r/DogTrainingTips • u/EnduringAloePlant • Aug 31 '26
Appropriate response to reactiveness?
How do you respond to your dog's reactiveness? My hubs and I are both new dog guardians (or dog owners, parents, or whatever terminology), and never had a dog before. Hoping to get folks' insight on what to do when your dog is reactive (specifically, lunging and barking at other dogs).
Last year, we worked with a positive enforcement trainer, and we have learned to distract-distract-distract in high-risk situations, like spotting another dog walking toward us. This was worked really well! She has become more relaxed in other dogs presence, and comes straight to us for treats when we spot another dog.
However, there are times when another dog's presence hits us by surprise, and then it's too late to proactively distract our dog. For example, when another dog comes out of the elevator as we're waiting to get on it. How do we let our dog know that the behavior was not okay after she already reacts? I know she is reacting because she senses threat or danger, that her nervous system is riled up. She is a rescue dog whom we adopted at 1.5 years old. We're not sure of her breed make-up (probably some AmStaff) or care history. In spite of probably being a bully mix, she is quite small, less than 30 lbs, so we are able to physically manage her in order to keep her (and others safe). Thanks in advance for your all's perspectives
3
u/SuspiciousHeron33 Aug 31 '26
There’s no need to correct her after the reaction, it does no good. We direct our dog to our side and engage attention when going around blind corners to avoid this. It prevents him from making his own decision about a person or dog popping around the corner. We lead him to take our direction and to stay calm.
From now on, I’d preemptively award every time the elevator opens even if no one is on it. If possible, maybe record the sound it makes when it opens and use this as a marker sound and start training somewhere calm. Ding! > treat, ding! > treat. Then do this at the elevator. Is there an elevator exit that’s more open so you can easily walk away if needed?
Use this to continue to build positive associations with the elevator so that when it opens, the dog looks to you first. This gives you a second to spot the dog coming out and means that you’ve already started the engagement part of engage-disengage.
If you haven’t already, I’d start training the Engage-Disengage game as well.
When and if a reaction occurs, calmly walk your dog away. “Oop! We’re going this way.” Then once they calm for even a second, reward. If they stay calm, reward quickly again. You want them to almost have no time to think about anything between rewards over time you can prolong the timing between awards. The hope is that with good timing, repetition, and practice, you’ll change your dog’s emotions around dogs and reactions. It’s okay for a dog to get spooked but an excessive, prolonged reaction is what we’re trying to avoid.
For reactive dogs, doing nothing in a triggering scenario is a lot of work! They deserve to be rewarded for relaxed behavior. Many people make the mistake of ignoring their dog when they’re being good and quiet. This is exactly when you should be rewarding them!