We have come a long way and for sure this community has helped me understand more and more. Socialization is extremely important for puppies and younger dogs and the dog park can be a great place to do it. I’m thankful to get a break from the daily vigilance it takes to help a reactive dog. Genetics, lack of socialization, insufficient training to learn self-control, a frightening experience, or a … The tips and advice here cannot replace a qualified certified trainer or veterinary behaviorist - if you are struggling please consider these resources for your dog. Leash Reactive. Also, she’s got an intensity like no other dog I have ever had. No promoting of your own services and business. Elaborate. In addition to muzzling, find a virtual/online behaviorist for meds. Because even though adopting a reactive dog was the best thing I ever did, that doesn’t mean it’s easy. We are a community for people that own reactive dogs! Try checking through the reactive dogs subreddit and happy training! About year ago he bit a friend that was walking him for us while we were out of town for a funeral. My husband and I have both been bit by him when he was younger and started resource guarding. Ours is simply too fearful and constantly high strung to not be on meds. If you want to keep this dog please seek out the help of a veterinarian behaviourist. We don’t know what to do at this point. This week he started doing it to my husband. I've had enough of this; those dogs are much smaller then my English Mastiff and if my dog chose to fight back, he'd be the one in trouble. We are all passionate about our dogs and want the best, so don't be rude or condescending to someone seeking help. He has been with me throughout so many chapters in my life and I failed to understand him at times. Explain what methods worked for you and why you think they worked. The exact same situation ended up happening to someone else who walks him for us so we stopped having anyone else walk him. We learned it was only with rawhide/pigs ears/real bones so we eliminated those and it wasn’t a problem. You also need to start muzzle training immediately. We will make so many steps forward and then something spooks him and we are back at square one or worse. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. For more self-care tips, the Reddit community r/reactive dogs has a great thread on the subject. Edit: to fix link, clear an idea on a paragraph. Leash reactive dogs are dogs that bark and lunge at other dogs (or sometimes people, cars, bikes, and more). This might look like: I'm at my wits end now and I'm very scared about retaliation from the other owners. He is now 4 years old. We found a Fear Safe Certified vet and did “happy visits” where we just met the vet and wandered around and got super high value treats. I stood for a minute in the lobby and the other dog walked up to me, sat down, and offered a … we'd put a few drops into some peanut butter on bread and give it to her. Leash reactivity is the most commonplace of the types of reactivity, and can be quite troubling for both you and your dog. Surprisingly, no cuts or anything but he was super shook. We would have had to get rid of our dog if we hadn't found the right med combination. We tried to still socialize him, he had good experiences and a few dog friends but he exploded in size and unfortunately the dogs he knew were very small breed and some of them old so eventually a giant dog wanting to play was too much for them so we tried to find other choices. We got him DNA tested and he is mostly treeing walker coonhound and the last like 40% is a split of Rottweiler, American Bulldog and Boxer. We’ve tried basically every calming treat, spray and pheromone diffusers, Benadryl, Xanax, trazadone, trazadone with gabapentin (that’s the most effective combo at a high dose so far but the vets don’t want to put him on the daily options because they haven’t been able to exam him in like 2 freaking years (hes been in, they just can’t actually do any of the exam). Also, I had wanted to start muscle training with the vets guidance but before we got the muzzle he started reacting to me just clipping the leash or harness off. Anyway, my husband sat down with me last night and said that we have to do something, we have continuously readjusted our life and habits to help him and don’t know what to do anymore. Your dog's well-being and safety are at stake. He doesn't get along with other dogs who try and attack us however. He’s 10y most of the day, because he sleeps a lot, except for one or two hours when he wants to play and is all excited, and he looks/feels like a 2yo again. We support the LIMA (Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive) approach to dog … Press J to jump to the feed. I turn around to find another dog owner and her very non-reactive, leashed dog at a good distance away on the other side of the street. At this point I’ve become too nervous to even try to put the leash or harness on him because it ends with me getting hurt or at least very scared and then both of us being stressed out for days. In some cases, these dogs are reactive to all other canines, in others, they may be reactive to a specific category of dog, such as dogs with long hair as opposed to short, or even small dogs as opposed to large. It is only if he sees like a suitcase or something that he starts freaking out, he knows that means someone will be gone for at least one night aka forever. Offer help and advice, don't just tell people what they're doing wrong or be dismissive. So this morning I'm walking my dogs down the street and I hear "good morning" behind me. Then we had an incident where he jumped up on someone when they came over to him, I was telling him off, he has learned a ton of commands but keeping his paws on the ground when he meets a new person is really hard. He is a big licker. when we had our highly dog reactive rescue for the 6 months we had her, the best success was with the tincture. So I called the city and registered a complaint and I'll be registering another one with the condo president. We support the LIMA (Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive) approach to dog training. A reactive dog is not required to join, but please keep discussions and posts focused on dog reactivity. The only thing they knew about him was that he came from a shelter in Tennessee, the mom didn’t come with them and no info on when they were separated. I ran in pulled her off and held her away until her owner grabbed her and then I checked on Bjorn. The shelter was also horribly mismanaged, not very clean, etc. He has always whined and cried when we left and has separation anxiety but is able to chill after we leave and just lay on the couch. People frequently think that when they see a dog that barks and lunges at other dogs or people on the leash that the dog was not properly socialized as a puppy.However, this is a … Pattern 4: Heel forward, then change directions by turning 90°-180° and heel in the new direction. I honestly had no idea a virtual appointment would be an option. Everyone is welcome. They stopped taking his temp but that didn’t help. Everyone is welcome. The owners have not trained them at all, and let them run around off leash to attack others, or as they call it, "to play with other dogs". I have no idea why a vet wouldn't think daily meds are appropriate, but vets and trainers know very little about medication beyond the ones you've already tried/mentioned. He was also very mouthy and sometimes still gets that way but has learned. Dogs that are reactive overreact to certain stimuli or situations. Really worried now that he has reacted to him putting the leash on/off. Thank you all so much, this group has been a lot of help. r/reactivedogs: We are a community for people that own reactive dogs! Yay! By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. Then he eventually did it to me. Leash reactive dogs are considered different from aggressive dogs because they only display this behavior while they’re on a leash – they may be perfectly friendly off-leash. He’s extremely anxious and prone to panic attacks, so he’s on fluoxetine for two months now and he’s so much calmer and enjoying his life so much better. Same thing happened when the ceiling fan turned on the first time, any firework/gunshot type sound, loud wind, high pitched beeping, etc. We support the LIMA (Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive) approach to dog training. We support the LIMA (Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive) approach to dog … Press J to jump to the feed. This means identifying your dog’s triggers and limiting access to them as much as possible. Edit: Thank you fellow stranger for my first award! The trainer had to yell over him to tell me we should leave because literally no one could hear. it was very easy. Remember to be kind to your fellow redditors. After he snaps at someone bites/tries to bite someone he is on edge for days. I had already taught him a few basics and he would listen to the commands and do them, but he could not stop barking at full volume to save his life. I had to drag him out, bark/squeaking as he was taken from his new friends. Press J to jump to the feed. Since the first time he did it, its stayed that way. A reactive dog could react to a new person, an object, another dog or animal approaching, or just about anything else you can think of.Reactive is the term used to describe a dog that overreacts to external stimuli, whatever that may be. Sorry you are in this situation. I have a reactive dog, too, but I rarely blog about reactivity anymore because we have made so much progress that there’s not much new to report. I don’t know what to do anymore but I am crushed by the idea of “getting rid of him” in any manner. Today, they attacked us again and it turned into a fight, luckily no one was hurt. They grabbed him hard by the snout and squeezed, I freaked out, it was a whole thing, bjorn snapped at the guy the second he released him (duh) he was once again corned in that situation so then being cornered was a big no and now people weren’t as safe in his mind. they had plenty of fun but she got annoyed sometimes because she would want to play fetch and when she was over (or any other dog) he would not catch the ball, would literally let it hit him in the face and then just try to lick the dogs face again. We went to group puppy classes, he got kicked out. r/reactivedogs: We are a community for people that own reactive dogs! So here is one of two incidents that after we noticed his anxiety/issues got worse. One of the most common behavior problems I see among adult dogs is overly reactive or fearful behavior. This is Kobe I adopted him when he had been rescued from the streets hours prior, he was less than two months old. When the puppies were all allowed to play together and meet in the beginning, he was crazy excited but totally fine, got along with all the other dogs. We went over to the lab’s house and suddenly she got very aggressive (from everything that happened it seemed territorial, but it had never happened before). We are a community for people that own reactive dogs! The closer to the butt they went, the worse the reaction, it seemed to be the temperature taking that really set him off. https://reddit.com/r/dogs/ launch I know what my husband is suggesting, he’s talked about how we need to make sure everyone is safe.What do I do? This … As the typical responses to fear are either fight or flight, and the … How are we supposed to muzzle train him when clipping something on or off him is causing such a reaction? And please keep in mind it can take take for a dog to adapt to his new surroundings! My dog Bjorn was adopted at 11 weeks old from a shelter in upstate, NY. My dog, who is leash reactive, of course went nuts and flailed. She is a great dog but *can* be reactive with other dogs in her face, and has the occasional indoor peeing thing, and the fur pulling. Which is interesting as my dog is fine with other dogs; we go to the dog park frequently and do pack walks all the time. Oftentimes people come here for advice or support after a very stressful incident, so practice compassion. our problem was random aggression towards our other dog that seemed to … A friend got a female lab mix of a similar age (I think they were both right around 2?) Hated the shots. That's why we went with the fear safe certified vet. A reactive dog is not required to join, but please keep discussions and posts focused on dog reactivity. I haven’t walked him since bc all the times I’ve tried to slowly build whatever trust was somehow lost there he ends up snapping and has bitten me. The vet was always a problem, too much stimulus, other pets, etc. We went to individual training, it always basically ended in “oh he’s so smart, he just has a lot of energy, exercise him more.” And comments about how he is a hound, so they give up on trying to get him to stop barking. Then if anything else like a firework noise occurs, its longer. He pushed his butt up to me and barked at her and was very nervous (he does the pushing his butt up against me while barking a lot). I don’t think I could do it but we have to do something. Help your reactive dog become a good citizen . I love him so much, most of the time he is a big goofy love bug. He also has a “anxiety” bed (donut shaped, snuggle bed) with his favorite blanket in front of the dryer because he would drag it there and it is his other place he goes when scared. The tips and advice here cannot replace a qualified certified trainer or veterinary behaviorist - if you are struggling please consider these resources for your dog. So there's these two dogs who live a couple condos down from us. He has walked him before and said everything was completely fine until he went to unclip the harness and he snapped at him. No hateful comments or messages to other redditors. She lunged at him and went for his neck, he got away and then she did it again but had him cornered and on the ground, chomping on his neck repeatedly. He would let him pet his head and stuff but if he went for the harness he would snap at him again. The second he was separated from them nothing would make him stop. In the simplest of terms, a reactive dog is just that… a dog that reacts to something or someone (a stimulus) in their environment in a way that seems excessive for the situation, and possibly even aggressive. Conversations relating to training should happen in the public threads and no soliciting PMs. I've had no luck finding one even remotely close to me. Though he will still come snuggle us and we know his little subtle cues so once he has snapped for whatever reason we know how to avoid making it worse. So I'm sitting here ugly crying because these idiots are undoing all the hard work and training I've spent years doing with my dog. I spent hours with him in my lap, doing the distressed whine but when I sat on the floor he would sit on my lap and I would try to soothe him and very slowly worked to get the harness off. He is a big loud, nervous, fearful 85lb dog so he can’t come everywhere with us. There is hope, but you need help. You can help your dog’s reactivity by managing their environment. He was probably calm at the shelter because he had adapted to that situation, when he becomes comfortable in his new home with you his true personality will start to show. He is crate trained though he is almost never locked in it anymore and it is his safe space where he goes when he is scared. If we didn’t know his body language and all the little signs we definitely would have been bit a lot more/worse (he has drawn like a few drops of blood before, mostly breaking skin/bruising or just grazing with his teeth). I know a shelter would either not accept him or put him down with a bite history and I can’t lie about that to give him to someone else and know I’d be looking for a unicorn to find an individual that could handle him. Quickly became very afraid of the vet and then he started snapping/lunging/growling at the vet the second they started to exam him beyond his head. We also grew with each other I suppose. Within the first few days we started to see how fearful he was, something sizzled on the stove top and he ran into the corner, full body shaking and peed himself. We haven’t left him without one of us over night since that funeral. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. The owners screamed at me that I should just put my dog down if he's not good with other dogs and it was just an accident. He will do this, and sometimes actually bite, then he will do a very distressed whine and come lean against you or lick you like he is sorry or something but any quick movements will just repeat the cycle. If you have a reactive dog on your hands, it is critical that you consult a reputable behavior modification trainer with expertise in dealing with reactive dogs to assist you on your journey. it didn't stop the anxiety, but it definitely slowed down her reaction time to the point where she was manageable. He didn’t go on a walk the past two days, we are letting things cool off. He started being more scared of things like loud noises just around 5 years-old and for many years I thought he was just overly protective. He’s charming as always and his hair is soft like a baby. We've been charged three times by them already. We support the LIMA (Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive) approach to dog … Press J to jump to the feed. I lost my temper with the owners this time as this happens almost every other week. THIS. Press J to jump to the feed. She says (paraphrase, i can't recall the exact wording) "I just wanted to let you know we're here." And I’m also appreciative of the efforts my fellow dog lovers are making to teach their dogs calm reactions to stressful things, people, or dogs. The front desk was nice and quickly took him back. At this point we can’t have anyone else walk him or watch him without us and boarding is clearly not an option. He has to lick me and my husband often, like compulsively, it seems to sooth him, so I’ll let him sit there and lick my hand. We weren’t even doing a shot or anything for his first actual exam, he was doing pretty good and then when she came at him with the stethoscope he bit her (thankfully didn’t draw blood but still). A reactive dog could react to a new person, an object, another dog or animal approaching, or just about anything else you can think of. Cookies help us deliver our Services. After that he has been much more likely to growl at a random dog. Tips for Nervous and Reactive Dogs. It seems like there aren't many of those. The current vet doesn't want to try Prozac daily until she listens to his heart which she has been unable to do, More posts from the reactivedogs community. He is a lot but he is my baby. /r/dogs is a discussion-based subreddit, meant for asking questions, sharing information, and learning about our beloved canine companions and related dog-centric topics. Too many loud noise events or anything within a few days makes him nervous, on edge and distressed for days to a week or so. Manage your reactive dog’s environment. A few phobia episodes and a behavioral therapist after, I realized he was reactive out of being afraid/uncomfortable with people and other dogs. The exercises involving backwards movement are generally required for the more highly reactive dog and dogs … r/reactivedogs: We are a community for people that own reactive dogs! Clipping something on or off him is causing such a reaction to do it three times by them already only... And posts focused on dog reactivity three times by them already, find a virtual/online for. Troubling for both you and your dog had to yell over him to tell me we leave... Where she was manageable you fellow stranger for my first award thread on the subject at this point behavior I. Rude or condescending to someone seeking help kicked out leash on/off square one or worse to. Certain stimuli or situations leash on/off ’ s charming as always and his hair is soft like firework... 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