# Dog Reactive Training Mehtods



## Caledon (Nov 10, 2008)

I worked hard on socializing my dog. Took her to 4 levels of obedience. Gave her many experiences, went off leash hiking and random play sessions (don't have friends with dogs). Worked hard on making sure she is confident and well adjusted.

She used to ignor snarling, lunging, hyper barky dogs. Just after a year old (after a few unpleasant exposures close together) I noticed a change towards some dogs. We are going to a behavioust after she pinned a poodle in obedience class. Off leash hikes in leash free parks have stopped. I really don't know if this dog reaction(mild) is a result of a few unpleasant exposures or it's in her temperment and is just surfacing now as she was exposed to more aggressive/reactive types of dogs. I don't know which reason would be easier to work with or if the reason even matters in our case.

Last week was our first group class (six in total). It contained a golden who reacted if his butt was sniffed, another GSD who was 11 months old, was attacked and is now unfriendly towards other dogs, and a hound mix who barked and whined a lot. Dakota only reacted to the hound mix when he came towards her barking/whining. At the end of the hour the hound was turning his head when he passed her, and she was ignoring him (since he was not barking which stopped 1/2 through). Other than that she behaved excately the same way as she did in obedience classes, watching the other dogs and watching me, but not reacting. She appeared calm and relaxed, like normal.

The method was to let give the dog a loose lead and when you came towards another dog, change directions. If your dog reacted, go right back up towards the dog and repeat. This exercise is very similar to what we were doing at various times in the four levels of obedience class, except the dogs did not react to each other, except in a friendly way. The difference here to obedience class was that we were not allowed to speak to our dogs and we gave a longer lead. The behaviourist said we will pushing them. and doing controlled greeting in a few weeks.

I have been working on my own before the this stepping up the watch me command when she would lock in on another dog and the dog had to pass in a tight situation. 

So my concern is, can I fix her by doing the exact same thing that I've been doing all along? The only difference here is that these dogs (and there are only 4 in total) have issues. We are working on behaviour vs. obedience.


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## Bama4us (Oct 24, 2009)

Bear and I had our first class of Beyond Manners on Wednesday, I was going to make another post about it later, but this class has several reactive dogs. The instructor stated at no time were any our dogs allowed to meet, that this was not a social but a training class. She then brought out chairs and gave the group more room between all of us. For some reason my Bear was singled out and she put a chair in the middle of the circle and told me to walk Bear around the chair, not saying anything or correcting him in any way, just to keep circling the chair until she said stop. Bear continued to bark at every barking dog around the circle but slowly his barks got less frequent and softer until he made a few circles without barking. I saw the results, although I was a little dizzy, but still don't see why I couldn't correct him or even pull him to me rather than walk in circles. She stated it was better to ignore than to correct. Maybe Dakota and Bear will settle down from getting no response from us, as in your case, just changing directions, and mine, spinning till I pass out.


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Bama4us said:


> Maybe Dakota and Bear will settle down from getting no response from us, as in your case, just changing directions, and mine, spinning till I pass out.


 :spittingcoffee: LMAO


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## Caledon (Nov 10, 2008)

LOL. with the spinning.

I like the idea that she will allow the dogs to meet under a controlled environment, IF, the dogs are ready. This will happen in real life. Dakota is not always dog reactive, but I have become very good at keeping a good safe distance from other dogs to keep her from reacting. The instructor even mentioned about getting her into a controlled playgroup when she is ready.

Sounds like the methods are similiar. 

How many dogs in your class?


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## Bama4us (Oct 24, 2009)

Too late to edit mine, my class was on Monday, not Wednesday. His first classes were on Wednesday's.


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## Bama4us (Oct 24, 2009)

There are 8 other dogs in this class , several labs, a boxer, a corgy, a great dane and a greyhound rescue. All but the corgy, the greyhound, and of course Bear, barked the entire class.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Caledon said:


> The method was to let give the dog a loose lead and when you came towards another dog, change directions. If your dog reacted, go right back up towards the dog and repeat. This exercise is very similar to what we were doing at various times in the four levels of obedience class, except the dogs did not react to each other, except in a friendly way. The difference here to obedience class was that we were not allowed to speak to our dogs and we gave a longer lead. The behaviourist said we will pushing them. and doing controlled greeting in a few weeks.


Just from my experiences with a highly leash reactive dog (Cassidy) and special "Difficult Dog" classes to work on her reactivity, a more minor leash reactive dog (Keefer), and the books and articles I've read, that's a pretty unorthodox approach. Conventional approaches usually involve counter-conditioning (pairing a good thing like yummy treats with a potentially scary thing like the presence of other dogs) and desensitization, work with your dog at a distance where he notices the trigger but does not respond, and then gradually decrease the distance. The goal of CC & D is to keep the dog under threshold - if he's reacting you're already too late, you want to catch him before he blows, while he can still think, focus, and respond to you. Usually controlled greetings are either not a goal at all, or are at least a very distant one.

This sounds a little like the idea behind Constructional Aggression Treatment (CAT) a fairly new and somewhat controversial approach, where the trigger is introduced at a distance where the dog DOES react, and then at the first instant that the dog stops (even for just a moment), the trigger retreats, with distance being the functional reward for stopping the reaction. Supposedly, you get much faster results, but you're also subjecting the dog to a lot of stress, and this is not the kind of thing you want to do on your own, you want to work with someone who fully understands and is experienced in the concept. But with your trainer having the dogs keep approaching as long as they're continuing to react, it sounds like it may be based on CAT.

There's another, even newer approach called BAT, Behavior Adjustment Training, which takes some cues from CAT, but with the dogs working under threshold. You can read about it here, and there's also video: BAT | Ahimsa Dog Training, Seattle | Dog and Puppy Tips from Seattle | Like with CAT, the dog is also rewarded with distance from the trigger, but is not brought close enough to the other dog to blow, just to notice it, and then you wait for calming signal type signs such as a head turn away, or sniffing the ground, which earns the retreat. Each time, the dog is brought closer so that eventually it can pass by another dog without reacting. 

A great book that you might want to check out is Leslie McDevitt's Leslie McDevitt: Control Unleashed®, The Book which is chock full of exercises and games for reactive dogs. One of my favorites is Look At That!, often referred to as LAT. The dog is given permission to check out the trigger on cue in a series of quick glances, reorienting each time to the owner. A quick glance is less stressful than trying to ignore that scary thing over there, and by interrupting the look before it has a chance to into a hard stare that may explode into a reaction, you can keep the dog under threshold. I've used this technique with both my dogs and it works very well. 

Another great book is







Amazon.com: Click to Calm: Healing the Aggressive Dog (Karen Pryor Clicker Book) (9781890948207): Emma Parsons: Books Whether your dog is seriously aggressive, or just a bit reactive under certain circumstances, there are lots of great ideas for overcoming it, and like Control Unleashed, it takes the dog's emotional state into consideration by not just suppressing reactions and leaving the cause (fear/stress/anxiety) in place, but by changing the emotional response to the trigger, which extinguishes the behavior.


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## LuvourGSDs (Jan 14, 2007)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> I've used this technique with both my dogs and it works very well. quote]
> 
> 
> Debbie,
> ...


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## Caledon (Nov 10, 2008)

I think I may have misslead on my description.

We don't want the dog to react, thus the change in direction which keeps them focused on the handler vs. locking in on the other dog. If the dog reacts you should approach the dog again and do another change in direction before your dog reacts. The goal is to keep the dog calm, or to calm down dogs who are not.

The loose leash was to allow the dog to make the decision to follow you vs. being pulled by a tight leash. We used to do this in puppy class with leashed tied around our waist. I took it as going back to basics.

Great distance is kept between dogs and in no way could a dog strike out. 

We praise when the dog looks at the handler and ignors the approach of the other dog/handler. 

The meeting other dogs is a goal for those dogs that can handle it. Dakota has meet other dogs on leash, some of which the owners have rushed up to her before I've had the chance to avoid them. And nothing has happend. I've been avoiding it because I'm uncertain about how she will react after the poodle incident.

I have the book Control Uncleashed and need to re-read it. 

So you think that this method is harming my dog? That is the last thing I want to do.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

luvourgsds said:


> cassidy's mom said:
> 
> 
> > i've used this technique with both my dogs and it works very well.
> ...


Yes, and I actually have a short video that I took yesterday on our walk at the lake of Halo doing LAT! Both Keefer and Halo will sometimes bark at other dogs when they're on leash. I've found that I can prevent at least 90% of reactions by being ready and having a plan in place. In order for LAT to work it's best to practice at home with inanimate objects first so your dog understands the game, (you can point to something in the room, or whip out something from behind your back - I've even used the cats as my LAT target), and also for your dog to know your marker, (either verbal or a clicker), very well so that the instant that he hears it he looks immediately at you, expecting a reward.

The idea is that you tell your dog to look at the trigger - in my case an approaching dog on the path, you mark _as he's looking at it_ which interrupts the look as he turns back to you for a treat. I've been working with Halo recently and I like to put her in a sit first, either with her back to the oncoming dog or sideways to it, so she has to turn her head to look at it. I usually stand in front of her so she's facing me, unless it's a really calm dog who is at the far edge of the path and ignoring her, in which case I might have her sitting at heel next to me facing the approaching dog. This happens very fast, you want a series of quick glances at the dog then back to you, NOT a prolonged stare! Eye contact is a huge trigger for many dogs, so it should be very brief, do not let him lock on. Do it as many times in a row as necessary until the trigger is far enough away that he won't react. 

In the video I'm doing the taping and LAT at the same time, which is NOT easy! So even though I'm pulled back as far as the camera will go, you can't see Halo and the other dog at the same time, but at the end I do show the other dog as they walk away. You also can't see that during this time, 2 guys on bicycles are passing from the left while the dog is coming from the right, so there's a lot going on in those few seconds, but Halo is calm and relaxed.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Caledon said:


> I think I may have misslead on my description.(snip)
> 
> So you think that this method is harming my dog? That is the last thing I want to do.


Thanks for the further explanation, that makes more sense. Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that what you're doing is harming your dog - you know your dog best, and if he seems to be getting something out of the class and you trust the trainer I don't see any reason not to continue. If he was being constantly put in a situation where he's over threshold than I would suggest re-thinking this class, but if the goal with this training is to prevent reactions and keep the dogs under threshold as much as possible while working around other dogs, then that sounds similar to what we did in the DD class with Cassidy, and it was very helpful. Good luck!


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## Caledon (Nov 10, 2008)

I do the look at that game too, and it works when the approaching dog is calm. If it is whinning, pulling, barking, lunging or growling forget it, she will react. If I can, this is when I turn around and avoid. If we are on a narrow path I work all that much harder and I've been successful most of the time.

When I got Dakota it was my intention to title her, now I'm spending all my energy trying to work through this dog reactive behaviour. Some days I get really discouraged and imagine getting another dog (that is short lived as I have a committment to her that I take seriously). 

My daughter doesn't always want to walk her, because she doesn't want to be embarrassed if she reacts. I tell her to cross the street if she sees an approaching do and that seems to be working. 

My husband hates going for walks with us because I spend part of the walk either changing directions, doing look at that, or watch me exercices when I see that she is becoming too interested in an approaching dog. Thankfully this does not happen that often. He gets embarrassed when I talk to her like you did in the video.

I got her to enjoy working on obedience, walking with others and socializing with other dog owners. I have none of that now. I really need to fix her. 

Today is a rough day.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Caledon said:


> I got her to enjoy working on obedience, walking with others and socializing with other dog owners. I have none of that now. I really need to fix her.
> 
> Today is a rough day.


:hugs: I'm fortunate that both Keefer & Halo are good off leash, so we can take them to the park and throw balls for them to chase, and they can go swimming. It would be a lot harder if we had to keep them away from other dogs entirely while I worked with them and couldn't do anything fun. And neither of them are as bad as Cassidy was, she went absolutely ballistic around other dogs on leash. 

Keefer I can actually take on a walk at the lake in the video, he's pretty good on the narrow path as long as I can do LAT, and Halo is better still. She still has her barky moments, but she's in her 5th obedience class in the past year and doing great. We're on week 3 and she hasn't barked a single time, either inside class or in the parking lot on the way in or out, even though a couple of other dogs are barky. I haven't had Keefer in a class in a couple of years and I don't really know how he'd do now, so I'd probably want to put him in a reactive dog class first, even though he was manageable in his last class. I think putting a pack on him really helped, and maybe maturity has too. 

What I still struggle with is keeping them under control when we're moving rather than stationary. I'm probably closer to 50% there - as long as it's a non-reactive dog and the owner is giving us some space it's much easier than if the dog is staring her down and the owner is letting it wander all over the path. And this is separately too, walking them together is a nightmare! My goal is to get each of them to the point that I can actually walk them past most other dogs without a reaction rather than just wait while other dogs pass us, and then maybe I'll be able to work with them together. Of course, I'll need my hubby to handle one of the dogs and he's a really crappy trainer, so that might not go so well, LOL! He has NO patience and get frustrated with them easily. 

Fortunately, both of mine tend to be more barky at a distance, and are usually okay if they have the chance to meet the other dog, but I am trying to teach them that off leash you can go say hi if you want, on leash you're working with me. If it looks inevitable that a dog is going to end up right up their butt I'll usually try for a sit first and then release to approach the other dog. 

Having a reactive dog CAN be very embarrassing! And it can be embarrassing to make goofy faces and talk silly to your dog in public, but I got over that a long time ago with Cassidy. It helped ME to stay calm and relaxed if I planted a smile on my face and kept up the happy talk, and I know that helped HER, so after awhile it just became a reflex.


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

Love the little Halo LAT vid! I really like the game. Hogan was very interested in new dogs at training building last night. He wasn't blowing up, but was interested enough to be distracted. I could have corrected him for being distracted but that didn't seem like the best thing for him at this point. I went over by the dogs and did just a bit of LAT. The interest was over in just a few moments. It is almost like having permission to look takes away some of the interest and the game diffuses the concern over the dog also.

I love the context that the LAT puts the strange dogs in for your dog. Time for game, time for game!!


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## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

It is interesting that most folks that discuss reactive dogs seem to think that the dog is either nervous or anxious or fearful, what about the reative dogs that are just dominant (or maybe there aren't any ofthose - can we assume that all dog reactive dogs are one of the above descriptions?).

My dog 2yo male GSD can be reactive to other dogs sometimes. Sometimes he seems just excited and with a few other dogs - couldbe considered downright aggressive. Most of the time he is perfectivly fine with other dogs and is esp. so with puppies.

I would not consider him nervous or anxious or afraid as he certainly doesn't seem it nor does he ever back up - even if the other dog comes towasrd him.

We are working with "Look at That" and a minor variation suggested by the behaviorist that I took him to. BTW, she kind of labelled him a "Bully" after he and her dog had a little disagreement about who was going to be dominant when she brought her dog out to meet baron.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Good question. I personally think the whole dominance thing is vastly overblown and that a lot of what's labeled as such isn't about dominance at all, BUT..... having had a fear reactive dog (Cassidy), it's very clear to me that Keefer's reactivity is coming from a completely different place than hers was, so there are certainly other reasons for reactivity.

Keefer is not fearful of other dogs - quite the opposite, he's pretty much a social butterfly. If anything he's overly social, he doesn't want to escape from other dogs, he wants to go see them and gets frustrated when he can't. Off leash he likes to greet other dogs by sniffing their privates and licking their muzzle. This came as quite a surprise to someone that I was at a Control Unleashed workshop with. She was at Point Isabel with her other dog when we ran into her and she was amazed at how perfectly comfortable he was in that kind of environment because her reactive dog would not have been able to handle it at ALL.

But he's not dominant either, with people or other dogs. He tolerates a fair amount of dominance behaviors directed towards him in that he doesn't go off immediately, but will tell a dog off if it continues for too long, so I make sure that I take care of it so he doesn't have to. He is a classic CU dog, meaning he is very sensitive to SECs (sudden environmental changes), has high prey drive and is very stimulated by fast movement, is easily aroused, has a low tolerance for frustration, is very excitable, and gets distracted quickly. He has little impulse control, which is something we're always working on. He really really tries and I know he wants to please me (he worships me, lol!) but it's like he forgets that he actually CAN control himself, and needs to be reminded. So, not fearful, not dominant, and not aggressive either. But he IS reactive. 

And Halo is extremely confident, everywhere she goes it's like she owns the joint. She went into daycare and started going to offleash parks at 15 weeks old, and the feedback I got from daycare is that she's got excellent play skills. But she'll sometimes bark at other dogs when she's on leash too. Off leash they're mostly backround noise, she's comfortable around them, but not as compelled to go say hi as Keef is. In the pictures I posted from their visit to Point Isabel last weekend you can see she's tugging with a dog she never met before because it grabbed the rope of her Jolly Ball. She didn't get snarky, she just held onto her ball and kept yanking until it gave up. That's my girl! :wild:


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## thaliasmom (May 3, 2007)

Cassidy's Mom, thanks for your thoughtful responses here, and the video. Leash reactivity is haaaaard to deal with.


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## TxRider (Apr 15, 2009)

Dunno how applicable it is, but I also have one that fears no other dogs, and is a great social butterfly.

Hope must meet every dog she sees, and gets frustrated when she can't.

She never goes off on other dogs, though she can play pretty rough she responds to dominance with play and calming behaviors. She didn't even get mad or scared when the reactive dog at class latched onto her nose in class and woudn't let go. I think after 15 minutes she would go try to lick it's muzzle again.

My other dog Kaya is anxious, more timid, and fear based, and is more likely to be reactive and fear aggressive. Her fear turns into aggression with dogs that get in her face even in a friendly way, and she is predisposed to act aggressive at a distance and show barrier aggression. Some is surely conditioned response, but I believe it's also genetic for her.

I can say the biggest thing that is helping her is walking with Hope and her watching Hope's response and behavior to other people and dogs we meet. I let Hope go out to the end of the leash and meet dogs, Hope greets all strange people calmly and eagerly while Kaya hangs back beside me.

The benefit of having a non reactive non aggressive dog to watch every day seems to do her a lot of good, and she does watch her closely.

It didn't take long before Kaya started going out to greet people and dogs right behind Hope, though more cautiously. She growls and snaps a lot less when dogs sniff or lick her nose now after only a few months, and I just give her a calm verbal correction when I see it coming and she seems to be improving a lot though she may never be "normal".


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## TxRider (Apr 15, 2009)

I guess my point is I don't know if I could ever help Kaya with her aggressive reactions to both people and dogs as much as Hope helps her by example, maybe finding a non reactive dog to buddy up and walk with to help work with reactivity on walks and to observe could help more dogs learn better responses?


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

I love to get a really "dominant" dog. I too am not sure how that word should be utilized correctly in domestic canine structures. But, a dog that we might call dominant is very confident and socially competent. I find them to be the least likely to act out. I think the vast majority of reactions are from socially incompetent and anxious dogs. 

I would bet a lot of aggression and reactive displays that we see are not so easily explained by the proclamation.."dominance".


The "buddy dog" can work well in some cases, I think. Dogs can cue off of other dogs demeanor so much. An unsure dog will look to the stronger dog for the appropriate response to a situation.


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## TxRider (Apr 15, 2009)

Samba said:


> I love to get a really "dominant" dog. I too am not sure how that word should be utilized correctly in domestic canine structures. But, a dog that we might call dominant is very confident and socially competent. I find them to be the least likely to act out. I think the vast majority of reactions are from socially incompetent and anxious dogs.
> 
> I would bet a lot of aggression and reactive displays that we see are not so easily explained by the proclamation.."dominance".
> 
> ...


To me there is a difference between a dominant dog, and dominant or dominting behavior.

Hope is very confident, has very little fear, and bounces back from scares pretty instantly but I don't know that she is all that dominant or all that socially competent...  She tends to get growled and snapped at fairly regularly coming up to dogs to lick their muzzle too quickly.

I thought maybe having that Weimeraner latch onto her entire nose hard and not let go last week would have slowed that behavior down, and made her think twice before walking right up to lick a dogs face, but it seems to have had no effect.. The scabs across her muzzle aren't even gone and already she would run right back up to the same dog and try it again.

She has tons of drive and just seems to bounce back from everything.


Kaya otoh I have only seen play with one other dog besides Hope in the 5 months I have had her, she has a very hard time letting her guard down which is sad as it tends to make her a target for a lot of other dogs.


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## Caledon (Nov 10, 2008)

The behaviourist that I took Dakota to said she was a very confident, independant dog with good social skills for both people and dogs, BUT, in some cases she is unsure how to react and has developed and "I'll get you before you get me" mind set with some dogs.

With her demo dog, Dakota immediately went to a spinx down then changed her mind and lunged at the dog. This demo dog was a huge Shilloh Shepherd. Two seconds later she was wagging her tail at him. A few minutes after that she is play bowing to him. We let them off leash and she tried to iniate play, but he had none of that and was throwing out all sorts of signals, head turned, lay down, back turned to her, which Dakota got and respected.

She does not react to all dogs, only some, and these dogs are the ones that are barking, growling, lunging or staring her down.

She will spinx down when a dog is approaching her.

I really don't know how to label her. I think it is most likely fear. I have never seen her with her tail between her legs in any situation that we have been in.

I will be asking the behaviouist this question next week.


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## Baja'smom (Mar 12, 2010)

Great thread and info. Very helpful. Thank you!


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Caledon said:


> The behaviourist that I took Dakota to said she was a very confident, independant dog with good social skills for both people and dogs, BUT, in some cases she is unsure how to react and has developed and "I'll get you before you get me" mind set with some dogs.
> 
> She does not react to all dogs, only some, and these dogs are the ones that are barking, growling, lunging or staring her down.


You just described Onyx to a T!


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## Caledon (Nov 10, 2008)

Onyx'girl. Would you describe this behaviour as fear based?. What methods are you using.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Yes, Onyx's are fear based. I use the Control Unleashed "Look at That" (LAT) to manage her. As she has mentally matured, she has gotten much better.


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

Fear does not always exhibit as tail between the legs. My unsure dog will come forward, shoulders high with her tail in the air... I suppose looking dominant in posture and aggressive approach, but the motivation is unsureness.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Right~ that is how Onyx portrays her body language, but she is acting out of fear, IMO.


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## Ucdcrush (Mar 22, 2004)

My boy dog Riku is dog/leash reactive, and we joined a regular group obedience class (not a reactive dog class) to increase his exposure to other dogs in a controlled environment. He tended to be "high strung" most of the time except in the last few classes, but one dog in particular (a little Jack Russel puppy, very wild acting) got him to react and bark.

The last class was fairly unstructured, and so I worked with Riku, who was in a Halti, by walking towards the JRT from some distance at first. As soon as Riku fixated (ears shifted forward), I would start walking backwards which would apply pressure on his face and head. As soon as he turned around to come with me, I released the pressure and gave him chicken and praise. Over just about 45 seconds of back-n-forth, we got closer and closer until he was just feet from the JRT (at which point I called it "good enough" so as not to worry the JRT owners) without reacting or even fixating.

If you were going to use an approach like this, starting from a distance is key because if you get too close too fast, he may end up staying fixated on the other dog and walking back to you at the same time, which in my experience is not a good thing as it will require more tension/correction to get him to stop looking at the other dog, and that tension could cause a reaction. The whole idea is to prevent the dog from ever escalating to a reaction.

Unfortunately I don't have any dog-owning friends who live nearby so it's tough to get enough structured practice in. But they are putting a dog park in nearby which will be great for doing approaches and retreats with all kinds of dogs.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Ucdcrush said:


> Unfortunately I don't have any dog-owning friends who live nearby so it's tough to get enough structured practice in. But they are putting a dog park in nearby which will be great for doing approaches and retreats with all kinds of dogs.


That is the hardest part of dealing with a reactive dog - finding situations where you can work on it, outside of a class setting where they can set up exercises like you're doing. I know people who use dog parks, staying outside the fence and using the dogs in the park to work around. As long as you've got plenty of retreat areas around the park, that's a viable option.


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## sstcredo (Apr 19, 2010)

thank kevin for sharing such a nice information.

regards,
Citation machine: Cater Your Citation needs,MLA,APA,Harvard


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## Caledon (Nov 10, 2008)

We finished the class. It was way to unstructed for my liking. No instruction and all we did was walk around in a very usntructed manner with other reactive dogs. I kept going because I don't get an opportunity to work around other dogs and the distractions were a good training oppoortunity.

In the class I was taking, we had lined up for a picutre and the other GSD was beside me - too close actually and I should have moved, but I was getting such good responses from Dakota that I just watched. All was fine until he reached around my right leg, and Dakota reached around my left leg to have a little sniff. I let it happen but was moving forward to distract her and then their noses touched and Dakota barked and lunged. It was no where near the force that I've seen before.

What I did do was finish reading Control Unleased and finished watching the DVD. Worked on "Look at That". This has made a big difference. I also have been walking with my friend and her Sheltie. We have passed by many dogs, some of which Dakota would have reacted to in the past. 

I've also meet another dog owner who has a very reactive dog and is working with her. We kept getting closer to each other and both dogs did fine. I hope to meet him again. I will not allow them to greet as I want controlled greetings with passive dogs. Don't want any setbacks.

I am going to be taking her to another program which offers private lessons and work on exercises. They have organized walking classes around the neighbourhood as well as supervised off leash play - when you and your dog is ready to take that step. 

I highly recommend Control Unleashed.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

I sure wish more training clubs would take this book and have classes based on it. As there are sooo many reactive dogs in this world, you'd think every trainer would utilize it. 
I'm glad to hear things are progressing, small steps are good!


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## Caledon (Nov 10, 2008)

The other owner that I meet was using a method of allowing his dog the full leash length and then calling her to him for a sit in front and a treat. Each time he did this she was keeping closer to him. You could see he becoming calmer each time. He had taken a reactive dog class that was available to owners who rescued dogs from their organization.

I may try this too.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

The trainer for my last class with Halo (Basic Manners 2) is familiar with CU techniques, and is on the SF Bay Area CU email list. She also teaches a reactive dog class, and I assume that although it's not specifically a CU class she uses many of the CU concepts, because I recognized several of them in our Basic Manners class. She didn't refer to them as such, but since I've read the book and have practiced some of them I knew immediately as soon as she described the exercises that we were going to do Look At That!, Give Me A Break, and offswitch games. 

In one of my earlier posts we were at week 3 of the class and she hadn't barked a single time, either in class, or outside class walking to and from the car. Now that we're done with the full 7 weeks, she only barked ONCE, at a dog in the courtyard right outside the building as we exited class one day. On the last day of class we were practicing the CGC person with dog greeting and one of the other dogs was staring at her and started to react, but she did NOT! She's doing extremely well out on walks, we passed 6 dogs last night and she didn't bark once. Other times we've enountered as many as 10 or 12 dogs without a reaction, even when people have their dogs on a flexi and are allowing them to wander all over the path and come right up to her while she's in a sit and we're doing LAT.

Keefer has regressed though, he seems to have completely forgotten what LAT is! :headbang: He's doing okay, for him, but I wasn't getting him out there as frequently as I was last summer/fall, because it was too dark to go in the evening after work once the time change occurred, and I didn't want to take time away from Halo's training, especially while she was in a class. Now that I can get out there several times a week (if we're done with this darned rain!!!) I've been trying to take him once a week like I was before. No explosive reactions from him, but it's much harder to get his focus off approaching dogs. I have to practically shove a treat up his nose and lure his head around, and sometimes that doesn't work and I have to feed him while he's still looking at the dog. But I've only taken him out twice this year so he's been VERY excited, and hopefully with time the novelty will wear off.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Samba said:


> I love to get a really "dominant" dog. I too am not sure how that word should be utilized correctly in domestic canine structures. But, a dog that we might call dominant is very confident and socially competent. I find them to be the least likely to act out. I think the vast majority of reactions are from socially incompetent and anxious dogs.


I think you have a good point here. Halo is definitely confident and socially competent, she might even be considered dominant to an extent. Not towards humans, she's very easy to work with, but with Keefer she clearly has the upper hand. Everything is hers, she takes what she wants and he lets her. If he wants something she immediately has to have it, if he changes his mind and goes for something else instead she charges ahead of him to get it before he does. She has very good dog communications skills too, in the few circumstances where she defers to him it's SO deliberate, almost exaggerated, as if she's humoring him. (Is that too anthropomorphic? ) She throws out these textbook calming signals that you'd have to be blind to miss, even if you didn't know that much about dog behavior. I don't know exactly what the source of her acting out is other than cueing off Keefer, but at this point she's not that bad, and getting better all the time. 

I wonder if there is some social incompetence going on with Keefer. He does like to greet other dogs, and maybe he's anxious until and unless he does. He tends to react at a distance, but if he can meet the dog, even when he's on leash, he's okay. Off leash is not an issue at all. He's also very sensitive to sudden environmental changes and has high prey drive, so he's distracted and aroused by fast movement. A dog standing there in front of him doing nothing isn't all that exciting, especially if he can sniff its privates and give it a little muzzle lick, but maybe he needs to do that to feel okay about the situation. At the Oakland A's Dog Day event, where dogs can go to the ballpark and watch a game with their owners, which he's been to twice, he reacts to dogs in the parking lot as we're walking to the entrance, but once inside, surrounded by other dogs, again - fine, once he's past the initial excitement. 



> The "buddy dog" can work well in some cases, I think. Dogs can cue off of other dogs demeanor so much. An unsure dog will look to the stronger dog for the appropriate response to a situation.


This worked well for us with Dena & Keefer. She was very calm and easy going, and NEVER barked at other dogs. She didn't have a reactive bone in her body. That didn't completely stop him from reacting but I do think that she was a calming influence, and was definitely not giving him anything negative to feed off of. 

Keefer & Halo are quite a different dynamic. Although she is confident she's also younger, and she had a worse role model growing up than he did! She would look to him, and if he was excited and barking, she would be excited and barking. And then they'd feed off each other's excitement, which makes it more difficult to control the situation because now they're having a little reactive party together. A barkfest, yay!


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## debbiebrown (Apr 13, 2002)

there really is such a thing is some types of dogs being bad matches in households, or at least as Deb said feeding off each other...........reactive wise.....

the two i have now get along pretty well, but i have one pretty dominant female, and a wanna be dominant male but very nervy/unsure...........its amazing the temperment combos in some of these dogs.......the female is quite confident, but can be reactive if i am not on top of it.........lucky for me this dog LOVES her frisbee so that helps as a distraction..........she has the ability to tune everything else out when her frisbee is in front of her, which is anyones dream to train with....

the male is still young, if he's alone he's ok at a distance from other dogs, he will let me distract him with food, etc.........unfortunately he isn't as driven with toys he is more attuned to whats going on around him...........at 2 years old he is very im-mature and needs to learn more self control-impulse control...........we are doing daily exercises to help, that and another year or two, hoping to get to a better place..........


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