Owning a dog is a delightful experience but can also present several challenges, especially if your furry friend is reactive or demonstrates seemingly aggressive behaviour.
If you have noticed that your dog tends to overreact to different triggers, like leash reactivity when seeing other dogs or people, you likely are dealing with a reactive dog that requires behaviour modification training.
Not to worry, you're not alone. There are several ways we can help your dog (and you) navigate reactive behaviours through positive reinforcement, particularly learning about your dog's body language, why they may be demonstrating reactivity, and how to establish reinforcers through dog training.
Reactive Dogs vs. Aggressive Dogs
Reactivity in dogs can be described as a dog that has strong emotional responses to certain things or scenarios. These responses tend to manifest as barking, lunging, growling, or even snapping at the stimuli that are causing them to react. We should not mistake reactivity for aggression, although these two behaviours appear outwardly similar.
Reactive behaviour is more often than not, rooted in fear, frustration, or excitement, rather than the desire to cause harm to another animal or person. One of the easiest examples to demonstrate this is when you have a dog that gets along with other dogs while off-leash, but displays leash reactivity when walking through the neighbourhood.
Reactivity can stem from many different sources, including genetics, lack of socialisation, or past traumatic experiences. A large part of our dog's reactivity is because she had cancer as a puppy and received next-to-none socialisation due to being in the veterinary office for extended periods, or restricted from going on outings because of her surgeries and surgical stitches.
Some dog breeds have a higher tendency to show reactivity due to a combination of genetic, environmental, and developmental factors. For example, several dog breeds have been selectively bred for the specific task of guarding or protecting. These two 'jobs' often require heightened alertness and a strong response to unfamiliar strangers or dogs, which can translate to severe fence-fighting and barking.
How to Help Your Reactive Dog
It's a long process but we can help our reactive dogs with a tonne of patience, consistency, and positive reinforcement. We have written other blogs on How to Calm a Reactive Dog on a Walk and Positive Reinforcement Training Techniques for Reactive Dogs, but here is a run-down of some of our favourite strategies that can make a difference.
Identify Your Dog's Triggers
Your dog's body language can tell you a lot about how they're feeling. The first step in helping your pooch is to identify what specifically triggers their reactive behaviour. So while this may be a slow process, we recommend that you keep a log or journal of incidents that occur to look for patterns. This will ultimately help you understand and anticipate situations that might cause a reaction. For example, categorising when the behaviour happens - was it during the day, evening, at night, when it was raining? What the trigger specifically was, how long their reaction lasted, and how far away the trigger was. These details can help you establish the Best Times to Walk Your Dog, and how you may approach their training.
Create a Safe Space for Your Dog
At this point, we're sure you understand that reactive dogs are generally fearful dogs, which is why creating a safe space is important. In your home, you should ensure that your dog has a safe space to retreat to when they feel overwhelmed. Their safe space could be a quiet room or a crate where they feel secure. In addition to providing your dog with a safe and secure location in the home, you should give them the opportunity for decompression activities, such as a licky mat with peanut butter, or a puzzle toy.
Just as we find benefits in decompression activities such as puzzles or video games, dogs experience positive affective states in response to their own achievements. Research has indicated that environmental enrichment, including feeding/chewing toys, has the potential to mitigate destructive behaviours, excessive barking, and stereotypies in dogs. These toys serve to alleviate stress by simulating natural hunting behaviours, enhancing canine activity, fostering cognitive learning, and decreasing cortisol levels (Boonhoh et al., 2023c; Gaines et al., 2008; Schipper et al., 2008; Su et al., 2019).
Positive Reinforcement Training
We've already mentioned our guide on Positive Reinforcement Training Techniques for Reactive Dogs, which is a collection of techniques that we have used for our reactive dog that provided great results. Basically, using positive reinforcement techniques can help change your dog's emotional response to triggers. The whole concept behind positive reinforcement is that we reward our dogs with treats and praise when they remain calm in the presence of a trigger.
Positive reinforcement training is a long road, which can sometimes take years. For some reactive dog owners, it's a life-long process of management. However, don't let this get you down, or make you consider aversive training techniques. Positive reinforcement is us helping our pups make their own decisions, and building their confidence, which leads your pup into having a happier, calmer life.
Desensitisation and Counter-Conditioning
It is widely recommended to use desensitisation and counter-conditioning training to reduce fear. Dog-to-dog, dog-to-human, and noise fears represent the most common behavioural problems in dogs, so it's clear in many cases that desensitisation should be prioritised to help your dog remain confident on public outings.
With desensitisation, your dog is taught to relax as it's gradually exposed to anxiety-provoking stimuli. The controlled exposures start with your pup relaxing in the presence of a muted stimulus (a stimulus that does not trigger a fearful response). Over time, your dog will be introduced gradually to a more intense stimulus with the hope that eventually it will remain relaxed at all levels of exposure.
Techniques and Tips for Training
As we've established, training a reactive dog takes time and effort. However, the approach you take can make a world of difference in seeing an improvement. Here are some of our favourite techniques and tips to consider:
Use of a Clicker
Clickers are an extraordinarily valuable tool in the world of dog training. While you are the motivating factor in your dog's life (yes, the ultimate motivator in training must be the handler, trainer, or owner - aka, you), clickers can be effective in marking desired behaviours. If you don't know the foundations of clicker training, you can check out our Short Guide on Clicker Training for the basics of this valuable tool.
Leash Training
This relates more to your dog's obedience training, however, you must teach your dog to walk calmly on a leash. Use a front-clip harness to give you more control and reduce pulling, which can exacerbate reactive behaviour. Leash training is a fundamental part of managing a reactive dog and teaching your dog to walk calmly on a leash not only makes your walks more enjoyable but also helps to reduce reactive outbursts. For many reactive dogs, the leash can sometimes be a trigger itself, leading to frustration and increased reactivity, so it's important to get the fundamentals down first.
Managing Your Own Reactions
We all know that dogs are attuned to our reactions, so it's important to stay as cool, calm, and collected as possible. If you're calm and composed, you can help your dog feel more secure in your presence.
When you're out on a walk with your dog, you need to make a conscious effort to keep slack on the leash and use action phrases like "This way!", "Walk on!" and "Let's go!"
When you are in control of any situation, the more confident you're going to feel. So utilise some of our other tricks and tips for maintaining your dog's attention, and to keep yourself calm.
When to Seek Professional Help
Sometimes, despite your best efforts, you might need professional help. A certified dog trainer or a veterinary behaviourist can offer specialised guidance and support. You're not alone on this journey, so don’t hesitate to seek help if you’re feeling overwhelmed or if your dog’s behaviour isn’t improving.
Finding the Right Trainer
It's important to find an appropriate trainer for your reactive dog. The easiest method to find a suitable trainer is Google Maps. Search for "positive reinforcement training" and look for trainers who use positive reinforcement methods and have experience with reactive dogs.
Avoid trainers who use punishment or aversive techniques, as these can worsen reactivity. We've come across many dog owners who took the guidance of an aversive trainer (who may market themselves as a 'positive reinforcement trainer') who state that their dog's reactivity is as bad as ever due to their dog's confidence being minimised.
Remember, reactivity is often rooted in fear, so we do not want to solidify our dogs' perception that the world is scary, as it can cause them to shut down, instead of regulating their emotions.
Living with a Reactive Dog
Honestly, our reactive dog is such a blessing in our lives. Living with reactive dogs does require adjustments in your everyday life, but these changes can also strengthen your bond. In saying this, we wanted to include some practical tips for daily life.
Plan Your Walks
What are the best times to walk your reactive dog? If you're at the beginning of your training journey, you should choose times and routes that are less likely to have any of your dog's triggers. Usually, early mornings or late evenings are quieter and less stressful, allowing you to build additional confidence in walking your pooch.
Communicate with Others
This was a big one for us, as one of our dog's activities that resulted in a reaction was patrolling the fence line. Let your neighbours and other dog owners know about your dog’s reactivity. This can help avoid surprise encounters and allow others to give you space. You can even try and help them build a connection with your dog. We've previously given our neighbours treats that they can throw over the fence, using happy cues like "Good girl!" so that our dog establishes a positive association with their presence by the fence line.
Keep Training Fun
Training is exhausting and the last thing you want is burnout when dealing with reactive dogs. Change up the types of training you do. If you've been working on obedience in the garden, you could switch it up and get an agility set to attempt. You can make frozen treats in a KONG or everyday containers to take on a walk, so you can take a break and let your dog lick to decompress in a park.
We also suggest that you make training sessions short and fun.
Ensure that each session ends on a positive note to keep your dog motivated and engaged, and importantly, keep you both engaged and focused.
Our Final Thoughts
While it's incredibly challenging at times, understanding and helping your reactive pooch is extraordinarily rewarding. Identifying triggers, using positive reinforcement, and seeking professional help when needed can make a significant difference in your dog's quality of life.
You will need to make some changes of your own, like establishing boundaries and a routine, practicing patience and being consistent. Do not be deterred when a setback occurs (we all have them), as you'll continue to have small victories alongside building a strong and trusting relationship with your furry friend.
With the correct resources and approach, you can truly make a difference and help your dog become more confident and calm.
Any questions? Feel free to send us a message on our social or email us on our Contact Page.
