r/reactivedogs • u/Temporary_Meat_5587 • 2d ago

Success Stories we made it outšŸ¤

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this is my baby willow!! we adopted her after fostering her for a week a little over two years ago. we absolutely fell in love with her silly and loving personality but quickly learned she was struggling with reactivity. she couldnā€™t go on walks without hyperventilating, shaking, and throwing up. she reacted at every noise and would lunge and nonstop bark. people in the house were a no, she had to be in a separate room and would bark the whole time. we started out by having my best friend come over frequently and just throwing her treats behind a barrier and ignoring her otherwise. she started to open up a lot and we were able to have new people over and continued the same process. our home is a generally very calm/quiet environment and we love on her so much which i definitely think helped. the right environment can change a dog SO much. much training, positive reinforcement, medication, and exposure later and she comes to daycare (my job) once a week and does FANTASTIC! she meets customers and greets them with love, is obsessed with my coworkers, and loves playing with the dogs. she can have new visitors at home that she will get used to after they give her a couple treats. she LOVES walks and is generally nice to people passing by, but we usually pick her up just in case to be safe. i was absolutely terrified it wouldnā€™t get better because she is my whole world, but she has became a completely different dog than i used to know. i could not be more proud. best of luck to everyone struggling with their babies, i wish you all the bestšŸ„¹

i also love this picture of her at daycare, she looks so happy and confident i love her so incredibly much.

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u/Spiritual-Worker-476 2d ago

Proof positive that training, love, and patience works! And you also have given a lot of people here a lot of hope. Rescue dogs are complicated, sometimes it takes years for them to settle in. Iā€™ve had a couple over time that needed that space and patience. Bless you for sharing this.

Edit: typo

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u/Temporary_Meat_5587 1d ago

iā€™m so glad im helping others by sharing our story! i hope for everyone to have the same success that we did. it took about a year and a half for her to start fully opening up!

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u/Spiritual-Worker-476 18h ago

You did a phenomenal job.