When Percy was 8 months old, he was left with a friend of the owner’s for a bit. During those few hours, the friend decided it would be fun to have him chase a laser pointer. What they didn’t know was that Bull Terriers often have Canine Compulsion Disorder in their genes; and that having them chase a laser pointer, will trigger it. For the next 3 days, poor sweet Percy began to chase shadows obsessively, nonstop and to the point of exhaustion.
Lucky for him, his owners put a stop to anymore engagements with a laser pointer and worked towards managing his compulsions through positive engagement and by limiting his stressors. Now at a year and a half, he is able to be redirected out of the activity whenever it presents in his behavior. That being said, this is not something that will ever go away. You can’t cure CCD. You can only make it worse or manage it for the life of the pet.
Percy’s other issue seems a behavioral one. We say “seems,” because its quite common for behaviors to be handed down through bad breeding or genetics. Percy has stranger danger. This means he is very uncomfortable with new people and will stand and bark when given attention by them. That being said, he’s never bitten anyone, and with a calm, calculated approach where he’s given time and space to get comfortable, Percy can and will trust new people.
But Percy’s disorder and behavioral issue are not why he was surrendered to the Bull Terrier Rescue Mission. Percy grew up in an exciting home, with chickens, and young children, and two other dogs. One is a female bull terrier that’s a few months younger than him and the other is a cattle dog mix that is 8 years old.
For whatever reason, the cattle dog never really liked Percy much and always seemed to bully him. This was never addressed; and as Percy matured, he started getting hurt more and more until one day he’d had enough and fought back. At that point, the owners felt that it was not a good environment for Percy, or the other dogs or the family, and that it would be best to find a home for him that didn’t include his very own canine nemesis.
If you would like to find out more about Percy, please contact us at [email protected] or follow his story on Facebook.
Percy is currently in need of a forever-home. Please read more about Percy here…
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