Dog Reactivity

Walking your dog should be a pleasant experience, but . Leash reactivity is a significant challenge, particularly for city dogs. However, at Two Dads and a Dog, we've helped hundreds of reactive dogs in urban environments. Our personalized 1-2-1 plans and group classes are designed around four essential elements to ensure a successful recovery.

Imagine you want to enjoy a peaceful walk with your furry friend, just like any other person. However, whenever your dog spots any trigger, such as a person, another dog, or even a plastic bag blowing in the wind, they become restless and start barking, lunging and making a scene.

This behavior is known as reactivity, which is an extreme overreaction to everyday occurrences, like encountering another dog on a walk.

Reactivity is a broad term that encompasses several similar-looking behaviors with two main purposes:

Accessing something desirable
Escaping something unpleasant

Identifying your dog's reactivity is crucial for creating a successful training plan to address the issue.

Four Elements: Behavior Intervention Plan

Four Elements

Management

When it comes to addressing reactivity in dogs, it is essential to prioritize behavior management. This involves changing routines and the surroundingsto restrict the dog's ability to engage in undesirable behavior. Though this approach may be unpopular, adjusting human routines is key to achieve the desired outcome.

Without proper management, animals may continue to practice undesirable behavior, making it more challenging to teach them new habits. It is essential to avoid exposing these animals to stimuli that trigger fear, reactivity, or aggression, such as flooding, which can cause chronic stress and impede their learning abilities. Our primary aim should be to keep our animals as far away as possible from their triggers, unless we are actively engaged in a therapy session.

Some of the management strategies we recommend to help reactive dogs are:

Walking your dog at offpeak hours, when it is less busy
Reducing the walks to quick potty breaks
Removing indoor barking platforms with windows access

Dog Body Language

Dog's Body Language

Dogs use body language as a means of communication since they cannot form words. This language includes various body postures, facial expressions, movements, and types of barks.

Dogs use these behaviors to respond to their surroundings, convey messages about current situations, or respond to someone else’s body language.

Some of the common body language signals that dogs use to communicate their feelings and intentions can be grouped as:

Conflict diffusive behaviors
Happy/relaxed
Anxiety/fear/worry
Assertiveness/aggression

Understanding your dog's body language can assist you in comprehending his needs and ensuring his comfort in various situations. However, it's worth noting that many of these nonverbal cues can have different meanings in different contexts, so it's essential to interpret them based on the present situation.

Enrichment

As the number of walks might be reduced for your dog, it is essential to create a schedule that fulfills their physical and psychological needs. This will help us maintain good welfare standards for our pets and protect them from situations that they are not yet ready to handle.

Enrichment activities are crucial for the well-being of reactive dogs as they offer mental stimulation, physical exercise, positive experiences, and a way to relax.

Here are some activities that you can do with your dog to keep them mentally and physically stimulated:

Food-based enrichment puzzles
Sniff walks
Tricks
Nose work and searching games
Chewing, sniffing, licking, and shredding activities
Play
Canine fitness

Treatment

Exposure therapy can be an effective way to help reactive dogs become less sensitive to their triggers. To start, introduce your dog to the trigger at a comfortable distance and reward calm behavior with treats and praise.

Gradually decrease the distance over time as your dog becomes more at ease, but always ensure that they remain below their threshold of reactivity.

Counter-conditioning techniques can also be useful. This involves associating the trigger with something positive, such as giving your dog a treat or engaging them in a fun game whenever they see another dog. This will help your dog to form a positive association with the trigger and eventually reduce their reactivity.

Always reward your dog's attentiveness with treats, praise, or play. This will help your dog learn to stay focused on you even in challenging situations.

Options: Reactivity Interventions

Reactive Fido Foundation

If your dog growls, barks, or lunges at other dogs or people while on a leash, don't worry! You can take the first step towards having a happier and more relaxed dog. Our Reactive Fido Foundations group class is designed to help you achieve this.

The course includes three main modules: Understanding Reactivity, Managing a Reactive Dogs, and Intervention Fundamentals
Option 1: Virtual class - 3 weeks / 55 minute classes. Only Summer
Option 2: In-person class - 5 weeks / 55 minute classes. First session is virtual
We will provide barriers and a safe and controlled environment
This is a pre-req for Reactive Fido Advanced group sessions

Schedule Treatment

Reactive Fido Advanced

In this class, your main objective will be to utilize your reactive foundation knowledge and skills to assist your dog in developing and practicing healthy behaviors while interacting with other dogs. These behaviors may include sniffing, engaging with you, and exploring their surroundings. If your dog requires more space or is easily triggered by movement, we recommend our outdoor version of the class.

Indoors option: 4 weeks / 55 minute sessions
Outdoor option: 4 weeks / 55 minute sessions. For dogs extremely stressed
We will provide barriers and a safe and controlled environment
Pre-req: Reactive Fido Foundations

Schedule Treatment

1-2-1 Reactivity Interventions

If you are unsure of what to do, where to start, or just want to have a better understanding of your dog's behavior, this might be your best option.

This appointment offers you the chance to meet with a behavior consultant without the need to wait for or invest in a full training program. We will delve deep into your situation with your dog and help you identify any behavioral concerns, level of risk, prognosis, and pathway options for your dog, family, and/or situation.

This consultation is great for discussing issues like aggression, reactivity, fear, recent bites/incidents, rehoming, pathway plans for dogs with complicated histories, and/or behavioral euthanasia.

You are welcome to sign up for this appointment immediately, and no Intake Evaluation is required.

Schedule Treatment