Exercising Reactive Dogs Thread

[Weasels]

Raineth's advice was spot on, the definitely can learn by observation. That said, overwhelmingly I find that for clients with more than one dog in the house, they usually only have one reactive dog.

I think you should walk them separately every so often if for no other reason than to work on their leash manners and obedience without distraction.

I have 2 reactive dogs, although mercifully to different things. One motion reactive and the other can be dog-reactive. Yay.

My boy Weez is the problem on walks, and I find the issue with them together is that, since the girl Chess is vigilant and excitable, when he reacts she starts barking too and things just escalate way quicker and are harder to diffuse. All my carefully researched understanding of his threshold distance and triggers all goes to hell! So that's another factor that can go into walking decisions :/

Edited October 15, 2013 by TheLBD

[BC Crazy]

Saffyluv, just wanted to congratulate you on your success with Ziggy. Your dedication & determination to take him as far as he can go I think is truly inspiring :)

Sometimes when I am having a bad day with Stella I think about how much far Ziggy has come. Gives me a little hope that it could happen for us oneday too.

Must say that any formal sort of Obedience work where you weren't allowed to talk to your dog or play ball for a reward wouldn't suit us either. I would prefer a more

relaxed , casual scene as well.

Very pleased you found a lovely home for Zippy. Great news!!!!

Edited October 16, 2013 by BC Crazy

[BC Crazy]

Just wanted to have a tiny brag about my reactive girl. Nothing huge or fancy like most folks but I have been really focusing on Stella's anxiety levels of late & I have been witnessing

really great improvements. I have been doing a lot of LAT work with her as well & generally have tried to be a little more firm with her as she is very strong willed at times.

We are away caravaning atm & the last time we went she became very anxious with people mowing etc around our van. So have made arrangements for them to give me ' the heads up'

before they start & I have been really monitoring her to ensure that I interrupt her focus with LAT, treats & lots of praise so her anxiety levels don' t go through the roof as they go from 0 to 100 in a heartbeat.

I am so thrilled as I can see a vast improvement in her. Have even had so many people that had seen /heard her in action on previous camping holidays comment on how much quieter she has become.

We even seem to be making headway with smiliar methods regarding her reactivity to other dogs. I am very thrilled as Stella seems to be a lot calmer in herself which is my main aim with her. Instead on

her running, stressed & fearful 99% of the time & self harming. She even has been having a nanna nap in the afternoons here which was unheard of on previous trips.

Interesting regarding owning 2 dogs & walking them together. I do usually walk mine together but I do walk them separately sometimes as well. Stella is a pleasure to walk surprisingly. She is very obedient.

Never pulls & remains in the heel position effortlessly.

[raineth]

oh BC Crazy, that is wonderful :) sounds like some very significant improvements there

The Caravanning sounds like fun too, especially if Stella is relaxing a bit more. Do you go away for quite a long period of time?

[BC Crazy]

Oh thanks raineth :) I am pretty happy with Stella's improvement. I understand she will never be a calm girl but if I can help to improve her quality of life then I' m wrapped. So I will keep plugging away.

Caravaning is great fun. We go away usually 2 weeks or so at a time., A couple of times a year. Always go for a month late January every year. Take both Sonny & Stella. We all have a blast. We take a small tinny & go island hopping all day. Fish & go crabbing. Both my guys love the boat & swimming. They sleep in the van with us in their beds. Wonderful fun :)

[hankdog]

Gosh that sounds amazing, I love camping but no one in my family does. Sonny and Stella sounds like a tap dance act, two BCs in red and white blazers with little straw boaters!!

We had a good visit to Sash today. The vet was so calm, she took an hour with us. Didn't walk straight up to Jake, sat at her computer and chatted and then knelt on the floor and called him over. She was able to get all the samples she needed without any sedation. We did some training in the room whilst she looked at everything and he eventually went to sleep and started snoring. Unfortunately they're a referral hospital but I've seen a mobile vet van around our suburb so I think I'll try using them as our regular vet.

[Staffyluv]

Any improvement makes all the hard work worthwhile IMO - sounds like Stella has made a couple of leaps and bounds in the improvement stakes..

I remember with Zig, it felt like we would take one step forward and then a couple back some days.

[raineth]

Wow that's a win for you as well Hankdog! Really good to hear that the vet was good for him and he actually fell asleep :laugh:

At the moment Del and I are having no steps forward or backward as she's still on bed rest. Only a couple more days to go, thankfully!

[Staffyluv]

Gosh that sounds amazing, I love camping but no one in my family does. Sonny and Stella sounds like a tap dance act, two BCs in red and white blazers with little straw boaters!!

We had a good visit to Sash today. The vet was so calm, she took an hour with us. Didn't walk straight up to Jake, sat at her computer and chatted and then knelt on the floor and called him over. She was able to get all the samples she needed without any sedation. We did some training in the room whilst she looked at everything and he eventually went to sleep and started snoring. Unfortunately they're a referral hospital but I've seen a mobile vet van around our suburb so I think I'll try using them as our regular vet.

HD this is how my vet treats Ziggy all the time - I have always love the fact that he calls the dog to him and they just go..

It is a good thing for Zig because he is almost aloof to people, other than the ones he knows.. He very much avoids people..

It is funny watching some people at the dog park trying to say hello and get a pat of him as he zooms past. Even if he is standing with me, he tends to move behind me if someone bends to pat him..

That is such a milestone to get a dog to accept going to the vet (when they are not happy about it) and to have him doze off, is even better. Just goes to show how relaxed he was.

[Staffyluv]

Just wanted to share today's win with Z at the dog park.

Our dog park is separated into 2 sections - one for little dogs/pups and the other for big dogs.

I don't like him playing with just any dog, so usually if there is a load of dogs, we sneak into the puppy side (if there is no one there) and just play with a couple of dogs he usually plays with (if they are there, they come across)..

So today, there were two adorable chi puppies in the puppy side, so I took boof head into the big dog side. We played with a kelpie and they had a ball each that they chased and had a ball for about 15 minutes.

Then this couple turns up with two black labs. The younger dog was a lovely dog but the older one (who is only 2) kept stalking Zig. It took off with his ball a couple of times and the second time, Zig went to get the ball back - needless to say the lab wasn't giving it up.

So I called Zig back and he came first call . I put his leash on and walked to the owners of the lab and asked if they would please get the ball back for us.

The guy tells me if I bring a ball to a dog park, I have to expect other dogs will want to play as well - I pointed out that there were other dogs playing as well but his dog had taken off with the ball and was growling at dogs if they went near it..

The nice guy who owned the kelpie got the ball back and gave it to us (thanked him) and we left..

I was so proud of Zig today - he recalled every single time, first time.. He walked calmly beside me when I went to get his ball. He didn't get over excited once.. But he had loads of fun with the dogs running around, in and out of the clam shell, chasing balls and playing chase with the kelpie..

My lad has turned around so much - from the uncontrollable brat that he was to a dog that is a pleasure to take out (most of the time)..

It really was a win for us today - especially with the recall being spot on.. I didn't even care that the other dog was being a pest, I was just so proud that he was a great example (and others noticed it as well)..

[hankdog]

So cool, what a good advert for bull breeds in general Ziggy has become.

Edited October 18, 2013 by hankdog

[Staffyluv]

He has been pretty good for a while now - I would say that I was 80% happy with his recall but today, I was 100% happy with it..

He is so ball focused (only his ball, he doesn't want other dogs tennis balls) and to have a dog walk away with his ball, him to go after it and to come back at first recall has made me so happy..

He does still have moments of 'bugger off, I am doing what I want' but you wouldn't know it today.. :laugh:

He is a good ambassador for bull breeds - he has the most amazing temperament. He is soft with puppies, rough and ready with dogs who want to play bargy and is also happy to run with the working dogs that he plays with..

He removes himself from aggressive or pushy situations and usually looks for me to stand behind me..

A year ago, I would never have thought any of this was possible.. We just needed the guidance to teach me how to bring out the best in him..

[hankdog]

I hope in a years time we are having your success, you must be so proud.

I would really recommend obedience training for reactive dogs, I'm not sure if we are just finally getting there or it's attributable to the obedience but we are having massive improvements. Having a good trainer guide us is great. I feel like although I read all the theory it's been very beneficial to have that experienced pair of eyes fine tuning and deciding the next step. One day I am going to go to an official class!

[Staffyluv]

Same HD, I think all dogs need rules and boundaries and to me this is what obedience is all about. I was having so many issues with Zig until we started at obedience.. We made huge progress in such a short space of time.

Zig was still very reactive with other dogs (over friendly reactive) for most of beginners, some of intermediate and in advanced he just seemed to get that he wasn't going to get his way until after class.

He would work really well in class and then after class, would get a big run with the other dogs.

I found I still spent a bit of time, 'out of the class' in beginners. He would bark and carry on, so I would walk him out of the class (I think it was Cos that suggested that). Then as he was behaving, we would move closer to the class. If he messed up again, we moved away again and so on.

He soon realised that if he wanted to be in the class, near the other dogs, he had to behave himself.

Using a focus word (ours is 'ready') also helped heaps. To start with, I would say the word and treat, say the word and treat - now when I say 'ready', he sits and waits for the next command..

It hasn't always been easy but it has been so worth it..

[mumof4girls]

Well I am over the moon and so proud of my girl :-)

We set out our back gate yesterday afternoon . We back onto a large easement which has a walking track that is along the boundary of it , far across from us. People and dogs walk along and more than not dogs are off lead ( sigh)

Well I noticed a woman with her 2 dogs a distance away. Hubby got our boy to sit and was in control of him ( he is a good boy ) and I took Saachi to our chickens outside our fence then got her to sit focusing on me.

Hubby said crap as one dog started racing over toward us , owner yelling come here , in a soft voice !

I had meat training cubes and I just kept her focus .. She sat looking into my eyes but electric lol , you could see she wanted to go off at this dog heading for us but she kept her focus on me.. I lost her for a second cause I was trying to get the meat lol.. The dog got about 2 mtrs away before it returned to the owner but wowee , she would normally have gone berserk a dog running towards ..I am so happy , we have a long way to go but that was just great for us !!

I could cry I'm so happy :-)

[mumof4girls]

Staffyluv in my above post I was just talking to her , I think I was saying look at me . I was just really trying to keep her attention .. Should I have just said one word ? I normally say yes when I reward treat should I just have said yes each time I treated her for focusing on me ?

[Staffyluv]

I really think it depends on the dog, where you are at with training and the situation.

I use words a lot (more than I should apparently for our level at training)..

We spend a lot of time with hand signals and not talking to the dogs now. But I can't help myself, I talk to him all the time :) (and get pulled up on it).

We also don't use treats in training anymore but I still do when we train at home or when we are out at the park (we use a ball because he isn't interested in food at all).

Dogs should be rewarded for doing the right thing and if you need to treat and talk all the time to get what you want, then do it.

I was talking from an obedience level perspective - at training we (and in the ring) we simply don't talk to the dogs, we only use hand signals and praise is kept back until the end of the exercise.

I find I can get Zig to do so much more before he gets his tennis ball now. Once upon a time, it was a simple heel pattern - maybe a slow, fast, normal pace forward, left, right and left about for example. Now I can get him to do that with stands, stops, drops, stays included in the pattern.

It takes time and loads of repetition and being consistent all the time to get what we need from them.

[mumof4girls]

Saachi is very food driven but she also loves a ball .. I think though in this situation food may have been the only option .. I think talking to her keeps me calm as well :-)

Thanks for the info , food for thought :-)

[Staffyluv]

Saachi is very food driven but she also loves a ball .. I think though in this situation food may have been the only option .. I think talking to her keeps me calm as well :-)

Thanks for the info , food for thought :-)

Remember what I am discussing is mostly AT obedience - the no talk, hand signal stuff.. In the real world, where you come across other dogs and situations - you do whatever works for you.

I tend to block Zig a lot - stand in front of him, so he can't see or get near what is coming towards us. Then his excitement level doesn't become hard to handle.

[BC Crazy]

Yes staffyluv, I do the same with Stella. I block her / stand in front of her or go in between her & what ever she is reacting to. Seems to interupt her focus & lesson her level of excitment most of the time as well.