Does your dog pull on the leash, bark, or lunge towards other dogs, people, or passing cyclists during walks? This behavior is often associated with excitement or friendliness. However, it can actually be a sign that severe reactivity is developing. To help you better understand reactive dog behaviors, let’s discuss dog reactivity and how we provide reactive dog training in Sarasota.
What is reactivity?
We usually define reactivity as barking, pulling or lunging towards a person, dog, animal or stimulus (such as a passing car or cyclist). The intent of the behavior can be to get the target to move away.
Fortunately, this behavior is treatable once the behavior has been identified. Beyond the Dog uses a combination of positive reinforcement-based obedience training and classical conditioning, pairing the presence of the threat with something pleasant.
For more information on dog reactivity, we recommend you check out our blog on “How can I help my reactive dog?” which has been written by our co-founder and Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, Dr. Kristyn Echterling-Savage.
Let’s look at reactive dog behaviors in more detail.
Some dogs are more reactive in certain situations
Some dogs get reactive on leash at a distance but not when they get up close to another dog. Other dogs may be less reactive on leash when they expect to see other dogs, such as when they are behind a fence at a dog park.
This behavior can be confusing. It’s important to remember that it’s not that these dogs aren’t reactive when they see other dogs at a distance. It’s just not signs of severe reactivity.
No matter the severity of their reactivity, this behavior should be properly treated through training.
Reactivity behaviors can be confused with the dog being excited
Sometimes people may think that a dog is barking, lunging, or pulling because they are excited to see other dogs. There are exceptions, but it is usually not the case that they are excited.
If reactivity is labelled as excitement, then the behavior that is easy to treat can persist or get more complicated and severe.
Reactivity can be a self reinforcing behavior
Reactive dogs bark, lunge, and pull towards unfamiliar people, dogs, or other stimuli because they want them to go away.
Unfortunately, these reactive behaviors can be reinforcing, which can make things worse.
For example, when your dog barks at another dog during a walk, the other dog will often continue on its way. Your dog may think that their reactive behavior got the dog to leave, when in reality they were going to leave anyway. Your dog will learn that barking at other dogs can help them leave.
Behavior modification dog training helps treat reactivity behaviors
It can be exhausting to walk a dog who wants to lunge and bark at the many dogs you see when going for walks. To help calm your dog down, you can work on pairing when on walks or at the park. We recommend teaching your dog to walk nicely on a gentle leader at your home and neighborhood before taking them to busier dog friendly areas.
How can you practice pairing? You can give your dog yummy treats when they look at other dogs. This helps to start to change their emotional response to them.
We can then start obedience commands including sit stay, down stay, wait and come when called. We practice obedience at as many dog friendly places as possible, including outside of fenced in dog parks.
For videos showing how we treat reactivity, you should check out our Tiktok page which includes dog reactivity videos on:
- Taro’s reactive training story
- Helix’s severe reactivity training story
- Ollie’s leash reactivity story
- Canela’s severe reactivity on leash story
- Fish’s severe reactivity on leash story
- Luka’s reactivity towards other dogs
- Satchmo’s severe reactivity story
We are here to help
Would you like help teaching your dog high level obedience commands or addressing reactivity behaviors? You can also contact our Pet Behavior Team for a free consultation. Where we can chat with you and provide a personalized recommendation that meets your needs. We also recommend you check out our puppy training blog or our Tik Tok channel.
Beyond the Dog Sarasota offers personalized one-on-one training sessions. Including training at your home and local Sarasota neighborhood, board-and-train programs, and virtual training programs. We also offer in person training in Tampa Bay, Houston, and Dallas, as well as Board and Train Programs and Virtual Training Programs for clients nationwide.
We use scientifically proven training methods, backed by over 20 years of hands-on experience. Beyond the Dog Sarasota is led by our co-founders, Dr. Kristyn Echterling-Savage, a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB) and Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), and Sean Savage, a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) and Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA).
