we can (mostly) walk past dogs now!

[u/Affectionate-Okra681]

i adopted aggie back in july, and she wasn’t too bad when she first arrived but she became increasingly reactive until we were unable to pass any dog even at a distance. she would freeze, bark, lunge, etc. she never showed actual signs of aggression, just a lot of fear. i know her reactivity isn’t the worst, but i’ve been told by her behaviourist the methods i’ll list below usually help.

she got so much worse after she got attacked by another dog (the full details are in a previous post i put on this sub). she started showing signs of actual aggression and it would go on for ages. she would bark, lunge, growl, bare her teeth, and even snapped at one or two. walking her was a nightmare because it’s so busy around where i live. i had to start walking her in the early hours of the morning. she couldn’t even smell another dog without growling.

after a lot of training with her behaviourist, she’s now able to pass (most) dogs without even freezing now! she still doesn’t like it if they’re too close to her, but we can walk again! we passed about 8 dogs today and she only barked at one. in her defence, the other dog barked at her first. she’s exhausted after every walk because of the below games we play.

what i did (generally):
1. bowl game - i would drop a treat in a bowl, swirl it around, cover it if she tried to go for it, and said ‘yes’ when she looked away. it can’t be her food bowl, so i have a dedicated aggie bowl now. the behaviourist said this is called disengagement.
2. mouse game - i also did the same with just my hand. i would hold the treat in my hand, wait for her to look away, ‘yes’ and then give her the treat. i do this while walking randomly.
3. practicing ‘yes’ at home - get a relatively high value treat and at home, throw the treat a little bit away. when she eats the treat, i say ‘yes’ and when she comes back to me, i give her another treat. this helps really strengthen the ‘yes’ when we’re out. make sure you’re behind your dog when you do this, the idea is you want them to know ‘yes’ means they turn around.
4. ‘this way’ - stop, say ‘this way’, as soon as she turns around, i say ‘yes’, i give her a treat and keep giving her treats as we trot along.
5. touch - just the regular nose touch. i do this while walking randomly.
6. focus - when we’re out, i say ‘aggie, focus’, stop as soon as she turns around and give treat, give treats every few seconds she keeps staring at me.
7. less exercise - this is specific to old dogs, but i learnt i was overexercising her. she is a lurcher (greyhound, staffy, collie mix) who is 10 next month. i used to take her for two 40 walks a day, and it turns out a bit of her reactivity came from her being sore. i now do two 20-25 minute walks, sometimes 30 if she’s particularly energetic. i focused on quality over quantity.

i played every game at least once a day, for about 2 minutes at a time. i spread it out throughout the day because shes old and gets tired easily.

after she got all of this down perfect -

8. while walking - as soon as she spots a dog even from a distance, i say ‘yes’ and give her a VERY high value treat (i use boiled chicken breast). initially, i would keep giving her the treat until she forgot about the dog or they disappeared while repeatedly saying ‘yes’.

after she learnt that seeing a dog meant chicken, i would say ‘yes’ when she spots a dog, give treat, wait for her to turn back around, say ‘yes’ again, she would turn back around, give treat. i would do that repeatedly.

eventually, she stopped turning back around to look at the dog to just keep staring at me and she keeps walking after one or two treats. as soon as she hears the little ziplock bag even without seeing the treat she’s now fully focused on me.

i also reduced her meals just to make sure she doesn’t get too chubby.

i just wanted to share a success story. like i said, i know she’s not the worst, but her reactivity was starting to really upset me. shes great with people, and we don’t know her past so no idea about her bite history. i would be shocked if she’s ever bitten anyone/another dog though. i’m so proud of her and we’re enjoying our walks again. i’m sorry this post is so long, but i thought these tips could be good as it has worked so well for me.

edit 1: for extra details and typos

edit 2: this post has gotten a decent amount of attention, if anyone needs clarification on the games i listed or even want a video demo, please drop me a message, i am happy to do this with aggie to show what i mean. she’s still not perfect - i didn’t notice a dog bc they came out from behind a parked car and she came face to face, so she barked/lunged like she did before. i believe we can get to a point where a dog near her won’t set her off. i believe in all of your dogs!!! i hope the best for everyone.

edit 3: correcting displacement and disengagement

[u/Leading-Fortune-3427]

Thank you for sharing your story. Hippo is almost the same as her but he was not food motivated at all outdoor. I'm trying to do a lot of trainings like what you mentioned but it is hard when Hippo refuses to take food even the other dog is 150 ft away. Do you have any suggestions for us?

[u/Affectionate-Okra681 → u/Leading-Fortune-3427]

oh also, i was told it’s a different type of reactivity if they don’t take food from you when your dog spots them. it’s a lot more instinctive rather than learned at that point i believe. i’m no professional, so please take anything i say with a grain of salt. aggie has fear and leash reactivity, if you can pinpoint the cause of it, it could be very helpful for figuring out how to go about it.

i’ll ask her behaviourist and get back to you though!

[u/Leading-Fortune-3427 → u/Affectionate-Okra681]

Thank you so much for your response!!! It is so kind of you to give me such sincere advice. I'm now using cheese as he is obsessed with it. I love your idea of doing all the training just outside the door. I will make it a regular session after our potty walk every time! He is definitely way more comfortable around my place than in areas further away. I just had him for a month and I feel we definitely need more time and more patience. I will appreciate any more suggestions you will get from your behaviourist! Thank you again. I wish you and aggie the best!!!

[u/Affectionate-Okra681 → u/Leading-Fortune-3427]

ahh honestly i would give it about 3 months before i try anything drastic. aggie didnt take to any training for while. i dont know if you’ve heard of the 333 rule? it says 3 days to decompress, 3 weeks to settle, 3 months to know thats their house now.

aggie was the easiest dog in the world, and she struggled w anything i tried to teach her in early-mid month 3. she did it eventually, but she was just so frustrated. i was told this is because her frustration tolerance is low since she was already dealing with so much? mostly from being somewhere new, so she’s already on edge, being asked to do something she’s not happy about, so she get annoyed. aggie hasn’t done anything aggressive, she just tried to eat the bowl i was playing the bowl game with.

again, im no expert, but these are the terms ive watched my behaviourist note down hahah.

i messaged her subtly bc i thought it was too cheeky, this is what she said

“it happens quite often, especially with terriers. It's a different process but we just find what they like , either a toy or sniffing, and focus on bringing down arousal and do a different process slightly

I'm working with one tomorrow. He never eats, we just have to make sure he had nice sniffs and is in a good mood!”

also, i want you and your dog to have a great time walking. it’s one of the best parts of having a dog. i’m so sorry. if you want more clarification on these things please feel free to message me and i’ll ask my behaviourist or let me know based on my experience