Understanding Dog Reactivity

Dog bites are painful, and lawsuits costly. Whether reactivity is towards other dogs, or people, over-time it usually leads to dog bites. The time to address reactivity is always NOW!

Dog Reactivity

Reactivity is the one behavior that needs to be addressed immediately. For a lot of dogs it begins in puberty (7 to 14 months old) and owners wonder why it’s suddenly started. A lot of times owners expect it to stop and their dog return to the dog they used to know. This can happen, but seldom without professional intervention.

Unfortunately, for owners who don’t address reactivity immediately it usually escalates. The latter stages of escalation usually ends up with an unexpected bite, or worse, a severe injury. That’s when this beloved family member becomes a liability.

Reactivity Has One Thing in Common

In our field we often refer to reactivity or aggression as “defense” or their “defense drive”. It’s a natural and important drive for a dog. The purpose of it is to scare away a potential threat. A very essential drive for survival. The problem is most dogs today who are reactive aren’t actually being threatened. Nevertheless their experience is feeling threatened and in turn defending themselves.

When you understand what they are going through it’s really unfortunate. Seeing others (dogs or people) as a threat is not a very pleasant way for a dog to experience life. Fortunately, there are solutions.

The first question we need to ask is why the reactive, and what is contributing to it.

Breaking Down Reactivity

A dog's nervous system is always a central piece of understanding their reactivity. Think of the nervous system as your dog's command center. While originating in the brain, it controls their movements, thoughts and automatic responses to the world around them. In other words, your dog's nervous system determines their natural experience of life.

We need to understand: how much of the reactivity is solely due to their nervous system versus how much is a learned behavior; is a lack of impulse control fueling the aggression; how might the owner's interaction be contributing to the reactivity. This understanding contributes to how we approach the training.

Then we look at actual behaviors to be corrected (seldom is it just the reactivity), along with the thoughts that drive them.

Rehabilitation of Reactive Dogs

For some dogs, especially the most insecure ones, all we can do is stop the reactive, and associated behaviors, and increase tolerance towards triggers. This is our least desired outcome, but a huge accomplishment none the less.

Fortunately, for most dogs we can do more then correct reactivity and increase tolerance. We can influence how dogs actually think about the triggers. By changing their thoughts we change their experience of people and/or other dogs. They can begin to experience intrigue where there once was only fear.

This work is truly rehabilitation for a reactive dog, and changes lives. It's a privilege to us to be a part of it.

Reactivity towards People and Other Dogs

We have extraordinary success in dealing with both reactivity towards people as well as towards other dogs.

Reactivity Towards People

There are many different types of reactivity towards people. They include resource guarding (protecting food, toys, beds), being territorial (protecting home, yard, car or crate) and reactivity used to communicate stop. This latter one could be to stop a stranger from approaching, children coming near or the owner doing something the dogs wants him or her to stop.

Reactivity Towards Dogs

There are different reasons for dogs being reactive towards other dogs. The most common are to establish dominance, to defend themselves from being dominated or as a way to communicate “stop” or “get away”.

"I thought I had more time."

Seldom ever do dogs grow out of reactivity. It almost always needs to be addressed. The problem is each time your dog is reactive to you, another person or a dog, the behavior becomes more solidified. Most dogs start by "only growling". That is until the day comes when suddenly growling turns into biting a person or another dog. Most people think they have more time before it escalates. In that respect, we are usually further into the problem than we realize.

The two most common complaints we hear are "I thought I had more time before it would get to this" and "this could have been avoided". The ideal time to address reactivity is at the very first sign of it. The second best time; as soon as possible.

The first step is so easy. Just schedule a free evaluation.