We met Bibi on a sunny afternoon in 2015. Due to a change in life circumstances her owner was no longer able to keep her. We agreed to wait a couple of days before deciding whether or not to adopt her. However, after one look at her cute black and white face we were sold and agreed to pick her up the next day.
We weren’t quite expecting the challenge that followed…Bibi was extremely nervous around both dogs and humans and so our journey began. We kept the first couple of weeks as quiet and calm as possible, slowly introducing her to people and experiences. We decided that it would be useful to contact Simone who works at www.pawsitive.co.uk, not only did she help us identify causes to her nervousness and gave us invaluable training advice, but we also became good friends. The training had a real focus on us as owners and our understanding of Bibi.
There have been many challenges along the way but we know that by following a routine and by trying to prevent Bibi from having to deal with stressful situations (along with a lot of treats) we have a very loving and happy dog (if a little crazy), but we wouldn’t want it any other way.
We have lived in a large London development for nearly 10 years but, like many other people, hardly knew any of our neighbours. We would commute to work, meet friends in town, and go home to sleep or crash out on the sofa over the weekend. With Bibi moving into our flat, and us starting to walk her in green spaces around the development, we soon met lots of other dog owners. We joined a group for dog owners on the development and soon developed a large group of dog friends.
We now feel truly at home and part of a community that helps each other. Whenever we walk to the train station, we leave an additional 10 minutes as walking through the development we always bump into familiar faces and stop for a chat.
When we adopted a dog, we could have never expected to not only gain a furry family member but also make lots of friends.
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