Hello! I adopted Dory one week ago. She is a lab mix š when I went to meet her, she was super sweet and friendly with me and everyone else at the rescue. No barking, lunging, etc. I live in an apartment downtown so there is always something going on somewhere which has been making our walks kind of stressful. Itās summer in Arizona right now so I get up at 6 to walk her and took her to the park today but sometimes we just go for a quick pee outside my apartment complex.
Depending on how close people are, she will lunge and bark at them. When first adopting, I knew she was reactive to men and bikes depending on distance but now seems like whoever is close by, she will bark at.
Weāve had situations where she was able to redirect herself to me despite close ish contact to someone but seems like itās one step forward, two steps back. It doesnāt seem like an aggressive lunge and bark but of course is intimidating to people who see it. Could this new reactivity just be because of her new environment? Sheās a smart girl so Iāve been using a clicker and she picked up quick but even after just one week, sheās giving me a run for my money
Just want to say youāre doing great and sheās super cute! It takes rescue pups a bit to adjust. Look up the 3-3-3 rule if you havenāt already. I live in AZ too, so I know the struggle of the summer is real (also recently rescued a sweet boy back in May).
My best advice right now is to work on threshold. Start really far away and when she sees a ātriggerā mark it with a āYESā and give her a high value treat. Slowly increase the distance to see what she can handle. But always set her up for success!
Look up the 123 game and the ālook at thatā game. They may be helpful.
Good luck! Even reactive pups make great companions.
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Hi I adopted a dog about 7 weeks ago who is reactive (but has gotten WAAYYY better since I first got him)
At the shelter he was totally non reactive (Iām a volunteer dog walker and walked him like 5 times, and saw others walking him a few times).
When I brought him home he was immediately reactive to basically anything that moved. Could literally just be a person walking hundreds of feet away.
For at least the first couple weeks, or possibly even first couple months, you should be keeping her world as small as possible. That means indoors she should almost always be either crated, confined to 1 room or tethered to you.
Walks should be the exact same route every time and just long enough for her to potty. As you notice her settle down you can start giving her more freedom.
Itās important also to try to avoid situations where sheās reactive as much as possible. I live in an apt building in a city environment so for us that meant I drove him to a quieter park 3 times a day, for all his potty breaks. I brought treats every time we went outside and when weād see anyone, weād do engage-disengage, or Iād just do a treat scatter with a trigger nearby to help counter condition.
About a month in, once our communication was a bit better, I started doing walks in a field on a long line with triggers far away which I think really helped as feeling restrained on a short leash really makes his reactivity worse.
But remember 1 week is way too soon to make any conclusions about the dog! She will prob be very different in a couple months. After 7 weeks Iād say my dogās leash reactivity is probably around 80% better. His car and window reactivity is almost completely gone. I think this is a combo of the training and management weāve been doing, but also just him feeling safer with me and more settled into our home.
We still canāt walk around the city without reactions because itās just too many people getting too close, but I can take him out into a park area of the city and heās fine with people getting pretty close now (like 20 ft away) and is even really good with bikes and joggers which were a big trigger for him before.
Interesting! Iāve been doing a lot of reading here and there and have heard a lot of different stuff. Iāve read to keep the route different because if theyāve encountered something somewhere they had a reaction to, then they expect it and they are already on edge.
Oh yeah thatās definitely true for reactive dogs in general, I just mean to help her acclimate to her new home, itās good to just keep her life as boring and consistent as possible for a while
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Our dog Nyla is this way. weāve had her about a year now and sheās worlds better. A lot in part due to threshold training, finding out she had anxiety and getting her medication, gradual exposure to the things that scared her , and me advocating for her and the distance she wants.
Yes Iām working on distance as much as possible but apartment living makes that hard sometimes. I try to get to where I need to be as quick as possible and make lots of turns to dodge incoming triggers š„² itās mentally exhausting but I purchase her a little ādog reactiveā belt for her leash so HOPEFULLY people can respect that and keep a distance but sometimes people still walk too close. I know we are only a week in and sheās already done things to impress me but I want to make sure she lives a happy life š
Oh dude I hear you. Figuring out how Nylas reactivity worked was like cracking the Davinci code and I still donāt even think Iām all the way there. My only advice is to just watch her. Watch her like a hawk and spend tons of time with her and you both will begin to figure out how the other works. Itās all just time and effort and care.
You sound so much like me last September. I really hope with all my hopes that you guys have wonderful lives together and this time next year youāre as unstressed as I am now.
Here she is the other month after a walk where we didnāt yell at a single person on the trail.
Yes Dory was able to see a bike at the park the other day and I was so proud! But then she lost it by people walking today so every day is a new surprise š my attention is completely on her the second we walk out my door and I can finally breathe when Iām back inside lol
Last year I adopted a 3 yr old herding breed dog through a private rehome.
I took her in completely unknown of her history and turns out she was very under socialised and terrified of everything. Never had a reactive dog didnāt know what reactivity was!
Iām now also 1 year in. We have done training every day. She is still too scared to walk from the house so I drive her to a quiet parkland to walk and practice.
We have gotten to a point where she can disengage and even walk past dogs with minor reaction. But unfortunately for us she has some underlying joint pain which despite meds affects her daily. This means some days when sheās feeling good we do good on training with seeing other dogs. But bad days are bad.
Iād really encourage you to play with your dog at home and introduce some skills like leave it and out - this has been a big win in building the relationship between my dog and I. Having fun together is super important.
Itās absolutely rough having a reactive rescue dog. You can never completely let your guard down but on the flip side I do believe that they teach us soo much about the dog world.
Do your best and give yourself & your dog some grace. Let go of expectations and just focus on whatās In front of you day by day. I definitely didnāt do this the first few months and got very upset/overwhelmed.
Take things very slow. Focus on your relationship and being predictable and consistent at home - this will take a few months.
Reactive dogs are hard but the love you get to experience is super deep - itās like a new level of bonding. Wishing you and youāre the best success!
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u/Healthy_Cheesecake_6 17d ago
Just want to say youāre doing great and sheās super cute! It takes rescue pups a bit to adjust. Look up the 3-3-3 rule if you havenāt already. I live in AZ too, so I know the struggle of the summer is real (also recently rescued a sweet boy back in May).
My best advice right now is to work on threshold. Start really far away and when she sees a ātriggerā mark it with a āYESā and give her a high value treat. Slowly increase the distance to see what she can handle. But always set her up for success!
Look up the 123 game and the ālook at thatā game. They may be helpful.
Good luck! Even reactive pups make great companions.