What is Dog Reactivity

What is Dog Reactivity?

Many dogs are reactive, and people genuinely do not even recognize it in their dogs. Reactivity is an overstimulated dog caused by some trigger, where the dog stops reacting to your command and becomes uncontrollable. It is usually unusual behavior of your dog in a specific situation that could be aggressive but is not necessarily aggressive.

It usually starts in the puppy phase, and many owners ignore signs. He is just excited. He is very friendly and wants to say hello to everyone. A puppy could be like that, but addressing that behavior immediately is good.

Dogs are usually reactive to other dogs, bicycles, cars, some types of people, or anything else. Many dog owners with reactive dogs don’t know how to handle this. They usually feel embarrassed and use excuses like he is not generally like that, only on a leash. The next step to avoid embarrassment is to start predicting where stimulants can show up so they can avoid it. Very likely, if dogs are reactive to dogs, they will avoid places with many dogs or pick a time for a walk with no dogs around. Overall, this approach puts additional stress on the owner and limits the life options of the dog.

Why is it related to travel?

If you add on top of that travel, the reason to help your dog is even more critical. When we are traveling, we can not predict such a situation. If you travel alone, explore new places, hike, or go sightseeing around a new place, the last thing you want is a reactive dog who will notice another dog before you, react inappropriately, and embarrass you.

So, working on your dog’s reactivity is the best thing you can do for happier travel and a better quality of life for your dog.

Why am I writing about it?

When I got my puppy, a border collie, I knew I would do the best for him. However, sometimes, it is not easy to have all the knowledge you need and recognize the best steps.

As a baby of three months, he was scared of other puppies. He has never been abused; he spent his first two months with puppies from his litter, but when I started to socialize with him, he was scared of other puppies and needed a couple of weeks to stop hiding from everyone. Of course, I continued his socialization, and the second phase changed his fear into a love for dogs. Not ordinary love, he becomes crazy for dogs. He couldn’t be calm with them but would run after any dog he could see. It soon became desperate love, so he started to bark and growl if he saw another dog on the other side of the street because he was frustrated not being able to reach them.

Then I finally recognized the name of the issue: my dog is reactive on dogs, and I started to work on it. I did not want to avoid situations with him, I did not want to feel embarrassed, and I did not want to limit his life opportunities. And I wanted to travel with him.

Google it

If I didn’t mention above, I am not a dog trainer; my dog was my first dog. However, I was dedicated to making him a happy and calm dog so we could travel and have a great time together, visiting new places and meeting new people and DOGS.

I didn’t work with professional trainers mainly because, during that period, I did not have money for trainers, but any trainer can not change your dog. They can give you a formula for doing it, but at the end of the day, you and your pup have to go through it.

Also, everything I put in this article results from hours and hours of research about dog reactivity and behavior and reading countless books from different authors, with only one intention to help my dog. I am sharing a compilation of techniques I used with references to sources. I divided our story into four steps; every step was essential to the journey and helped our progress.

DISCLAIMER: No link on this post is an affiliate link, and neither am I making any money from it. My only intention is to share my journey and help other dogs’ parents have a calmer dog so they can travel without worries.

Do you need a professional trainer?

Some breeds are overall more reactive, but whatever you have, there is always an area for improvement. It is your decision how you approach it. You can find a trainer and have someone to help you. But still, you will have to do serious research to find a good trainer. However, don’t expect a miracle. Reactivity can not be solved overnight. Just feel dedicated to your final goal, and you will make it the same as I did.

Our journey has lasted almost two years; I have seen progress much earlier, but please don’t give up. It doesn’t take much time daily or weekly, but with constant effort, you will see progress and change your dog and your life.

My dog today is still not perfect. He can become overexcited in very stimulating situations with other stimulated dogs. But he can also be calm with calm dogs around him or during walks in everyday situations. He learned from a very reactive dog to be calmer and control himself.

I divided our journey into four steps. It is not necessary to master one step before the next one. For example, you can continue working on step 1 while introducing step 2.

Step 1: Look at me

This basic dog obedience command is not directly related to dog reactivity but is a necessary base for further work.

Paying attention is to teach your dog that he should always pay attention to you when he is unsecured or wants to get something.

Pay attention starts with the command Look at me where you ask your dog to look at you to get a treat. As with everything else, you start to teach commands at home with no distractions and then continue with minor distractions and progress more and more.

You can find many videos on how to teach ‘Look at me.’ This is one example video.

Add a distraction

The next step is to start implementing it on walks. If your dog is excited outside, you can exchange the reward for something exciting outside. The best training is to let your dog sniff around. He will notice a tree or mailbox and try to get there in one moment. Your job is to notice it, ask him to Look at you, and let him go to the desired destination as soon as he does it.

After you master verbal Look at me, let your dog decide by himself to look at you. Try the same scenario when your dog sees something interesting. Stay behind your dog, look at his back neck, and wait. When he sees he can not reach his goal, wait til he turns his head toward you. Immediately let him reach the goal, praise him with a good boy, and reward him.

This is the first step, where you teach your dog to come to a conclusion by himself or to exercise self-control. This will be the basis for future work with reactivity.

More about it you can find in the book Control Unleashed, The Puppy Program by Leslie McDevitt.

Step 2: Leave it

‘Leave it’ is the basic command for future impulse control. It teaches your dog that the reward can be way better if he resists something he wants.

You can see how to do it here.

The ‘Leave it’ command is not only crucial for reactivity or travel but is also an essential command that can help you in many situations and can save your dog’s life once he masters it. It starts with asking your dog to resist a treat. Still, it later can stop your dog from taking a non-wanted object from the floor, which can be dangerous, or to stay away from touching an animal like a snake or any situation where your dog, by default, would push his nose. Start inside of the house. You can master it during everyday walks.

Step 3: Counter Conditioning or Bubble Theory

This step is real work on reactivity.

Counterconditioning is a training technique used to modify the behavior of reactive dogs by changing their emotional response to specific triggers or stimuli that cause them to react negatively. Counterconditioning aims to replace the dog’s negative or overreactive emotional response with a positive or neutral one. This is achieved by pairing the trigger or stimulus that elicits the reactive behavior with something the dog finds enjoyable or calming.

How do you work on Counter Conditioning?

1. Identify triggers: Determine the specific situations or stimuli that trigger the dog’s reactive behavior. These could be other dogs, people, certain sounds, or any specific trigger.
2. Set the threshold: Determine the distance or intensity at which the trigger can be present without triggering a reactive response from the dog. This is called the threshold distance and varies for each dog. Starting the counterconditioning training below the dog’s threshold is crucial to prevent triggering the reactive behavior.
3. Create positive associations: Introduce the trigger at a distance below the threshold while simultaneously providing the dog with something they find enjoyable or calming. This could be high-value treats, praise, toys, or any other reward the dog responds positively to. The trigger and the positive stimulus should be paired consistently so the dog begins associating the trigger with positive experiences.
4. Gradual exposure decreases the distance between the dog and the trigger while maintaining a positive association. This process is called desensitization. The goal is to expose the dog to the trigger from a distance that still doesn’t trigger a reactive response. If the dog shows signs of reactivity or stress, the distance should be increased to a level where the dog remains calm and responsive. The crucial element is keeping your dog under the threshold; otherwise, you must step back and won’t progress.
5. Reinforce calm behavior: As the dog becomes more comfortable with the trigger, reinforce and reward calm behavior. This can include ignoring the trigger or providing treats and praise when the dog remains relaxed and non-reactive. It is crucial to consistently reinforce and reward the desired behavior to solidify the new positive association.
6. Generalize the behavior: Once the dog consistently exhibits calm behavior in controlled training sessions, it’s essential to generalize it to different environments and situations. Gradually expose the dog to the trigger in various contexts, maintaining the positive association.

Counterconditioning requires patience, consistency, and gradual progress. This video demonstrates how to do it.

The new name for the same thing is Bubble Theory. It refers to keeping your dog under the threshold or inside his bubble so he can feel safe and calm and has no unwanted reaction.

Step 4:

And for the actual game changer, please continue HERE (Step 4).