My Dog - Pica

My dog Pica is from Pico Island in The Azores. So, I gave her the female version of the island’s name.

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I was there on a blue shark tagging project with a group of people and Pica was opposite our villa, chained up and skinny. She was just a doorbell, owned by an alcoholic whose previous dog had died of neglect. The local restaurant, who knew about her predicament, were translating messages back and forth for me and eventually I bought her from the owner, got her checked over with the local vet and then re-homed her at the local rescue centre., whilst I made arrangements to bring her back to England.

 

Three months later,  I collected her from Heathrow Animal Reception Centre. At this point in time she was a feral dog and I clearly had a lot of hard work ahead of me.

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She suffered with extreme ‘fear aggression’ towards dogs, but once she knew the dog and knew it wasn’t a threat to her, she was fine. I had a dog walking business at the time and slowly blended her in with my dogs, although dogs walking with other owners still presented a problem. There were ‘eureka’ moments at 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months, but it was a year before I could really relax and enjoy her. She would not go near any water or even paddle in a stream when she first came over and now she crashes into white water as you can see above.

 

I have had her for 10 years now and she has been a wonderful and devoted soul mate for those years, bringing me huge amounts of joy and seeing me through the death of my parents. Last April, she gained the Kennel Club’s Good Citizen Scheme Gold Award. This is not an easy exam to pass and amongst other disciplines, she had to master the Emergency Stop! Not bad for an emaciated, dusty, fear aggressive, chained up mutt!. Colin Goff was the examiner who passed her and when I phoned him from The Azores in a state, asking if I should bring this dog over, (as I was training with him at the time) he advised me not to. In those first few months I was wishing that I had listened to Colin but after a very hard first year, I have been rewarded many times over.

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It was very fitting that Colin was the examiner for her Gold Award and passed this once feral dog. So, Pica’s story has come full circle and I am very lucky to have her and for my parents to have enjoyed such a wonderful dog in their twilight years.

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For more information about me or my one-to-one training services, get in touch today.