We first noticed that Baggins had bouts of lameness as a puppy. Unfortunately, he had to stop training with us shortly after his first birthday.
Soon afterwards, an orthopaedic vet found Baggins had problems with his right elbow that needed surgery. A year later the vet repeated the procedure. With long term pain relief medication and hydrotherapy, Baggins’ post-operative condition stabilised, but we recognised he would always need careful management.
The problem was Baggins was also often boisterous, which made managing his health condition hard work! He would jump up at people, get on furniture, and take things in the home – even opening drawers to get items.
To help manage this, and to help us make him ready for rehoming, we worked with Baggins at one of our training centres. The aim was to channel his intelligence and high energy into different behaviours. For example, to address his habit of jumping up at people, we taught Baggins to sit on his bed when someone entered his kennel. We also taught him loose lead walking and to target objects to his left or right with his nose when asked.
After all this work, a full 18 months after he had left his guide dog training, we found Baggins his new home with a qualified vet.
We met Baggins for the first time in Daniella's office where he subsequently caused chaos and we fell in love!
It was a perfect match. Baggins’ new owner also cares for Basil, a border terrier who has a foreleg deformity and can’t walk long distances, just like Baggins.
Our rehomer has also been able to manage Baggins’ long-term condition through various forms of medication, physiotherapy, and hydrotherapy.
