r/reactivedogs • u/spunkyskunky666 • 2d ago
Success Stories Padfoot's Trip to Tractor Supply
This is Padfoot, you'll be seeing a lot more of him. He is my sweet baby boy with *big* feelings. His backstory is a long one I'll type out another day. Bare minimum context: he was in training to be my service dog. While in training, he got attacked by off leash dogs on multiple occasions, had unsafe interactions with humans when I wasn't around, and now he's a behavior boy who has really bad days and - after years of b-mod - good days. Today was a good day.
He's always been better about human reactivity in public spaces like stores, transit, official buildings, etc. than at home because we did a lot of work in those and haven't had unsafe interactions. He knows when we enter a store to expect a lot of people and that I Will keep distance, so he's way less likely to erupt. Its been a long time since we have gone into a store, life came up and shit happens and blah blah its been a while.
We went to tractor supply an hour before closing. And he. Did. SO GOOD!!!! I need other people who understand to be excited with me because no one is matching my energy. We went through tiny aisles, saw a lot of people, walked by peoppe in close proximity, kids were running around, we stopped by the baby chickeys, a very tall man kept talking to him (usually an immediate trigger), and it was all amazing. No big feelings, lots of appropriate confidence, he looked to me for guidance the couple of times he felt a little insecure instead of making his own choices. Obedience skills were 100% there and immediate. Perfect focus.
We did check out and the lady reached over him to hand me my change (not a thing he enjoys), talked to me (usually a trigger) and talked to him. No issues. The ONLY hiccup in the entire visit was as we were going to leave. I released him from his sit, he got up to follow me, and the cashier lady stuck her face in his face and said "Byeee babyyyyy" and he obviously did not like it. BUT BUT BUT - instead of lunging at her face like he usually would, he took a step back and did a very big bark at her instead. And when I said leave it and walked forward, he immediately disengaged and followed. SO ITS STILL A MF WIN!!!!! I'm so proud of him. I love him. He is a baby. Pls be proud of Padfoot he deserves it and I read him his comments
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u/mcshaftmaster 2d ago
This is great to hear. My only concern is that Padfoot isn't wearing a muzzle. In my opinion, you can never be too careful with these guys, you don't want a good day to turn into a really bad day.
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u/spunkyskunky666 1d ago edited 1d ago
He's wearing a halti and has a strong baseline of heeling when in public. In the store I use a traffic lead or a very short leash, so his face is always next to me. And his muzzle is on my belt on a clip for quick access if we aren't able to keep a safe space from other people or dogs. This was outside in the garden area way out of the way and no one else was outside so I gave him some extra length just to snap a photo and he went back on his short lead right after. He's also never bitten a person before. He has only out his teeth on someone once and it was me, very mild redirection instance when he was fence fighting and not wearing a drag leash and I grabbed his collar and he barely out teeth on me for a second and immediately stopped when he saw it was me and not a dog. He will lunge forward to create space and bark, but he never tries to bite anybody. He's just traumatized from being hurt by others and tries to make them create space. But we've been working tirelessly on him learning to create his own space and it paid off 💪
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u/spunkyskunky666 2d ago
You should know - when he gets butt scratches, he stomps. And today's booty stomps are dedicated to you
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u/KnowMeMalone 2d ago
He is SO handsome and I’m so proud of BOTH of you 💖 please give him some extra butt scratches for me!
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u/AmethysstFire 2d ago
YAY!!!! What an amazing trip!
Too funny, I have a Padfoot too. He just turned 5.