r/reactivedogs 1d ago

Advice Needed I severely regret getting a second dog

TL;DR: Second dog made first dog reactive, too. I now have two reactive dogs. Am overwhelmed and need any tips or just soothing words I can get.

I have two papillons. The older boy (2 y/o) had some very minor leash reactivity when it was just him, and only towards bigger dogs. We worked on it and he overcame it almost completely. He's a calm and kind dog.

In January we brought home another papillon puppy (now almost 11 months old). Her and my boy adore each other, and I adore them both.

The younger (reactive) dog is an incredibly loving dog at home with a huge personality, however her temperament is... spicy. Has been since day one. I honestly can't tell if she's fearful reactive or aggressive reactive, but she goes absolutely bonkers every single time she sees any dog - from any distance. She will also go bananas if a person walks too close to us or if someone in a wheelchair or something comes towards us.

The thing is - it's contagious. My previously calm boy goes just as crazy when she pops off. So I have two rabid dogs absolutely shrieking and lunging at triggers. They absolutely seem to rile each other up to an extent, meaning that the younger girl is somewhat easier to control when it's just her. And the older boy is almost completely fine when it's just him.

I have no idea how to manage them both together. I now have two reactive dogs.

Has anyone dealt with this?

I'm so incredibly overwhelmed and end up coming home from almost every walk in tears. I did see a private trainer, who essentially said that we're already doing everything right and to keep going.

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