THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING & GUIDING YOUR REACTIVE DOG
This guidebook will assist you in working with and supporting your dog through their reactions. A reaction is based in emotion, as we discussed above… so it is important to act as your dog’s guide so that you can increase their confidence and their resilience.
Just like us humans, dogs can react to certain things (aka stimulus) in their environments. The reaction can depend on many factors, including novelty, emotion, and proximity. These reactions can sometimes reflect BIG emotions, also known as arousal. Arousal can lead our dog to excitement, and eventually to frustration. Our dog’s can also be experiencing fear, pain, or discomfort — which will greatly change how they interact with the world (and the stimulus) around them.
Dog’s generally will respond to stimulus in their environment in four ways. The fight / flight / freeze / flirt response in your dog might look like any of the following behaviors:
- Focusing on the stimulus for more than 2-3 seconds
- Body stiffens, also known as a freeze response
- Barking, lunging, or moving towards the stimulus
- Cowering, hiding, running away, or making themselves appear small
- Jumping up and biting the leash or the handler out of frustration
- Redirected bites to the handler
There is a good amount of reasoning behind your dog’s reactions. Let’s keep in mind the LEGS model…
- LEARNING – Dogs learn by association, just like we do. Have you ever met someone who came up in your personal bubble, greeted you rudely, or gave you a bad gut feeling? You would use this situation to learn to steer clear of similar interactions with this person in the future… you might even use a tactic to get the person to steer clear of you, or to create distance between you both. Trauma also falls under this category.
- ENVIRONMENT – What is your dog’s day-to-day life like? Are their needs being met? Meeting your dog’s needs goes way beyond neighborhood walks and basic affection. They need routine, predictable patterns, and enrichment.
- GENETICS – Your dog has been bred for thousands of years for a very specific purpose! It is only recently that many of these breeds are becoming house pets. Some dogs are predisposed to stranger danger… some dogs have been bred to chase after, control, and bite at moving things…
- SELF – Your dog is a unique individual! Factors can include age, health, and individual personality. Pain is a big source of overreactions in dogs, that often gets overlooked.
MANTRAS FOR REACTIVE DOGS
- Reactive dogs are not bad dogs.
- Reactive dogs need additional guidance, not additional corrections.
- Reactive dogs are having a hard time, not giving you a hard time.
UNDERSTANDING REACTIVITY: THE TRUTHS
- Reactivity occurs when a dog displays action or behavior that coincides with its feelings about a specific trigger or situation.
- This can mean reacting in ways such as barking and/or lunging towards the trigger(s).
- Trigger stacking can occur when a dog is overstimulated by more than one trigger at a time, or one right after another.
- Reactivity happens when a dog’s emotions display themselves outwardly.
- Reactivity can stem from a place of fear and insecurity.
- Reactivity can happen when on-leash excitement turns into frustration, and frustration levels can vary between various dogs and breeds.
In order to fully understand your dog’s reactivity, you must understand the following…
- THE UNDERLYING EMOTIONS AT PLAY
- Fight vs. Flight – if we take away a dog’s option to FLEE by putting them on a leash to take them for a walk… they may learn that their only option is to FIGHT.
- HOW EMOTIONS AFFECT BEHAVIOR
- Behavior is the way in which an animal or person acts in response to a particular situation or stimulus.
- Behavior is based on feedback.
- HOW OUR PROVIDED FEEDBACK AFFECTS EMOTIONS AND BEHAVIORS
- What are we feeling? Energy is emotion and intention.
SO HOW DO WE BEGIN TO HELP OUR REACTIVE DOG?
Look at That (LAT) Training
Developed by Leslie McDevitt
LAT OVERVIEW
Why this is useful for your dog to know: Some dogs go ballistic (barking, lunging and generally freaking out) on leash when they see something exciting or scary. Although a lot of dogs display reactive behavior, it can be embarrassing at best and dangerous at worst. Implementing this “look at that” training plan will help dogs stay calm and safe in these situations.
End behavior: The dog will look at the trigger (whatever she is reactive toward) and then look back at the handler.
Step 1: Decide on a sound, word or visual marker that you’ll use to indicate to your dog that she’s doing something great and a treat will follow. Clickers and a verbal “yes” or “good” are popular markers.
Step 2: To teach your dog that the marker always means a treat is coming, click the clicker or say the word and then give her a treat immediately. Do this repeatedly, until she looks expectantly at you whenever you use the marker.
Step 3: Next, with the dog on leash, stand at a distance from the trigger. You should be far enough away that your dog sees her trigger but isn’t reacting. As soon as she looks at the trigger, use your marker. She should turn toward you in anticipation of the treat. When she does, give her the treat. Repeat 10-15 times.
Step 4: When she consistently looks at her trigger without reacting, test to see if she’ll look back at you in anticipation of the marker and treat after she looks at her trigger. If so, mark and then treat. If not, repeat the previous step.
Step 5: Gradually, one foot at a time, decrease the distance between your dog and the trigger. Continue using your marker and treats if she doesn’t react. You may have to shift between Steps 3 and 4 as the distance decreases.
PROOFING: Proofing means teaching the dog to generalize the behavior in different contexts. It’s important to practice LAT often with your dog. When you first start, you will want to practice in the same environment, someplace that is low-stress for your dog. If your dog is reactive toward other dogs, make sure that you are practicing with a calm, non-reactive dog as the trigger.
Behavior Adjustment (BAT) Training
Developed by Grishna Stewart
BAT helps animals gain confidence and social skills. BAT is a natural method that creates an emotionally safe interaction with minimal intrusion. BAT is especially useful when the “triggers” for frustration, aggression, or fear are living beings, for example when dogs bark at or bite other dogs or people.