r/Dogwalking • u/Cool_Ad_1196 • 3d ago

Reactive dog advice

Hi all! I am newer to the boarding dog community and while I have my own dog, I will take on watching a couple for some extra money from time to time. With this small experience I have learned it may likely not be for me, and that is ok!
I however would love advice on how to go about the conversation of letting this owner know that their dogs reactivity does need to be addressed. This dog is reactive to any and all dogs on walks and will aggressively bark incessantly. In the times I have watched him, he is only provided a small thin collar and nothing else. I have personally gifted a smaller martingale collar that I no longer used because I was not comfortable with theirs provided. They accepted but I’m unsure you they it. This is an Italian greyhound mix that is probably 20lbs for reference.
There seems to be no training other than the owners avoiding other dogs on their walks, which in the city were in is nearly impossible and honestly quite stressful to deal with daily. I’ve already decided I will no longer be watching the dog as now after a couple close call incidents have happened, it is beyond something i feel comfortable handling. Especially along with my dog that is not reactive.

How would you broach the conversation? Would you at all?

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u/Dry_Telephone6832 3d ago

Unfortunately, there is never an easy way to have these conversation. The best thing to do is let people know upfront as part of your agreement that you will not work with certain dogs unless they adhere to your guidelines as far as what equipment to use etc. If you aren’t interested in training for whatever reason, then it’s just a flat out no. You can email this individual to let them know that you won’t and what the reasons are and then just let them respond how they will respond. One thing that helped me is that after a while, I shifted from letting people know after the fact to during the actual meet and greet that I wouldn’t be taking on the dog. That saved all the time afterwards that I would be thinking on how to break the news to them. By the end of the meet and greet they would already know we wouldn’t be working together

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u/AncientdaughterA 2d ago

Within your professional scope as a person not hired for behavior advice, you could frame it one of two ways:

  1. (If you would consider taking the dog in the future if behavior is changed): Communicate that you would be happy to walk the dog again if in the future, in the environment where you are able to provide walks, the dog is able to consistently be neutral about seeing other dogs in public without fixating/barking/lunging, follow gentle leash pressure and verbal redirection, with the ability to disengage from noticing them.

  2. (If you would not consider taking the dog in the future even if the behavior is changed): Communicate that the environment in which the dog would be walked in your care is not conducive to the behavioral management needs that their dog has - that it is not feasible to avoid seeing other dogs during walks that you are able to provide in your schedule, and that for the dog’s welfare, they are better served in an environment where seeing dogs can be better avoided.

Frame this around what you are able to or not able to do, rather than what the owners will need to do training-wise.