Reactive/

Aggressive Dog Training

Does your dog bark, growl or lunge when he or she catches sight of another dog? Do you walk your dog at odd hours to avoid running into other dog walkers? If any of this sounds familiar you might have a REACTIVE dog. Dogs that are termed reactive will commonly show aggressive type behavior's when they see their particular poison. This can be other dogs, humans or in some cases both. We see a lot of reactive dogs in our practice. You could even go so far as to say it is our bread and butter. The world of dog training is full of many theories and supposed experts on this topic. A quick google search will yield numerous articles and write-ups on this subject that claim to have the panacea to this common issue. With all these experts and readily available information one would assume dog reactivity would be an easily solvable issue that any half decent trainer or motivated owner could fix. Why then is this problem so rampant? Why do we see frustrated owners going so far as to completely isolate their dog, using psychotropic medications or even euthanasia? The answer is simple, most mainstream dog training and the supposed experts who tout it are not equipped with skills, mindset or experience to handle this issue. It is one thing to read about what should happen and then regurgitate it on your blog or website and its quite another to actually go out and achieve tangible results with reactive / aggressive dogs. Let us briefly explore the why. In 99% of dog reactivity cases the dog’s behavior's is based in fear. The reactive dog is generally an insecure dog regardless of how ferocious a display she exhibits. The goal of the aggressive display is to dissuade the target from any kind of social interaction. Essentially, your dog wants the target to GO AWAY. Reactive aggressive displays are how he or she has learned to achieve this goal.