Dog Reactivity

If your dog experiences overwhelming EXCITEMENT when seeing other dogs, people, bicycles, traffic, or unfamiliar animals, it can be incredibly stressful for both of you. This reaction—barking, spinning, and lunging—can turn every outing into a challenging situation, leaving you feeling frustrated and your dog feeling unsettled. Two Dads Dog Training understands how this can weigh on your relationship and make it difficult to enjoy your time TOGETHER. You’re not alone in this experience, and it’s completely normal to feel concerned about how it affects your daily life.

Reactivity behaviors include several similar-looking actions with two primary purposes:

Accessing something DESIRABLE
Escaping something UNPLEASANT

Identifying your dog's reactivity is crucial for developing 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 surroundings to restrict the dog's ability to engage in reactive behavior. Adjusting human routines is key to achieving the desired outcome.

Without proper management, dogs may continue to practice self-reinforcing behaviors, making it more challenging to teach them new habits. It is essential to avoid exposing these dogs 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 intentionally working with the dog's behavior.

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

Walking your dog at off-peak hours, when it is less busy
Providing alternative ways to exercise
Reducing the walks to quick potty breaks
Removing indoor barking platforms with window 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 you maintain good welfare standards for your dog and keep them from situations 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 in the absence of triggers
Tricks
Nose work and searching games
Chewing, sniffing, licking, and shredding activities
Play
Canine fitness

Intervention

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 food 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 food 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 food, 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 and Boisterous Fido group classes are designed to help you achieve this.

The course includes three main modules: Understanding Reactivity, Managing 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. The first session is a virtual
We will provide barriers and a safe and controlled environment
This is a prereq for Reactive Fido Advanced group sessions

Schedule

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