They’re probably scared and need you to stick up for them. It can be embarrassing when your dog causes a scene out in public, but it’s important to consider how your dog is feeling. Fearful and long-term reactive dogs may never happily mix with groups of dogs – but you should be able to feel confident walking your dog calmly, without regular incidents. Have an open mind and be realistic about what your dog will be capable of. The more practice your dog has, the more they will associate their triggers with positive outcomes rather than stressful ones. Then gradually increase how close you can get to your dog’s triggers – but make sure you go at your dog’s pace. All of these should be rewarded with something your dog finds motivating, like their favourite treats or a toy.įirst, you should teach these cues while you’re at home before trying them out on a quiet and calm walk. If you reduce the opportunity for your dog to be reactive and increase their practice of alternative behaviours, it will be become second nature.įor times when your dog is confronted by a stressful situation, teach them to sit down (“sit!”), sniff out some treats on the floor (“find it!”) or turn away and walk in a different direction (“this way!”). Alternatively, walk your dog less and replace the activity with games or training in the garden. Try taking them for walks at quieter times of the day, like early in the morning, or take them out into the countryside or enclosed dog fields away from the hustle and bustle. The good news is, there are steps we can take to remove our dogs from stressful situations – especially during the training period. Inevitably, we can’t control the outside world and don’t know who will come around the corner. You can also work on calm behaviours throughout your day – teach them to wait for their food, settle down on cue and solve problems through enrichment (like Kongs and puzzle feeders). This will let your dog know instantly that they’re being praised and a treat is on the way. Marker words like ‘good’, ‘yes’ or a clicker are powerful training tools. This builds trust between you and your dog, and will make the bigger issues easier to tackle. In both cases, it’s a highly emotional state so you may find that your dog can’t listen to you or take treats while they’re trying to cope with the situation.Īll dogs benefit from having a good recall and knowing simple cues like ‘sit’. They’re telling the other dog or person to stay well away! Frustrated dogs respond by pulling on the lead, spinning or turning around and grabbing their owner to get rid of some of their energy. If they’re on a lead, they can’t run away, so they defend themselves the only way they know how, by growling and barking. These triggers cause a reaction which can differ for each dog.įor worried or frightened dogs, they trigger a ‘fight or flight’ response. They often get frustrated when they can’t go bounding over to say hello and play. Another thing we see is excited dogs that love people and other dogs a bit too much. This is what we call a ‘reactive’ dog and it’s very common, so you’re not alone! As one of Woodgreen’s qualified dog behaviourists, here are some questions Lindsay is regularly asked about reactive dogs:ĭogs are usually reactive if they don’t have very good social skills and feel worried by other dogs and people, or if they’ve had a bad experience in the past which frightened them. In reality, this just isn’t the case for all dogs, especially those who have quite an extreme response to everyday situations like seeing other dogs and people. In an ideal world, we all hope for our dogs to be friendly, easy-going and comfortable in different environments.
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