The most important thing a reactive dog needs is a proactive pet parent. Living with a reactive dog can be quite daunting. The constant vigilance required to manage a reactive dog’s behavior in day-to-day life can be exhausting, to say the least. Not to mention, the persistent sense of being misunderstood may lead to frustration and a feeling of helplessness in both the dog and the dog parent. Learning how to train a reactive dog is an obligation we owe to the dog to help them live a happy and fulfilling life in an environment that is constantly judging them.
Dog reactivity: in a nutshell
Dog reactivity is a dog’s tendency to react adversely towards specific stimulus/ stimuli such as people walking by, kids playing, bikes, people skating, dogs, smaller animals and so on. Reactive behaviors can take the form of barking, lunging, biting, leash pulling, growling and other behaviors that the dog deems fit to keep the threat at bay.
Reactivity does not always necessarily boil down to aggression. A dog may be reactive but not aggressive. As a professional trainer, I have dealt with numerous cases where a leash-reactive dog acts up only to get to the other dog in order to interact and play with them and not to attack them.
What causes reactivity in dogs?
Dog reactivity may stem from a multitude of underlying factors such as
- Lack of socialization
- Negative experience with certain stimuli
- Lack of impulse control training
- Inherent fearfulness or anxiety
- Over excitement
- Medical issues
- Genetics
- Frustration
- Territorial instincts
- Redirected aggression
Closely monitoring your dog in a variety of situations, especially the ones that trigger him can vastly help in recognizing and addressing the root cause of your dog’s reactivity.
Remember to Never purposely drag your dog in uncomfortable situations to recognize the cause and effect. This can only make the issue worse. Your dog will communicate with you ample number of times and give plenty of warnings as and when they feel cornered or anxious.
Related Read: How to train a rescue dog the right way?
How to train a reactive dog
Can reactive dogs be trained and rehabilitated?
A dog can be trained at any age and any level of reactivity. The way to do so and the expertise required may highly vary. Furthermore, if a reactive dog has progressed to a level of biting and attacking confidently, rehabilitating them with an inexperienced family is a Bad idea!
Reactive dogs need an experienced handler who has the capability to understand, empathize, as well as the patience, expertise, and consistency to modify the dog’s behavior. Transforming a reactive dog can be tricky because of the sheer amount of time it may take and the lifestyle changes required to do so.
Rehabilitating a reactive dog requires the trainer and the pet parent to clearly understand the dog’s threshold and the level of harm the dog is capable and willing to inflict when triggered. Roping in a qualified professional to help your reactive dog is a must.
The effect of food and nutrition on dog behavior
Did you know food and nutrition can have quite an impact on your dog’s behavior? A deficiency in B vitamins, particularly B12, can result in lethargy and mood changes.
Omega-3 fatty acids, such as EPA and DHA found in fish oil, play a crucial role in brain health and cognitive function and have been linked to improved learning, memory, and mood regulation in dogs. A deficiency in omega-3 fatty acids may contribute to behavioral issues such as anxiety and aggression.
In some cases, inadequate protein intake or poor-quality protein sources in the diet may contribute to behavioral issues such as irritability, anxiety, or aggression in dogs.
inadequate protein intake or poor-quality protein sources in the diet may contribute to behavioral issues such as irritability, anxiety, or aggression in dogs.
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How to train a reactive dog | 10 Pro Tips to a Happy Dog and a Happier Dog Parent
1. Understand the root cause
Understanding why your dog is behaving the way they are is crucial to help them through it. Getting to the root cause involves keenly observing your dog and their reactions to their triggers. Observe your dog’s behavior around their triggers and finding out what destresses them during such times. Doing so is the first step towards planning and preparing a behavior modification program to address the issue at hand.
2. Why aversive techniques don’t work even if you think they do
Handling a reactive dog on walks is hard. It may lead to feelings of helplessness and frustration in the handler. Aversive tools and techniques have gained popularity because they provide quick results due to the pain and fear they instill in dogs.
However, aversive techniques without desensitizing the dog and teaching them an alternate behavior may fail to address the root cause of the issue. A reactive dog with zero outlet to release pent-up frustration will end up thoroughly confused and utterly helpless, which may further lead to aggression and shutdown.
However, aversive techniques without desensitizing the dog and teaching them an alternate behavior may fail to address the root cause of the issue.
3. Focus on building a strong impulse control
An impulse reaction is typically a spontaneous or immediate response to a stimulus or situation without much forethought or deliberation. In dogs, it is characterized by quick reflexive actions such as lunging, jumping, barking, chasing, etc.
Building impulse control in dogs involves teaching them to control this impulse and achieve a better sense of self-discipline and patience.
Some of the most common cues taught as a part of impulse control include –
– Stay/ wait
– Leave it
– Drop it
– Settle
– Heel
– Look
Training a reactive dog for better impulse control is one of the best ways to help them make better decisions when faced with a stressful trigger. Always start training your dog in low distractions first and gradually raise the bar as you go.
Related read: Brain games for your dog at low or no cost
4. Redirecting the right way
Redirection involves diverting your dog’s attention from their triggers to a more desirable target or an activity. When a reactive dog encounters their trigger, they typically go into a frenzy of impulsive reactions such as barking, lunging, attacking, etc.
These emotional responses in dogs often heighten as their trigger approaches them on walks. This gives the handler very little time to act in terms of training and desensitizing, often leaving room only for redirection.
Redirecting a reactive dog usually involves multiple steps; the first one being creating a good amount of distance from the trigger by taking several steps back or crossing the road. You know you have created ample distance when you reach a point where the dog is able to see the trigger but also look away from it.
The next step involves engaging the dog in something more desirable like sniffing the ground or performing a cue such as Look, Sit, Stay etc.
5. Let your dog acknowledge their triggers
Redirection is an important step in calming a reactive dog down. When working consistently with a reactive dog, over time, it often happens that pet parents get into training and correction mode without letting the dog see or acknowledge their stressors.
This may be counterproductive to training because while working with reactive dogs, it is crucial to desensitize them towards their triggers while teaching them a desirable response in place of their existing emotional response. This may not be possible without letting your reactive dog acknowledge their triggers.
Now, letting them acknowledge their triggers does not mean forcing them to interact. It only means letting them see or experience their stressors from a distance, after which you must continue to deploy the training techniques that work best for both of you.
6. Work within your dog’s threshold
In the context of dog behavior, threshold refers to a point up to which the dog is able to acknowledge their stressors and not react adversely towards them. In other words, if you have a dog-reactive dog, and you have to take around 25 steps away from the dog for your dog to stop barking, lunging and reacting towards that dog, that is essentially your dog’s threshold.
When managing your reactive dog, it is crucial to work within your dog’s threshold. This helps in building trust between the handler and the dog, which is of utmost importance in behavior modification.
Furthermore, working within your dog’s threshold will yield faster results in training and bringing about desirable emotional responses in your dog.
Forcing them to move at a faster pace will only be counter productive and lead to frustration in both the dog and the handler.
working within your dog’s threshold will yield faster results in training and bringing about desirable emotional responses in your dog.
7. Building a training routine around your dog’s triggers
Dogs thrive on a consistent routine. This is not just true in terms of puppy training and raising, but also in cases of behavior modification for reactive, anxious or fearful dogs.
Reactive dogs react the way they do because it comes naturally to them and it has worked for them to keep threats at bay.
When your reactive dog sees their triggers, they follow a process of emotional responses which include –
looking at the trigger à setting themselves on high alert mode à barking from a distance à preparing to change response to lunging or attacking as the trigger approaches à and lastly, attempting to calm themselves down as the trigger starts walking away through behaviors like air and grass sniffing and so on.
This is the existing routine your dog is potentially following at the sight of their stressors.
If you want them to behave differently, you have to not only teach them alternate behaviors, but also help them build a routine around it.
Building a training routine for reactive dogs generally involves the following steps –
– Letting the dog acknowledge their triggers
– Finding and maintaining the threshold distance
– Redirecting the dog
– Using cues to calm the dog down
– Rewarding the calm
– Moving on
Related read: 10 tips to a smooth leash walking experience with your dog
8. Engaging in the right kind of activities can transform your dog
Training and modifying a reactive dog’s behavior does not mean working with them only during the sight of their triggers. It means changing your and their lifestyle in general to accommodate their mental and physical needs better.
A reactive dog is programmed to react more and think less. Most of reactive behaviors stem from poor impulse control and decision-making.
Engaging a reactive dog in activities and games that require them to use their sensory organs and solve problems will help change their emotional responses over time during crisis.
Invest in a variety of mental stimulation toys and puzzles and make sure to engage them multiple times through the day in activities that challenge their prefrontal cortex. Doing so will help you raise your dog to be calmer and more spatially aware.
9. Managing the behavior > Fixing the behavior
When dealing with your reactive dog, it is important to remember that they are not giving you a problem, they are having a problem!
Looking for quick fixes to train your reactive dog will never give you sustainable results. Sure, they may manipulate you into thinking that it’s working, but the dog’s physiology is far more complex than that.
What may look like reactivity being “fixed” may actually be the behavior taking a different form altogether!
Work with your dog to manage reactivity and try to reach a middle ground with them. Desensitize them gradually towards their stressors and avoid places and situations that are likely to bring out the worse in your dog.
10. Tracking progress
Training a reactive dog is not a sprint, but a marathon. If you are able to improve your dog’s threshold even by a couple of meters over a span of few weeks, you can not only call it progress, but also celebrate it with your dog.
Your dog is trying their best with the limited information they have access to. Go slow, be patient, show up for your dog consistently, never force them and make sure to reward the small wins. You got this!
Desensitization > Socialization
Socialization refers to exposing your dog to a variety of stimuli in a controlled manner to help build positive associations and a desirable emotional response. It is usually started at an early age of puppyhood and is an ongoing process for life.
Desensitization involves changing a dog’s existing emotional response to a particular stimulus through gradual and controlled exposure. It is a training technique that is generally used to help dogs overcome fearfulness, anxiety and reactivity towards their triggers.
The end goal of socialization is to make a pup more confident and well-rounded in a variety of environments. On the other hand, the end goal of desensitization is to help a dog feel more relaxed and less anxious in the presence of a stimulus.
A reactive dog has a pre-established emotional response towards certain stimuli. Desensitizing them should be one of the most crucial aspects of the training program.
Can dog reactivity be cured or fixed?
The simple answer to this question is No. You cannot fix reactivity. It can, however, be managed with appropriate training and behavior modification techniques.
The ideal training routine to be followed for reactivity is as follows –
Understanding the root cause – Recognizing the reactive dog’s threshold – Desensitizing the dog towards their triggers – Gradual exposure to triggers – Redirection techniques – Managing the dog’s behavior and the environment – Training an alternate response to triggers – Consistent and continuous practice.
Even after deploying all of the above-mentioned steps, reactivity in dogs can be managed to a certain extent and not fixed 100%. This is because emotional responses linked to reactivity are strongly rooted in dogs over past and repeated experiences. Some of these perceptions formed may be changed with training but a few of them may be permanent.
How to train a reactive dog
What not to do with a reactive dog – 3 things to avoid at all costs
Dog reactivity is a complex behavioral problem and needs to be addressed with expertise, caution, and patience. There are very few scopes for errors when it comes to training a reactive dog because there is a lot at stake. Here are 3 mistakes to avoid at all costs when figuring out how to train a reactive dog –
1. Forcing them into an uncomfortable situation
While it’s true that your dog needs to be exposed to their triggers to desensitize them, it needs to be done in a gradual and controlled manner. Dragging them into uncomfortable situations and forcing a reaction out of them is a classic way to skyrocket the dog’s reactivity.
This is because such situations will only make them feel trapped and helpless, which will in turn trigger a fight response instead of a flight response in them.
2. Punishing them
A reactive dog’s reaction toward their triggers is something that comes naturally to them. Punishing them for it will only make them more clueless and add to existing frustration.
Punishing a reactive dog can have a cascading effect on the dog’s psyche. It may lead to negative associations with the trigger, increased stress and confusion, lack of understanding and learning which may eventually lead to a risk of increased aggression.
3. Letting them interact with their triggers in a riled-up state of mind
On walks, it often happens that your dog may see another dog and start acting up only to get to that dog. In the process of reacting at the sight of the trigger, the dog gets riled up. An interaction between two dogs in a riled-up state of mind may escalate into a fight quickly.
Regardless of how friendly a reactive dog may be, always wait for them to calm down before letting them interact with other animals or people, especially when they’re on a leash.
An interaction between two dogs in a riled-up state of mind may escalate into a fight quickly.
Medication for reactive dogs
Reactivity can take a toll – on dogs and dog parents alike. In some severe cases, it may end up affecting the dog’s physical and mental health adversely. During such times, medication may become a necessity rather than an option.
However, it must be remembered that medication, alternative medicine and therapy must be add-ons to behavior modification programs and training. It is crucial to address reactivity from the root cause. Medication only addresses anxiety at the surface level.
CBD (cannabidiol) has gained popularity as a potential treatment for various health issues in both humans and animals, including dogs. Anecdotal evidence and several pet parents have suggested that CBD may help dogs with severe anxiety and aggression.
Responses to CBD may vary from dog to dog. What may work for one dog may not work for another. Furthermore, there can be differences in dosage requirements, effectiveness, and potential side effects.
Holista Pets understands this responsibility and has developed a range of products that are safe not only for pets but also the environment.
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The dosage of pet CBD oil depends on the size and health condition of your dog. It is recommended to start with a smaller dose and adjust as needed. Please consult with your veterinarian before starting any new health regimen for your pet.
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Troubleshooting
“dog aggressive on leash but not off”
A dog on a leash is likely to have a very different reaction to a stimulus as compared to when they’re off leash. This is because the presence of leash may make them feel trapped.
A dog that feels trapped or cornered in a stimulating situation may have two emotional responses – fight or flight. A dog on a leash cannot resort to flight in the most effective manner as they cannot run, avoid or hide beyond a point. Hence, they may quickly resort to fight.
If your dog is reactive only on leash, it essentially means he is putting up a fight in the presence of their trigger. The behavior modification plan for leash reactive dogs must involve training them to choose the flight option instead of fight.
A dog that feels trapped or cornered in a stimulating situation may have two emotional responses – fight or flight.
“I hate my reactive dog”
It is human and absolutely normal to feel at your wits end when dealing with a reactive dog day in and day out. Training and managing a reactive dog requires serious changes in lifestyle and day-to-day activities.
But you must remember that your dog is having a tougher time than you because they are unable to communicate their discomfort and fear to you in the most effective manner and hence are resorting to reactivity.
Depending on the amount of time they have been reactive, it may take several weeks to months to rehabilitate them. At times, rehabilitation may not even be an option if the dog in picture poses a serious threat to another life. In such cases, the best option is usually to rehome the dog with an experienced pet parent.