Bringing Issy home was a little nerve racking because she was a young dog coming into a home with an old dog. She’s also a rescue who was dumped so we have no idea how she had been treated in the first six months of her life.

Add to that my relative lack of experience, suffice it to say I was a little nervous.

The first challenge was the name.

The shelter had named her Mable when she came in. But they said due to her age and the short length of time she’d been there that name didn’t stick and I could rename her.

I’d always wanted to name a female dog Issy for personal reasons. Short for Isabel so I was happy when they said that and the decision was made.

Ironically the when the handler bought her in I told her this story and she had a little look of shock on her face and said ‘I’ve been calling her Bella!’ so it’s as if it was meant to be.

Although the ladies at the shelter said changing her name would be fine in my mind it’s still a big thing that I have to do to teach her what to do. Well… day 2 👇

So that turned out to be no challenge at all. I’d like to say it’s because she’s just so intelligent but I don’t want to sound like a doting dog Dad.

Aww screw it she’s a Genius there I said it.

I guess it was a bit easier for Issy because she’s so young and very playful all she wanted to do was play.

She was scared of me the first couple weeks but not in a way I couldn’t managed.

This is her just three days after her arrival.

So she had the run of the house and was able to go where she wanted and explore which I think was important.

I did have a bad experience I think a week after she was here and she destroyed some shoes and a TV remote.

I went cranky at her and she absolutely shut down. I don’t mean just got scared and tucked her ears back like she does now when I go cranky (yes she still is naughty sometimes) but ran to another room, to a corner and shook violently.

I gathered her up and took her into the lounge and sat there with her for a few minutes, a few awful minutes.

I did some Googling and learned about Positive Reinforcement which made me change my entire approach to dealing with her and ultimately it’s been far better than I would have done had we not had this terrible experience.

Positive reinforcement while it is an actual technique it made me rethink a lot of how I interact with Issy. One of my favourite resources has been Will Atherton.

So here we are, at the beginning of our new journey. Part two of the greatest Journey I’ve ever embarked on and to say I’m excited is the understatement of the century.