Young Stilton (now approaching 10 months) is doing wonderfully, and developing a very clear, funny character. He is going through a period of heightened sensitivity to noises and smells, which is really interesting. The last couple of walks OH has taken him on have covered some of the same ground, and there have been a couple of gateways where Stilton showed a marked startle response - listening on high alert, then tail tucked running away from something that OH couldn't identify to begin with. They both did brilliantly, with OH moving them away from the spot and directing Stilton 'this way!' with arm directions so he could run it out, rather than trying to recall him when he wouldn't have been able to listen. Then having a good few shake offs and some squiggling before carrying on.
Anyway, this morning we listened really hard at the gateways and realised that very faintly you can hear a lambing shed on the opposite hill - lambs calling and ewes answering. It's a windy spot and our human ears can barely hear it, but for Stilly it's a completely new noise and obviously quite scary for him. I'm going to try very gently doing some desensitisation with him, with very quiet, short recordings of lambs and ewes while we play some fun games. We'll see how it goes, but I'm glad we've worked out what the trigger was.
Anyway, this morning we listened really hard at the gateways and realised that very faintly you can hear a lambing shed on the opposite hill - lambs calling and ewes answering. It's a windy spot and our human ears can barely hear it, but for Stilly it's a completely new noise and obviously quite scary for him. I'm going to try very gently doing some desensitisation with him, with very quiet, short recordings of lambs and ewes while we play some fun games. We'll see how it goes, but I'm glad we've worked out what the trigger was.
