Reactive Dogs

I often get asked to help with reactive dogs.  Some dogs are more high strung than others, some breeds are more prone to reactivity, some dogs are sort of copying their owner! We have a yappy dog in our neighborhood, and honest to Pete sometimes I can’t tell the difference between the dog and the owner’s tone!

We are all so busy with work, school, kids, shopping, laundry, homework, meal prep and then trying to catch some R and R.  Today’s modern dog sometimes spends a lot of time without much action, and that might contribute to why they seem so higgly piggly and working overtime to get our attention.

In my work with Support Dogs a big part of their training was simply exposing them to life. I have sat in front of Harris Teeter with dogs just letting them hear carts clanking around, skateboards, cars passing, kids getting in trouble, folks talking on their phones, teens being silly, etc. I have sat by railroad tracks, asked firemen to toot a horn at the station, I walk by old people with canes, crying babies, clowns, people of all colors, gone to farmer’s markets, festivals, ridden elevators - you get the picture. Eventually they get used to all sorts of life excursions.  I don’t talk baby talk if they seem apprehensive.  I calmly say something like “no big deal, you’re fine.” If they are going out of their mind I find their threshold - a distance from the excitement where they can be calm submissive, or just chillin’ and over time decrease the distance until they can make better decisions!  Hey, the Pour House farmer’s market is Sunday - see ya there!