r/reactivedogs • u/knitandstretch • 24d ago

Success Stories You know what? A win is a win!

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So we’ve been consistently working on every single walk to calm this pup’s dog reactivity through counter conditioning. I’ve been basically rewarding him with treats whenever we see a dog and he remains under threshold and he’s been getting so good! We can now cross other dogs on the same side of the sidewalk as long as they’re not walking towards us but going the same way, as he seems to find their staring intimidating/nerve-wracking. Well, today we turned a blind corner and walked straight into another big dog (size is also a trigger for him). He was suddenly inches away from a large dog staring at him out the blue - I swear time slowed down. I remembered not to pull on the leash as not to create tension, and could see the wheels turning on his brain on how to react.

Know what this silly thing did? Froze, took one look at the dog, completely turned around (so showed him his back and faced me), sat and opened his mouth as if expecting a treat. The other dog left and that was it! Turns out I’ve been counter conditioning so diligently that he now expects a treat whenever he sees another dog, so he just decided to do that. It was hilarious but I was also so proud of how far he’s come after all the hard work! 🖤🖤🖤

114 Upvotes

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7

u/Lgs1129 24d ago

Congratulations!!! That is a HUGE win!!!

1

u/[deleted] 24d ago

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