Tequila´s Story

Elaine and Tequila working a junction

Elaine and Tequila are part of the Mantrailing UK team. They have been trailing for about 1 year. This is Tequila´s story, told by Elaine.

Back in 2014 I was contacted by a rescue to ask if I would foster a Dobermann bitch that was possibly pregnant, of course I said yes. Tequila arrived one wet dark night in November confused, scared and for the first few hours wanted to kill Kazo! She soon realised Kazo (Dobermann brother) was no threat to her and in fact she could twist him around her paw at any time.

A scan revealed she was pregnant and on 13th/14th December she gave birth to 14 puppies all fit and healthy and responsibly rehomed to excellent homes by rescue. She proved to be an excellent mum and Kazo made a great uncle.

Not long after her arrival it soon became apparent that Tequila had many issues. She was extremely dog reactive and seemed to have a great fear of being outside. She would get a few yards down the road and simply shut down, lying down shaking and refusing to go any further. Strange dogs really scare her and she can be extremely reactive, but with a lot of work we have managed to get her threshold down a lot.

The major breakthrough with Tequila came when she started Mantrailing. She is very bright and a thinker and it didn’t take her long to ‘get the game’. It is so lovely to see her confidence come on in leaps and bounds and she will now even trail past a dog within a few feet to find the missing person without any reaction. I cannot recommend this activity enough for reactive dogs!

Thank you to Elaine for continuously stepping in for this breed, advocating for healthy breeding and for helping people with reactive dogs and never giving up!