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MEET OLIVIA
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More about me
Please read the dogs profile before applying. Only applications that meet the dog's needs will be considered.
All our dogs will be neutered/spayed, vaccinated and microchipped.
Age - around 3 years old
Dogs - No, Oliva is dog reactive
Kids - Unassessed
Cats - Unassessed
More about me... Olivia was found tied up to a lamppost and came to ourselves via the pound.
Olivia is such a sweet girl, she is a joy to be around and a firm favourite. Olivia is so affectionate and loves nothing more than showering you with kisses and lying on your lap, when Olivia arrived she didn't know how to play with toys and now she loves nothing more than running about with toys, she is such good fun!
Update July 2024 - Olivia has went into a temporary foster home were she has had her eye removed, she is recovering very well and taking everything in her stride, an update from her foster mum below:
Olivia is one of the most trainable dogs I’ve ever met. Here it goes - a brief summary of so far this week! Bear in mind it’s only been a week and she’s also recovering from having her eye removed at the same time.
✨She’s learned not to charge through doors,
✨she’s learned “off” when her big paws land on the kitchen counter snuffling for food,
✨she’s learned her crate is a comfy cosy place, ✨she’s had visitors, big smooches for her rescue aunties
✨she’s coped with being left for up to an hour, she’s been clean and non-destructive,
✨she’s learned so many new tricks, (dance performance coming soon 🤣)
✨she’s learning to engage when low-medium level distractions are present
✨She’s learned to jump in and out of the car without being scared
✨She’s learned to tell me when she needs the toilet, usually she’ll hit me with her paw or she’ll go to the door
✨ she’s learned not to mug me for food 😆 and that’s big one! She had no manners around food and so far she’s had a pizza and a cake to herself 🤣
We have arranged for a behaviourist to meet Olivia re her reactivity with dogs, any home would have our full support with behaviourists.
Update Feb 2024 - Olivia had a few days break from Kennels with one off our volunteers, Olivia was very calm in the house and settled well, she was able to take herself off to her bed and also loved snuggles on the couch. She loves traveling in the car. Olivia is for the most toilet trained and at night time she was clean and very settled in her bed. Olivia really enjoyed the garden and secure fields, as Olivia is dog reactive she needs a quiet secure garden to help her unwind and decompress from Kennels and what she has been through in her short life, Olivia loved meeting visitors and absolutely loves people. Olivia is such a friendly and sweet natured girl, who will thrive in a home environment.
Update Mar 2024 - Olivia has had another break from the kennels with Fraser - this was for 3 weeks
Olivia was a dream to have stay with me for the last couple weeks. Initially she just wanted to sleep a lot.
She was very easy going and relaxed in the house, wanting to get comfy and cuddle up beside me. However, I didn’t take long for her to come out her shell. Olivia has an amazing happy-go-lucky side to her, wagging her tail a lot, which really made me smile. I believe she would add a lot of joy to any household.
She loves her food, which makes training her a lot easier because she will be super focused if you have a tasty treat in hand. However, she maybe loves her food a bit too much at times because she will literally eat anything. Therefore, you need to be careful when you’re walking her that she is not trying to eat anything she shouldn’t be. She really enjoys her kong ball or a bone while I’m eating. It keeps her entertained and stops her from begging too much. Initially, jumping up on the counters was an issue but with consistency she was quick to learn that it wasn’t appropriate. After the first week of having her, she had pretty much stopped entirely.
It will be important to be very consistent with Olivia, doing regular obedience training with lots of positive reinforcement. She does have a strong head and won’t always want to listen to you. That’s why consistency will be key. If you are patient with her and use lots of praise, then she will start to trust you and that will make the whole training process a lot smoother. She needs to know that she is safe and loved even if she makes a mistake. If you can give her this then it will make her want to engage so much more. It also helps to reinforce with lots of treats seeing as she is very food motivated. Generally, her leash walking was great. She doesn’t pull at all, unless she is scared or very interested in something. Sometimes she shows that she is scared and starts to cower and walk very low to the ground past whatever she is unsure about. It’s important to remain calm and use praise in this situation to show her there is no threat and she is a brave girl. She can also be quite picky about the weather before going out for a walk.
Olivia quickly won the hearts of the people that met her. She is a very affectionate dog that likes to be close to her people. However, she can be unsure about new people coming into her home. Given time she is able to relax and become more comfortable around them. She never shows any aggression towards them though, it’s more fear and insecurity.
I was amazed at how adaptable Olivia was. She quickly picked up new tricks and developed a sound understanding of her environment and how to appropriately interact with it. Despite being under socialised, she was able to adjust and become confident in her new environment very quickly. She quickly went from wanting to walk very closely beside me around the fields to out at the end of the long line, bouncing through the grass with a smile on her face. Olivia has no problems during the night and will sleep soundly until morning. Olivia does have reactivity issues with other dogs/animals. I believe this is rooted in fear/insecurity because she is not a very aggressive dog. She only had one episode of barking at cows while staying with me. However, through gradual exposure from a distance she became a lot more comfortable around them. We didn’t meet any other dogs on any of her walks but when she was at the vets with lots of dogs around her, she didn’t bark once or get overly reactive. She will chase birds though, and if she sees a rabbit, hold on very tightly to the lead.
Olivia really is a special dog. She will make a great addition to any household and will show unwavering loyalty and dedication to any owner that is willing to build a strong relationship with her.
Training
For recall – I found she responded better to ‘here’ than ‘come’. Also, I shortened her name to ‘Liv’ when calling her just because it was quicker and snappier.
Done lots of work on impulse control, which utilised the ‘wait’ command. Initially she wasn’t great at all and would struggle to sit and wait when I was using treats in front on her. Now I can drop a treat on the ground in front of her and she will stay seated until I release her. She is also great at sitting and patiently waiting for her food.
New commands she also learnt was ‘down’, ‘place’, ‘paw’ and ‘look’. I used ‘look’ to build engagement with her and get her looking at me in the eyes. This can be useful to get her attention if she gets fixated on. She also learnt ‘leave it’ because she will try eat horse poo on the road. This will need to be heavily reinforced though with lots of praise because she does really want to go for it.
Olivia will happily go into her crate, however, more training will be required to extend the duration that she is comfortable in there.
I aimed to build Olivia’s confidence by gradually exposing her to different environments and objects. For example, I got her to come and stand in the water of a shallow burn and hop over a log. She was fearful and avoidant at first but with patience and lots of reinforcement she overcame it very quickly.
Type of home needed …
Bullbreed experienced home
No - Teens +
No - other dogs in the home
Secure Garden
All our dogs will be neutered/spayed, vaccinated and microchipped.
Age - around 3 years old
Dogs - No, Oliva is dog reactive
Kids - Unassessed
Cats - Unassessed
More about me... Olivia was found tied up to a lamppost and came to ourselves via the pound.
Olivia is such a sweet girl, she is a joy to be around and a firm favourite. Olivia is so affectionate and loves nothing more than showering you with kisses and lying on your lap, when Olivia arrived she didn't know how to play with toys and now she loves nothing more than running about with toys, she is such good fun!
Update July 2024 - Olivia has went into a temporary foster home were she has had her eye removed, she is recovering very well and taking everything in her stride, an update from her foster mum below:
Olivia is one of the most trainable dogs I’ve ever met. Here it goes - a brief summary of so far this week! Bear in mind it’s only been a week and she’s also recovering from having her eye removed at the same time.
✨She’s learned not to charge through doors,
✨she’s learned “off” when her big paws land on the kitchen counter snuffling for food,
✨she’s learned her crate is a comfy cosy place, ✨she’s had visitors, big smooches for her rescue aunties
✨she’s coped with being left for up to an hour, she’s been clean and non-destructive,
✨she’s learned so many new tricks, (dance performance coming soon 🤣)
✨she’s learning to engage when low-medium level distractions are present
✨She’s learned to jump in and out of the car without being scared
✨She’s learned to tell me when she needs the toilet, usually she’ll hit me with her paw or she’ll go to the door
✨ she’s learned not to mug me for food 😆 and that’s big one! She had no manners around food and so far she’s had a pizza and a cake to herself 🤣
We have arranged for a behaviourist to meet Olivia re her reactivity with dogs, any home would have our full support with behaviourists.
Update Feb 2024 - Olivia had a few days break from Kennels with one off our volunteers, Olivia was very calm in the house and settled well, she was able to take herself off to her bed and also loved snuggles on the couch. She loves traveling in the car. Olivia is for the most toilet trained and at night time she was clean and very settled in her bed. Olivia really enjoyed the garden and secure fields, as Olivia is dog reactive she needs a quiet secure garden to help her unwind and decompress from Kennels and what she has been through in her short life, Olivia loved meeting visitors and absolutely loves people. Olivia is such a friendly and sweet natured girl, who will thrive in a home environment.
Update Mar 2024 - Olivia has had another break from the kennels with Fraser - this was for 3 weeks
Olivia was a dream to have stay with me for the last couple weeks. Initially she just wanted to sleep a lot.
She was very easy going and relaxed in the house, wanting to get comfy and cuddle up beside me. However, I didn’t take long for her to come out her shell. Olivia has an amazing happy-go-lucky side to her, wagging her tail a lot, which really made me smile. I believe she would add a lot of joy to any household.
She loves her food, which makes training her a lot easier because she will be super focused if you have a tasty treat in hand. However, she maybe loves her food a bit too much at times because she will literally eat anything. Therefore, you need to be careful when you’re walking her that she is not trying to eat anything she shouldn’t be. She really enjoys her kong ball or a bone while I’m eating. It keeps her entertained and stops her from begging too much. Initially, jumping up on the counters was an issue but with consistency she was quick to learn that it wasn’t appropriate. After the first week of having her, she had pretty much stopped entirely.
It will be important to be very consistent with Olivia, doing regular obedience training with lots of positive reinforcement. She does have a strong head and won’t always want to listen to you. That’s why consistency will be key. If you are patient with her and use lots of praise, then she will start to trust you and that will make the whole training process a lot smoother. She needs to know that she is safe and loved even if she makes a mistake. If you can give her this then it will make her want to engage so much more. It also helps to reinforce with lots of treats seeing as she is very food motivated. Generally, her leash walking was great. She doesn’t pull at all, unless she is scared or very interested in something. Sometimes she shows that she is scared and starts to cower and walk very low to the ground past whatever she is unsure about. It’s important to remain calm and use praise in this situation to show her there is no threat and she is a brave girl. She can also be quite picky about the weather before going out for a walk.
Olivia quickly won the hearts of the people that met her. She is a very affectionate dog that likes to be close to her people. However, she can be unsure about new people coming into her home. Given time she is able to relax and become more comfortable around them. She never shows any aggression towards them though, it’s more fear and insecurity.
I was amazed at how adaptable Olivia was. She quickly picked up new tricks and developed a sound understanding of her environment and how to appropriately interact with it. Despite being under socialised, she was able to adjust and become confident in her new environment very quickly. She quickly went from wanting to walk very closely beside me around the fields to out at the end of the long line, bouncing through the grass with a smile on her face. Olivia has no problems during the night and will sleep soundly until morning. Olivia does have reactivity issues with other dogs/animals. I believe this is rooted in fear/insecurity because she is not a very aggressive dog. She only had one episode of barking at cows while staying with me. However, through gradual exposure from a distance she became a lot more comfortable around them. We didn’t meet any other dogs on any of her walks but when she was at the vets with lots of dogs around her, she didn’t bark once or get overly reactive. She will chase birds though, and if she sees a rabbit, hold on very tightly to the lead.
Olivia really is a special dog. She will make a great addition to any household and will show unwavering loyalty and dedication to any owner that is willing to build a strong relationship with her.
Training
For recall – I found she responded better to ‘here’ than ‘come’. Also, I shortened her name to ‘Liv’ when calling her just because it was quicker and snappier.
Done lots of work on impulse control, which utilised the ‘wait’ command. Initially she wasn’t great at all and would struggle to sit and wait when I was using treats in front on her. Now I can drop a treat on the ground in front of her and she will stay seated until I release her. She is also great at sitting and patiently waiting for her food.
New commands she also learnt was ‘down’, ‘place’, ‘paw’ and ‘look’. I used ‘look’ to build engagement with her and get her looking at me in the eyes. This can be useful to get her attention if she gets fixated on. She also learnt ‘leave it’ because she will try eat horse poo on the road. This will need to be heavily reinforced though with lots of praise because she does really want to go for it.
Olivia will happily go into her crate, however, more training will be required to extend the duration that she is comfortable in there.
I aimed to build Olivia’s confidence by gradually exposing her to different environments and objects. For example, I got her to come and stand in the water of a shallow burn and hop over a log. She was fearful and avoidant at first but with patience and lots of reinforcement she overcame it very quickly.
Type of home needed …
Bullbreed experienced home
No - Teens +
No - other dogs in the home
Secure Garden
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