Reactive Behavior Overview
Reactive Behavior
Dog reactive behavior equals barking, pulling, lunging towards dogs, people, or other things while on leash, or while behind a fence or other barrier.
These behaviors are sometimes classified as a type of on-leash aggression. You may, however, have a dog that reacts in this manner, but is in general friendly towards other dogs and people, and has never bitten anyone.
For this course, the training advice is intended for non-aggressive dogs only. While some of the training techniques may work for dogs in either category, we recommend contacting us for distance consultations/private sessions if you have a dog with reactive-aggressive behavior and a known history of biting.
Using Leave It to Solve Reactive Behavior
First, follow the standard leave it plan. Work on getting solid behavior responses inside your home and outside. During this time, attempt to keep your dog away from the things that trigger his reactive behavior. When you are getting good responses outside, then start to practice around his triggers.
When your dog notices/sees his trigger, give your leave it verbal cue. If he responds correctly, mark as correct and treat. If he responds incorrectly, do not reward and try to get farther away from the trigger to the point your dog can relax.
It may help in the beginning to give multiple treats as you pass the trigger. So the process would be: your dog sees the trigger, you ask for a leave it, get the correct behavior, then give treat, another treat, another one, and so on until the trigger is gone. Then gradually decrease the treats as your dog’s behavior improves.
Keep Records
Is your dog’s behavior trending towards improvement? Is it getting worse?
It most likely will depend on factors like proximity to the trigger, intensity of the trigger (for example the other dog is barking, or a truck is louder than a typical one, etc.), how long you are around the trigger, and so on.
Need Additional Help?
If your dog is not improving, you may need a more structured strategy. Contact us for more information on how to proceed.
We are creating a class with more videos and training plans to solve reactive behavior. These will be available in the future.