Have a reactive dog?

If you have a reactive dog, you dread taking it for a walk because you know you’ll encounter another dog being walked; your dog barks, lunges and growls at the approaching dog, and you feel embarrassed by its behavior. You fear that people see your dog as aggressive and mean.

It knows you’re nervous as you leash it and head toward the door to go outside. Your nervousness travels through the leash from your hand to your dog’s collar. It’s keyed up and you silently pray you don’t see another dog on your walk.

3 Reasons Why Some Dogs are Reactive to Others

As a dog trainer, I’m frequently contacted by people whose dogs react this way to the sight of other dogs. They want to know why some dogs behave this way and others don’t. The reasons are numerous but the most common are:

  • Missing the window of opportunity to expose a dog to other dogs, other people, sounds, sights and experiences (typically between 1 and 5 months of age)
  • A traumatic event (a dog being attacked by another dog)
  • Genetics (what the breeding parents passed on)

For a dog owner who adopted from a rescue, a shelter, or found his dog as a stray, its history is rarely known and the owner can’t determine if the reactivity is due to poor breeding, poor socialization, abuse, neglect or a number of other reasons. Even an owner who acquired his dog as a puppy and did everything “right,” i.e., selected the puppy from a reputable breeder, socialized it with dogs and people at an early age, exposed it to lots of different sounds, sights, etc., his dog can still be reactive.

So what’s a dog owner to do?

Frankly, it comes down to trial and error. There are prescribed approaches from which dog trainers can choose, however, they don’t always work for every dog.

Example of Millie being reactive to other dogs

Recently, I met with “Millie” and her owner. Millie was found as a stray, so of course, her owner had no idea of her history, how long she had been a stray, etc. Millie’s biggest issue was reactivity to other dogs – she barked and lunged at the sight of them. I mentioned to her owner that counter-conditioning is one way to reduce reactivity. Counter-conditioning is exposing a dog to the object of its reaction, but from a distance and in brief sessions, while also pairing with something enjoyable, such as treats. When Millie, her owner and I met again, we went to a local dog park. As expected, Millie barked at the dogs she saw. However, we walked a substantial distance away from the dogs to a place where Millie could still see them but did not react. This is called the threshold. I gave Millie several treats to create a positive association between seeing other dogs and something pleasant (treats). During the periods she didn’t react, I gave her treats to reward her behavior. She slowly began to relax and even laid down briefly.

After a short first session, Millie, her owner and I left the dog park. The goal for Millie’s owner is to take her to the dog park more often and in short sessions, slowly decreasing the distance between Millie and other dogs, all the while giving tasty treats. If Millie reacts at a closer distance, her owner should take her back to a distance where she’s more relaxed.

Will this work for every dog? I can’t say for sure but creating space between it and its trigger and offering treats can be the first step toward being less reactive. Counter-conditioning can take a long time; it may take Millie weeks or months to be less reactive, but progress is progress and must be measured in baby steps.

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