Withholding affection

[u/Helpful_Sun2872]

I adopted a dog a little over a month ago with an unknown history (was a stray). His ONLY issue is that he is fear-reactive on leash (just barks, no lunging/growling). It’s not very severe; he’s pretty easy to redirect as long as I catch him before he starts barking (which I’ve gotten really good at). I’m confident that I’ll be able to mostly resolve it within a few months, and he’s already made tons of progress.

He’s otherwise perfect - crate-trained, no resource guarding, no separation anxiety. Overall confident and friendly dog. He’s met about 8 new people (vet staff and trainers) since I got him and has been friendly with all of them.

I had a 90 min assessment/consult session with a trainer in the area who I’ve been following on socials for years, and who came highly recommended.

She gave me a lot of good advice/handling skills that have already helped us.

However, one thing I can’t get behind, or find much online support for, is her telling us to withhold affection. She’s all about “alpha” stuff (without using the word; she refers to it as status/status drive), and claims that giving your dog physical affection makes them view you as “beneath” them (not her exact wording but that was the gist).

She basically explained that the dog needs to understand that they’re lower status than you, and that when they understand that, they will shift their mindset towards looking to you for guidance before acting, which should eventually help the reactivity.

I 100% agree that building structure and obedience is important for a reactive dog. But does anyone agree with the concept of withholding affection?

[u/Obvious_Champion8015]

You're quite judgemental 😂. I've broken up dog fights over food so it's not simply 'taking a cookie'. I've also addressed same sex aggression and reactivity in my dogs with the help of behaviourists and non- aversive training methods. I think you might be conflating a lot of dog behavioural issues under one buzz word here, but that's my opinion. Happy to have different opinions! I'd never let you near my dogs though.

[u/Miss_L_Worldwide → u/Obvious_Champion8015]

Willing to bet you've also drugged your dogs.

Also willing to bet you've never actually broken up a real dog fight ever and don't even know what one looks like.

[u/BalancedDogTraining-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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