Question For Owners Of Reactive Dogs

[kayla1]

Monah I have found this to be the case with me as well - i become anxious no matter how hard I try not to be and of course that doesn't help the situation at all!

Me too - until I started to play "who's that?" from Click to Calm. Basically, as soon as the dog looks at something that MAY trigger them, while they are still relaxed (ie you have nanoseconds) say "who's that" in a happy voice and shove a treat into their mouth. After a few goes, your dog will look at you when they see a trigger, and both you and the dog remain calm.

I love the 'Look at that' game from Control Unleashed which is a similar concept. Works well with my reactive dogs.

Who's that/ Look at That is the best game ever for reactive dogs! It is extremely easy to implement, has advantages over traditional focus alone and relaxes dog AND owner in most cases. With most dogs i prefer to stop some of the extreme stuff first- its hard for an owner to play "Who's That" with a lunging barking dog at distance but as soon as this has stopped, even momentarily, the game takes effect.

This is the best thing we have added to our training program in the last 5 years- and thats saying something!

That is saying something!

It's great with my fearful reactive dogs (who are predictable), and I also use it with my low threshold prey-driven dog when she spots birds etc.

I believe this would work better on my more unpredictable boy, who is relaxed the majority of the time but tends to react when the object is close... my other reactor though, as in as soon as something is seen at a distance, she is on high alert, so her initial reaction is being alert and therefore no longer calm. how would this game be moulded to work it around her behaviour?

Two of my dogs are always on high alert. I mark when looking and not physically reacting (lunging/barking/growling). I didn't teach them to look at boring things first as others have done, and I use yes rather than a clicker.

[kayla1]

I will be waiting anxiously for an answer to sparky Tansy's question. Banjo can spot and react to something before I have time to even notice anything.

Yes I have that problem especially with Annie and her bird obsession - she'll spot a bird long before I do. So I just watch her body language and that tells me when she has seen one!

[Monah]

Have thoroughly enjoyed the comments of all on this thread.

I, too, have a reactive GSD who has just turned 12 months old. Like others, the trigger can be across the other side of the park but does not really go full blown unless we are passing each other. The club we were attending did not offer much support - in fact, we spent more time out of class than we did in it as I kept getting told to walk her away in no uncertain terms (am sure the instructors used to be school teachers as it made me feel like a detention was imminent if I did not comply and I am in my 60's!!).

We now have a personal instructor and she is great but I am keen to purchase the Control Unleashed book. Is it available in Australia or do you have to buy it direct from USA on line??

Your club sounds like mine! I'm 50 and have had tens of dogs, but the instructors at my club are all retired late 60s and 70s! and their ideas went out with the Ark They even use full sized agility equipment, straight off even for first timers, AND with puppies I got into trouble because I would not allow mine to do anything until 18 months naughty rebellious me!

can someone give me the name, author and publisher of that book so I can order it please? xxxx(Control unleashed)

We do play a LOOK! game, but I need all the help I can get!

Greytmate, great posts about Woody to be honest, I've often thought about a muzzle as monah only reacts to very close things, VERY close, so maybe she'd realise they are not a threat if she could get close enough without the worry of snapping. Like others, I am too worried to allow her to get close, so how can she ever get used to it?

[megan_]

Here's a link Monah:

http://agilityclick.com/prod158.htm

They also now have a DVD with demos of the games which looks great too.

Another great book is "Click to Calm": http://www1.booko.com.au/books/isbn/9781890948207

Edited July 27, 2010 by megan_

[Monah]

megan_xxxx

[superminty]

Control Unleashed is great theory wise. Click to Calm is great practically. They complement each other well.

[Tokkie]

I just love this topic...... can't wait till I have time to read and read and read.....

[Kavik]

Will have to get a copy of Control Unleashed. I have only read Click to Calm. Best book on behaviour modification I have!

[Skye GSD]

Thanks Megan - book and DVD now ordered - can't wait to get them.

Monah - Skye is my 5th GSD over a span of 40 yrs and apart from my first one (the beautiful Dax who was my baby and therefore not trained as he should have been due entirely to ignorance on my part) she is definitely the most challenging. Having already gained CDX with two other girls Skye is proving to be a little minx with her lack of concentration and high drive. We will succeed but as they say "miracles take a little longer" Just love DOL as it lets you know that your dog is not unusual and there are certainly other avenues to explore if the current ones are not working for you. Also the fact that I have gone from the 11 year old beautifully trained Sascha who I lost last year to the puppy stages again and I have to keep reminding myself that she is still only a puppy.

[Greytmate]

Thanks for offering to lend me book Emm and Sas.

I will PM you Emm.

[Henrietta]

Thanks for offering to lend me book Emm and Sas.

I will PM you Emm.

No problem, Greytmate.

[Henrietta]

Control Unleashed is great theory wise. Click to Calm is great practically. They complement each other well.

Yes, I found this too. I am always going back and re-reading them. I also have Brenda Aloff's 'Aggression in Dogs - Practical Management, Prevention and Behaviour Modification'. It is large and heavy and not for a quick read through, but I am constantly going over it and rethinking my approaches and tweaking things a little.

Edit - I got some great practical exercises out of Control Unleashed but it was aimed at a slightly different set of dogs and owners than I.

My dog is reactive and fear aggressive though.

Edited July 28, 2010 by Emm

[loeka]

I'm so happy I ran into this thread: it means I'm not the only one! So many of these posts reflect my life at the moment. I have a 10month dog who's reactive, anxious and lacking confidence at the moment. I even called in a behaviourist a few months ago because I didn't know what to do - he's also our first dog so yes, like some of you said, a very very steep learning curve. I'm still learning and working hard to get him focused on me and not his triggers.

His triggers are many though he won't always react to all of them and he's *fast* so we try to prevent behaviour but sometimes it seems to come out of the blue. Also, some of his triggers are strange like white mastiff type dogs, staffies and boxers - it's specific but I don't know why. It's difficult to predict his behaviour because sometimes he's great and other times he tries to snap at them if they come too close.

I take him to obedience once a week and I stick to the training the behaviourist gave us. I clicker train him and do a lot of focus work. He's got great focus so it makes for a good foundation. It makes me anxious though to have such a reactive dog, especially because it's my very first dog and sometimes I think, what have I gotten myself into?!?!? Can I cope?! Can I give him what he needs?! So it's like a vicious circle - he's anxious and then I get anxious and I'm sure he feels that as well and it doesn't help the situation : (

But it's 1 step forward and 2 steps back. He's improved much already and I know he's still young so who knows what kind of dog he'll be in a few months' time.

[malsrock]

Thanks Megan - book and DVD now ordered - can't wait to get them.

Monah - Skye is my 5th GSD over a span of 40 yrs and apart from my first one (the beautiful Dax who was my baby and therefore not trained as he should have been due entirely to ignorance on my part) she is definitely the most challenging. Having already gained CDX with two other girls Skye is proving to be a little minx with her lack of concentration and high drive. We will succeed but as they say "miracles take a little longer" Just love DOL as it lets you know that your dog is not unusual and there are certainly other avenues to explore if the current ones are not working for you. Also the fact that I have gone from the 11 year old beautifully trained Sascha who I lost last year to the puppy stages again and I have to keep reminding myself that she is still only a puppy.

Oh my, I can relate to this............I have an 8 year old GSD, my main man........he's a total gem that I don't even need to leash him other than for council requirements. I also have a 12 month old Belgian Malinois with a ton of reactive prey drive and walk/train them separately. I take the Mal out first, have a walk and do some training routines and think we made some progress, then I take out my big guy and think geez........my little fireball has some big shoes to fill...........are we ever going to get to the level where my GSD's at People often look up to me thinking I am hot trainer with the control and things I can do with my main man, then they see me with my Mali baby yipping and yapping on the end of leash who won't do a damn thing he's told

The Mal is predictably prey drive reactive to other dogs wanting to chase and capture them, but he will bite them when caught so I have to be careful in that regard to calm him down. I carry his ball and fortunately, his ball seems to override most distractions to refocus on me which I used as the foundation to ignor other dogs initially. Along with mild leash corrections, I virtually give him a little leash pop with a NO if he eyeballs other dogs and keep walking briskly and he's pretty good now if we stay on the move. He can still get silly if we stop and talk to someone with a dog, but we are working on that

[ChristineX]

A reactive dog support group - great idea!! I get really tired of people telling me my dog is aggressive, should be muzzeled,not in the park (waiting for dog class to start) while he is screaming in fear at another dog!

Duke's been diagnosed as 50% fear and 50% excitement leading to full blown hysteria - at the drop of a pin. At his worst, he just needed to see a tail disappearing around a corner a mile or so away. His screaming was so loud that more than once we have had people running out of the house at night, in the rain, to help the dog being murdered!

His triggers - being outside the house; (I think I can guess that his former owners didn't take him out much), other dogs, cats, too many smells, small fluffy white dogs, white dogs, animals suddenly moving fast, and lately, dogs that are close to 50% white on a dark background.

Methods taught by our behaviourist - reward if he looks at a dog without losing the plot (?variation of the Look game), step in front to block view if there is 'eyeballing' going on, distracting by asking for sits/drops etc and moving away from the problem until he calms down, and then moving back, slowly.

I'm lucky, my dog club has been totally supportive, helpful and when they ran out of ideas, gave me my behav. phone number - and said, we know her, if she doesn't have space for you, let us know and we'll sort something out. Have to love a club like that.

Lucky for him, he also had the lowest level of aggression the behav. had seen, I am not sure what I would have done if I had to cope with aggression as well. Over the past 2.5 years, we have come a long long way, and while he still makes improvements, I will keep on with the reactive rover and dog club classes. Not to mention, reactive rover classes, if you can find them, are amazing. All these people, none of whom are judging you when your dog loses the plot!

Things get a little more complicated because when Duke goes hysterical, (and still doesn't take much, or even a dog in close proximity), Kate, my other dog leaves me to deal with screaming, fishtailing Duke while she goes and attempts to 'run off' whatever the current monster is.(keeping in mind, Duke gets scared of little puppies, too). Am I lucky that Duke is okay with people or what!!

ChristineX

[malsrock]

Have thoroughly enjoyed the comments of all on this thread.

I, too, have a reactive GSD who has just turned 12 months old. Like others, the trigger can be across the other side of the park but does not really go full blown unless we are passing each other. The club we were attending did not offer much support - in fact, we spent more time out of class than we did in it as I kept getting told to walk her away in no uncertain terms (am sure the instructors used to be school teachers as it made me feel like a detention was imminent if I did not comply and I am in my 60's!!).

We now have a personal instructor and she is great but I am keen to purchase the Control Unleashed book. Is it available in Australia or do you have to buy it direct from USA on line??

I did a couple of sessions at a club with my Malinios, purely to be in the presence of other dogs in volume more as an exposure exercise so I could train some refocusing steps in that atmoshere but I wasn't accepted with any support at all. It was more, "you can't bring a dog like that here", are you a first time dog owner.........I am 49, doesn't appear that you have displayed leadership skills with your cop this, "GSD X"..........no Belgian Malinios he is........oh Malamute is he I really felt like being vindictive and coming back with my GSD to show them what real obedience and handler control is all about.

Personally, I don't think a lot of those training groups know how to handle and train reactive dogs and being non supportive and condescending towards the owner is their way around the situation perhaps. My GSD wasn't reactive and wasn't a thing in his raising and training that I had to deal with, but my Mali is a different ball game and something like others with reactive dogs we need the support to iron out. I think I am being responsible wanting to train and correct my dog's reactive behaviour, and I walked away feeling like an irresponsible owner for bringing a reactive dog to a training field

Fiona

Edited August 29, 2010 by malsrock

[Staranais]

My mally is a bit like that, Fiona, she is not at all fearful, but is very alert and very sensitive and spins up very quickly in response to just about anything going on in the environment. She's about 14 months old now and has gotten a lot better behaved over the last few months - I suspect a combination of her just growing up, and me putting my foot down & introducing some consequences for acting like a spaz.

I have taken her to training class before but we've never signed up for a class, we just do our exercises around the edge of the field using the other dogs as a distraction (loose leash walking, stays, drive & focus). As long as you don't disturb the class, most clubs are fine with that.

[Skye GSD]

Skye is not fearful either and I am doing the same style of training as you Staranais.

I understand that the majority of training clubs are designed to instruct handlers how to train their "normal" dogs" and having been an instructor at a GSD club in NZ some years ago, cannot understand that there is not more assistance/guidance given to handlers at current clubs who are obviously having a problem. The head instructor at my old club (what I wouldn't give to have him here right now - maybe he would like a free trip to Perth :D ) always walked the training areas and we, as instructors, could introduce him to any member that requested or needed extra help. He even ran free training sessions on a Sunday afternoon that became such a success that we would end up with 10-15 GSD's and Rotti's interacting off-lead after our sessions with no problems and we had several bad cases of reactive dogs amongst them.

Just wished I had listened more carefully back then as my GSD was near "perfect" - boy have I lived to realise that now

[poodlefan]

I understand that the majority of training clubs are designed to instruct handlers how to train their "normal" dogs" and having been an instructor at a GSD club in NZ some years ago, cannot understand that there is not more assistance/guidance given to handlers at current clubs who are obviously having a problem.

The short answers are:

* most training clubs are set up for group classes. It's disruptive and at times downright dangerous to expect one instructor to manage a reactive dog alongside others in such classes.

* Few training club instructors have the necessary skills and experience to deal with the issue. Its really a job for a professional and most clubs are savvy enough to know that. As I've said a few times in the last week or so, the skills required to teach manners and basic obedience and those required to analyse and provide behaviour modification are not one and the same.

* The insurance/liability issues for your average dog training club would be massive. Most exist to provide pet dog training to the community and some have dog sports as well.

* The best assistance/guidance my club can provide on this issue is to direct the handler towards an experienced professional who's got a track record of successfully dealing with such dogs. I don't think we should apologise for that - better someone get the right help first up than the problem be made worse by well intentioned amateurs.

Of course if folk want to avoid needing professional help, the best thing I can recommend is to enrol your dog in dog training classes from the get go. Many dog owners seem to view dog training as a curative, rather than a preventative strategy - much to the detriment of their dogs.

Edited August 30, 2010 by poodlefan

[Kavik]

Unfortunately poodlefan that does not mean you won't have problems

I took Zoe to classes from the time I got her (puppy classes, then obedience from 4 months) - she still developed aggression problems.