is honestly like watching two different dogs and something i am proud of which i dont say often 😂 She still has major anxiety towards gates and doors, but were working on it and i wont be surprised if that is also a thing of the past in the next few weeks 🤞
Well done Luna and thanks to all my other dogs for helping us out 😎💙