Exercising Reactive Dogs Thread

[JulesP]

We embrace the rainy days as we have the beach to ourselves :)

Rainy weather is great for walking reactive dogs :)

[Guest Arcane]

DeeDee says fanks for all the treaty noms & is happy to play date with Justice anytime..... especially if there are treaty noms :D

[BC Crazy]

Yes Jules P rainy weather is great for reactive dogs & their owners :laugh: I can relax a little more & not be so 'on the alert' for approaching anythings.

Also had to edit just a quick update on Stella. It's nothing major but I have been doing a bit of an exercise I just made up myself to try & help her relax a little.

When we have finished a game of tugs or fetch & I know she she is a bit tired I have started asking her to lay down next to me & we "rest". I started off with her resting for 20 sec.

& gradually increased the time & so far we are up to 9 min. This might not be very long to most people but this is a life time to a reactive/ 100 mile an hour girl.

She just never stops as a rule, so I'm thrilled because I can see this actually becoming quite habit forming as she is doing this behaviour voluntarily now in different locations.

I can see her body language change when she is lying next to me, she really relaxes & take a couple of deep breaths to begin with too. We practice this at the beach everyday now

& also at home. Just trying to calm her down & maybe start to enjoy a relaxing rest. Just thought it can't hurt to try something like this. I think being a very high drive girl is

one thing & I'm not expecting that to change terribly much as it is just her but if we can learn to relax more we may become more self assured & calm. Worth a try I thought & think

it may be working already

Edited September 8, 2012 by BC Crazy

[Tassie]

Learning to chill and be calm is a hugely important lesson - will make her life a lot easier. :)

If you can get it, I was just reading an article in the August Clean Run emphasizing the importance of dogs learning to chill - first like you're doing, in relatively unexciting environments and then gradually upping the ante.

[BC Crazy]

Thanks Tassie would like to read that article actually. As I say her little head works overtime, all the time, it must be so very tiring for her.

This is one reason why I thought if I just get her to chill as I think when you are a highly strung it can become a habit

like anything else to rush & constantly be on edge. So if I can teach her that it is OK to chill for a bit it may just break that cycle a bit.

She has also started to offer this behaviour at the leash free after a swim which blew me away really because there is quite a few distractions

there & that's where we did our first 9 min. effort. I was wrapped :)

Edited September 8, 2012 by BC Crazy

[Tassie]

That's pretty impressive, BC Crazy :D

[Guest Panzer Attack!]

Hey BC, have you tried the Relaxation Protocol with Stella? Give it a google :)

I love my little dog! Great sesh at agility last night and he came with me to the salon today, where he was very well behaved, only barked at a Lab. I'm so proud of him!! He was focused last night and recalled off a couple of dogs (we obviously do agility classes off-lead). Only got reactive when some random waiting for foundation to start decided to join our class and use the equipment *roly eye man*. Still deciding whether or not to go to obedience tomorrow, might go and just play some more bonding/focus games :)

E x

[BC Crazy]

No I haven't tried them but I think Snook has also mentioned that. Thanks for the heads up PA. Will be looking into that.

Well done at Agility last night by the way :)

[BC Crazy]

Thanks Snook, yes I was wrapped with her 9 min effort It's like being on a roller coaster having Stella. She can do some things that simply amaze you. She is a brilliant girl & other times

your left thinking where did I go wrong I'm sure a lot of us can relate to that. Anyway I have been practising this little exercise for about a week/10 days & increasing the time by about roughly 30 sec each

day. I make sure she is fairly tired first though. It is very similar to what you are doing with Justice. I also stroke her slowly but firmly & also exaggerate my breathing by making it loader & slower.

What I loved though is after 2 days of doing this on the 3rd day after we had our games & I thanked them for the game, that's what I say when we are done . Stella just walked slowly up to the exact

spot she had her "rest" the previous day & laid down & looked up at me like " well aren't you going to sit down too now" & she automatically chilled. I loved that she freely offered me that behaviour.

I sat with her for 9 min's enjoying the view :laugh: We watched Sonny busily digging holes in the sand. I guess it is all just conditioning isn't it? I don't know if she knows the word' rest'

or not, or is it the order in which we are doing things. But I am definitely going to continue with it. Her 'Leave it' is going really well too. She picked up a magnificent piece of raw, smelly fish

at the beach the other day & almost swallowed it before I caught her & asked her to leave it, she coughed it straight up & looked directly at me for a treat instead

Justice is very smart Snook, he knows a lot of tricks. How did you get him to crawl ?

Edited September 9, 2012 by BC Crazy

[hankdog]

cool I'm so going to teach crawl. I love it when Jakes so excited he tries to get out all his tricks at once, he dies wonderfully turns 2 circles and then collapses and rolls over.Sometimes he'll get carried away and try spinning around after he's dead, kind of like break dancing. Wish I could put it on command.

[BC Crazy]

That's funny hankdog :laugh: I am just picturing Jake going through his little break dancing gig :laugh: My boy always throws himself into a spin trick first, then hi 5, then lays down all while being

at his very vocal best at the sight of a treat :laugh: Where as Stella waits till I ask her to do something as she just hates to get things wrong. She is much easier to teach than Sonny is. He is a bit stubborn

& not nearly as driven as her, thank god :laugh:

Snook, thanks for your kind words & your simple description on how to teach the crawl which I am going to teach my 2 as well. I brought some sticky notes note paper the other day as I also want to teach them 'hide your face'.

Stella will rock at this trick I think cause she is always putting her paw in my hand or up in the air already. She very gently tries to touch my mouth too. Does some strange / cute things at times that girl of mine.

Edited September 10, 2012 by BC Crazy

[megan_]

Lucy had a great time at agility on Saturday. The club is really nice and small. She was so confident and worked off leash well (she did a sit-stay with a stranger behind her, even though she is fearful of people). I do shaping with her at home and she knew all of the exercises that we went through.

There was a very reactive BC there that set a few dogs off but Lucy ignored her totally and was so focused on her work. If you're in Melbourne and want to do agility with a dog that isn't into crowds then I'd suggest Frankston on a Saturday afternoon - it was a very pleasant experience. You can drive your car right up to the agility field so you don't have to run the gauntlet of lots of obedience dogs wanting to say hello.

We went to Croydon on Sunday and worked around the club house again. They were cleaning the equipment and there was a lot of noise and movement. She startled a bit a few times but recovered really well. I have to remind myself that it is normal to hit the deck a bit when someone drops a huge bucket nearby! I'm going to see if I can get her doing agility there too, as this is where Fergus goes and he passed his assessment to move up to the next level yesterday. We also got to meet JulesP - she recognised my dogs.

[BC Crazy]

Glad to hear Lucy had a good time a t Agility & went so well with her sit-stay. that really good in an unfamiliar place with as you say her fear of people

Wish Frankston was closer megan :laugh: I'd love to start Agility one day & it sounds like a nice small venue which is what I'd like. Don't do crowds well.

[megan_]

Great news snook. You always need a good session to help let go of the bad one. I love the way stable dogs communicate - they teach our dogs things we'd never be able to. I don't let Lucy meet strange dogs, but she has a few friends (Cosmolo's dogs and Fergus). It is great to see her so excited when she sees Gilbert but greet him in a totally appropriate way and then invite him to play.

[gila]

Ok I think I better stop lurking around in this thread and join in! My boy Spence isn't particularly bad, he only reacts to off-lead dogs after being rushed at several times over the years. He knows leashed dogs can't get to him and ignores them with a snooty "you are unworthy of my attention" look on his face :laugh:

His reaction to off-lead dogs has escalated a bit over the last year - staring, ears and tail up, hackles up, growling. I don't mind him telling a dog to bugger off if it gets in his face, but don't want him to anticipate an approach and get defensive.

After reading this thread I took him out yesterday intending to practise LAT. Gorgeous day in Melb and I expected heaps of dogs to be around. Nope. A few being walked on lead. Two dogs off-lead but the owners put them back on lead when they saw us coming. Which is awesome, but only gave us a few seconds to play LAT :laugh:

I'm also re-conditioning the muzzle. I didn't do it right the first time and Spence ended up not liking it very much.

[hankdog]

Hey Gila my boy is also worse if a dogs off leash or if it's on leash but not really paying attention to its owner. I think it's pretty smart how they work out which ones are a bigger threat. At the moment I'm just practising loose leash walking in my garden and then working out to the sidewalk. I have a long battle axe driveway and on Sunday a loose leash turned up in the drive whilst I was on the nature strip , meaning I had to roam the neighborhood waiting for it to go away ( no poop bags and that's when he drops one so I look like the irresponsible dog owner)! So anytime you want some practice you're welcome to visit.

[chuckandsteve]

I have been reading this thread as my current foster dog is reactive.

He has been working with a trainer, he spent 2 weeks with her, with her dogs and was great she took him out and about and still great. His issues are fear related and more of an issue when he is on lead

He is not too bad with us our major issue is he barks and carries on on his walks, he is a bit crazy at group training as there are dogs everywhere but he is improving. This reaction is more about him wanting to play but he was under socialised so he is rude/fearful when he gets up to them

Anyway I had him out for training today, working on his heeling, taking a known route where I know which houses have dogs, he ignores dogs barking from their house/yard anyway, but then we had this pug appear, he was behind a bush so he was at our feet before I had anytime to do anything, He was aggressive, barking lunging at my dog who was actually ok for about 20 seconds as the women ran around us trying to grab him, as the pug weaved between my dogs legs.

But then mine had had enough and snapped at him, got him on the ear and the pug started screaming, the lady started screaming, I grab my dog and pin him, he lets go, pug has no marks, lady was screaming at me to go away.

Really this lady was telling me as she chased her dog, that it wasn't her dog it was her mother in laws and she didn't know why she had let it out etc. Thing is I know the mother in law (its 5 houses down) It was not her dog and the MILs dog has issues but is always under control. From those lies you have to assume she knew her dog was aggressive but just didn't care because it was small and she figured everyone elses dog would just take the behaviour, she really wasn't concerned at all until my dog bit hers never mind how many times her dog lunged at mine.

So what do people do when this happens? I can't think of anything I could have done to prevent it, I have had dogs charge us before but i have had time to do something before the dog was actually on us.

[hankdog]

Well personally that's happened to me twice the first time I tried kicking the dog away and tore my acl then tried to hobble away, next time tried running away forgot about acl and fell over. So if you think you could have done better take heart, you also could have done worse. I'm so grateful for people who foster dogs and that you have taken on a difficult one is just amazing. I'm pretty sure Jake would be over his problems if he had a good trainer but I was his last option so everytime I make a mistake I remind myself that he's still alive which is better than not and then I come to this website and get help and moral support. So no practical advice except keep going and thankyou for the wonderful job you're doing for all the doggies.

[chuckandsteve]

I am not worried about the other dog hurting mine, I am worried about my dog hurting it, my dog is a staffy x lab so no pug will hurt him.

We got rushed again today. (my luck at the moment) but I took a spray bottle and it took off, owner looked quite shocked when I asked him to control his dog and that I sprayed it with water. But oh well it worked

[hankdog]

oh dear chuck and Steve I went through a patch of this, 5 times in one week. I changed where I walk to manage this, I walk on busy roads because people keep their dogs on leash or behind gates. I also walk in the very upmarket neighbouring suburb, solid brick walls and big solid gates. Also near the station where the cars are parked, you can use cars to shield you from other dogs. The damage to your dog may not be that much until someone gets a head of steam and tries to get it declared a dangerous dog, I have seen Jake bite clean through a shank bone so I'd hate him to get into a scrap even if it wasn't his fault. I was wondering if the eucalyptus spray oil you can buy at the supermarket would serve as a deterrent?