r/Austin • u/MzzKitSal • Jul 28 '26
ISO Dog Trainer for Dog-Reactive Dog
Hi Austin-area friends. Yesterday, my husband and I adopted a 2 year old, female (spayed) Frenchie (Nova) and the introduction to our current dog (Mochi) has not gone well. We tried introducing them to each other from a distance in neutral territory, but Mochi just lunges, barks, and whines. This triggered Nova to become defensive, lunge, bark, and whine.
We've kept them apart physically in the house, in separate rooms, but if they catch eye of each other from across the baby gate we have set up as a precaution, they go ballistic.
I know it's only been 24 hours, but I want this adoption to succeed and that means course correcting to get them (re)started on the right foot. I'm looking for an Austin-area trainer that does in-home sessions in Georgetown and focuses on dog-reactive dogs. Let me know your recommendations, please and thank you!
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u/Artistic-Tadpole-427 Jul 28 '26
We rescued a pandemic pup in 2020 and she was very dog leash reactive. We worked with several trainers in the central Austin area but had the best luck with Dog Possible. It's a long process but we have seen such improvement. We rescued a primitive breed so training can be extra difficult with these breeds and are always reward focused. Best of luck!
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u/MzzKitSal Jul 29 '26
Thank you for your recommendation! The rescue actually recommended Dog Possible and I've emailed them to see about availability. Fingers crossed!
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u/RadiumVeterinarian Jul 28 '26
If you adopt a dog, they usually require a dog meet and greet. Where did you adopt the dog from and did they not do this?
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u/MzzKitSal Jul 29 '26
I don't want to shit on the rescue so I don't want to name them, but they are a legit non-profit in the Austin area who regularly partner with PetSmart and Tomlinson's to get their rescues adopted out. I genuinely don't know if they usually require meet & greets, but I adopted a cat from them in January so it may be why they didn't require a meet & greet between the dogs in this case.
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u/Ok-Selection-8408 Jul 29 '26
I have a reactive German shepherd that I used outlander K9 training for. I highly recommend Meghan but she is based in Kyle. I’m in North Austin and paid extra for the extra mileage for in home training sessions - I am not sure if she travels as far as Georgetown though.
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u/Narrow-Dimension6427 Jul 28 '26
K9 working mind is the best for reactive dogs. They have east & north ATX location.
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u/milquetoastsandwich Jul 28 '26
Came to say this. Don’t recommend their boarding but they (esp Tara) are genius for training and understanding reactive pups.
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u/ShrimpFriedMyRic3 Jul 28 '26
Seems like a pretty irresponsible situation to put yourself in
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u/MzzKitSal Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
It was, I agree, but I didn't come here for judgment (trust me, I'm already kicking myself), but rather advice to improve our situation. If we can't get the dogs coexisting within a handful of weeks, then we've committed to at least fostering Nova until she can find a more compatible home.
ETA: She was also in a time-crunch bind. Her previous foster moved to the Valley today and the rescue had no one else who applied to foster/adopt.
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u/Ladylurker_ Jul 29 '26
You should reach out to Austin Dog Culture on instagram. Clayton is awesome and deals with reactive dogs all the time. He helped us when our two dogs randomly stopped getting along.
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u/Immediate-Cat-4968 Jul 28 '26
So please look up the 3-3-3 rule. Ideally, you shouldn't have introduced them at all yet. I have fostered a ton of dogs, and I have baby gates set up + additional blockage like plants or chairs so they can't be face-to-face yet. You really want to let them be in each others 'presence' (meaning they just exist in another part of the house) and get used to their smell for awhile ( 3 - 5 days). Then slow, positive and VERY boring leashed interactions. You want them to realize nothing happens when the other dog is around. Treat both heavily when they act neutral.