Lessons from Winston: pulling clothes off the line

Winston was a rescue bullmastiff mix from the Animal Welfare League Hawkesbury Valley Branch. My inspiration to learn how to train dogs, the reason we moved to this property, my teacher, my partner and my bubba-boy. Handsome until the very end. . Our lives revolved around him for 13 years. He passed peacefully at home on Saturday 17th April 2021 at approximately midday.

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Ah Facebook memories…

Ah Facebook memories. I remember the frustration we felt. I mean, we were also really lucky he didn’t chew anything. He just lay on it like a nest – especially Dean’s socks!

We tried Tabasco sauce on an old towel to discourage it. Turned out he liked Tabasco, and that did make him chew the towel!

What worked was an adjustment to our routine, training, and consistency. We only hung clothes if we could be home to supervise, we taught him “leave it”, and we followed through to set him up for success & build trust.