The #1 thing you can do to help your reactive dog
Nothing can help your reactive dog as much as making their world feel safe.
This can look different for different dogs.
Dogs who are reactive often have behaviors that seem to be aggressive: They may lunge, bark, and otherwise try to chase scary things away from them. You may have seen this with your dog when on leashed walks when they lunge at other dogs, or try to chase skateboards, bicycles, and runners.
Reactive dogs may also hide behind you, under the furniture, or try to turn and run away.
Our training goal is to have as many days without very big feelings as possible.
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These behaviors are a product of your dog being fearful.
While lunging, barking, and chasing appear “aggressive,” your dog is more likely terrified and is using all his communications tools and body language to try to increase the distance between himself and the scary thing by making it move away.
Similarly, a dog who is frightened of new people (and this is very common — dogs only know familiar people vs. unfamiliar people, not good people vs. bad people) may lunge, bark, snap, or even bite to gain distance from the scary (to them) person.
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Dogs with Very Big Feelings about the world don’t feel safe.
My top tip for living with a dog who reacts to the external environment, new people, or other dogs is to manage the environment so they don’t feel the need to chase away the scary things. For most of my clients, this looks like:
Timing leashed walks so children, bicycles, skateboards, garbage trucks and other scary things are not around. This may mean shifting your walk schedule to avoid certain times of day or certain locations.
Ducking down a driveway or behind a parked car when a scary thing comes into your dog’s view.
Covering a window where your dog sits and worries about (and reacts to) things outside with opaque window film or even waxed paper, to reduce exposure to those scary stimuli.
Giving the dog a safe haven when people come over in a crate in a secluded area, or in another room, and letting her set the pace for meeting people — which may mean not meeting them at all.
Other ways to meet your dog where they are and to help them feel safe:
Many dogs have issues being touched or handled. As we work on that, don’t reach for your dog to express affection — let them approach you to solicit pets and cuddles. “Approaching you” doesn’t mean luring them with food. If Hansel & Gretel taught us anything, is that luring can lead to a very unhappy outcome.
And realize: some dogs may never enjoy that kind of bodily contact.
Some dogs who can tolerate petting cannot tolerate brushing or bathing.
When training or rewarding your dog, it may be best to drop treats on the floor or toss them so your dog doesn’t need to approach you.
Deliberately exposing your dog to things they find frightening is horrendous, old-fashioned dog training “advice.” It won’t help them get over their fears. This is called “flooding,” and generally makes their fears more intense.
The greatest gift you can give your fearful dog is to realize their behavior is out of their control, and to help them feel safe. They’re not trying to give you a hard time. They’re having a hard time.
While even an experienced, credentialed trainer like me can’t simply “train” a dog to feel safe, I can work with you to change the way your dog feels about things that currently worry, or even terrify, him, and to set you all up for household success.