#reactivity

[jaubaius]

Found in a 120 year old time capsule.

Full VDO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoDj4mXdqmc

[hazard-and-friends]

thinking about reactive dogs as aversive stimuli, that is: when a person takes their dog for a walk, and their dog reliably screams bloody murder when they see other dogs, a previously neutral stimulus (other dogs) is now associated with something viscerally unpleasant (my dog screaming!!!)

and so the learner (the person) is now predisposed to all kinds of weird behavior: lashing out at either their own dog OR the other dog (the predictor of the aversive stimuli); avoiding certain locations or times; carrying massive amounts of shame and resentment about their dog; avoiding walking the dog entirely; applying their own series of aversives to the dog to try to suppress the screaming (...never mind that they are themselves under a P+ learning paradigm and it's clearly not making anyone feel better...)

no conclusion here just the thing turning over in my brain today

[the-healing-mindset]

You beg and plead this person to do better. Not only for the sake of your connection to them, but also for their own sake. You feel the tension from each one of their intense emotional states. You find yourself struggling to keep yourself away from old, unhealthy habits.

You can't keep yourself in this prison, however. Yes, we want to be optimistic and believe that we can "love" the other person into doing better for themselves, but we cannot do this at the expense of our own mental, physical, and emotional health. As sad as it may be, if a person is impacting us in such a way that our own healing is being disrupted, we must distance ourselves from that person.

[abirddogmoment]

Hi! I really enjoy reading about the work you're doing with Rory and preventing reactivity with her.

Do you have any suggestions or thoughts on working on reactivity in older dogs? I have a 10 yr old that a farm dog for most of her life and has always been anxious and reactive around other dogs and some people. She's been around other dogs on trails and we live in an apartment complex with other dogs, but she seems to be getting more reactive as she gets older. I've debating looking for a trainer to work with but I also worry that it won't do much since she's been like this for so long.

Hi! I'm not a trainer so I would highly recommend talking with someone qualified who can look at your situation and make recommendations based on your specific dog.

Here are some thoughts based on my experience - this is not a substitution for talking to a trainer.

1. Farm dog to apartment dog is a huuuuuuuge transition (I say this without judgement as someone in an apartment). If this was a recent change, give it time.

2. At 10 years old she might not be feeling her best (pain, arthritis, maybe anxiety if her vision or hearing are dulling). Consider bringing it up at your next vet visit, there may be medication to help with pain or anxiety!

3. Anxious dogs tend to do best when they know what's coming next. If you can implement a daily or weekly routine, it might help her know what to expect and increase her threshold for reactivity.

4. Apartment dogs deal with a lot of social stress so try to avoid putting her in situations she can't (or doesn't want to) handle. Cross the street, move off the trail, or do another lap of the block to avoid tight squeezes with people or dogs on sidewalks or hallways.

5. Make sure she's getting enough rest. Apartments are noisy and a farm dog is probably pretty alert to those noises. Make sure she has a quiet area to get quality sleep - might have to create this with a crate or pen with a noise machine. I think they make diffusers for anti-anxiety pheromones too, this would be a good place to put one.

6. Give her Time To Be A Dog where you don't have to stress about others. Fields with big visibility and a long line, private or empty dog parks, or SniffSpots are great options for this. Dogs really benefit from being allowed to make independent choices and you both need decompression time if you run into dogs on the reg.

7. Be the calm, steady handler she knows she can trust to advocate for her. Don't freak out, but don't let dogs approach her (body block when needed) and don't force interactions with people. This takes soooo much practice but do your best to handle yourself and her with a confident, calm demeanor while you're out.

8. Depending on her level of reactivity, consider doing a chill dog training class or something similar that gets her out using her thinking brain around other dogs. Nosework class is a great one for this because there are no dog-dog interactions and it can really help build confidence.

A trainer will be able to give you specific games and strategies to practice based on how you and your dog act in real life. You are allowed to do one private session to ask questions and gather advice, it doesn't need to be a big commitment if you don't want it to be!

@brighthounds or any other dog trainers on here, anything to add?

[dog-journey]

[alternate link]

[alternate link]

Emily Wolf & Libby Felts (Hosts) + Sarah Stremming (Guest)

Canine Adolescence is the transition from puppyhood to adulthood. This fascinating conversation with Sarah Stremming, who is a dog behavior coach and the host of the Cog Dog Podcast, addresses this pivotal age of young dogs. Sarah, Emily, and Libby discuss adolescent canine behavior and how to most effectively observe and address behaviors to nurture confident, healthy dogs. They also discuss:

How dogs’ responses to environments and caregivers can change during this transitional period

Some of the difficulties this transition period can create for adolescent dogs

How to best support the dog through these transitional changes

How we can work with dogs experiencing threat

Sarah’s approach to using food when a threat is present

Breed-specific behaviors in adolescents and how they can express under stress

The top skills we need to teach adolescent dogs (or puppies moving into adolescence)

To speculate or not to speculate on your dog’s prior experience

What happens when you get to the other side of canine adolescence

[copernicussnail]

Something I’ve seen a lot of lately that’s been pissing me off are social media “dog trainers” training reactive/aggressive dogs in a public dog park parking lot and acting shocked and angry when an off leash dog comes up to them. Should the other dog be on a leash until in the actual park? Yes. But also, don’t go to a play ground and get mad if a kid runs into you.

Everyone else is there with their (presumably) dog friendly dog and expects all the other dogs there to be friendly as well. Obviously we can go back and for the about the harm dog parks can cause, but that’s not really the point. I’m all for shaming uncontrolled off leash dogs, but don’t take a severely reactive dog to a place you know will almost certainly have off leash dogs.

Half the comments are usually people applauding the uploadeder for “advocating” for the dog by cussing out the approaching dog’s owner. Call me crazy but I think advocating for your dog would be not putting them in a situation you know they will end up highly over threshold.

Extra points if at some point in the comments they say their dog would have ripped the approaching dog to shreds and said dog isn’t muzzled and is on a prong with no backup clip.

[allcreaturessmall]

It's Throwback Thursday! Today, here is a picture from five years ago of Badger's mean mug. Badger has been with us for almost eight years now. She was picked up by animal control as a borderline-feral stray living under a condemned trailer, and was heavily pregnant. She dug a burrow at the Bibb County Pound to have her puppies in, and when I saw a post from the pound reaching out for a rescue offer before she whelped, I felt a connection and busted my butt finding her a rescue placement. She had her puppies the day after I pulled her from the pound.

I did not anticipate that Badger would ever become my dog. However, she quickly demonstrated some severe and ultimately dangerous behavioral issues, starting with biting the ACO who removed her from the burrow. What we hoped was a fluke from stress and fear unfortunately turned out to be a temperament issue. She racked up a serious bite history in foster care, and also demonstrated extremely severe resource guarding, as well as dog reactivity. The rescue's last straw was when she mauled one of her own weanling puppies for attempting to eat from the same tray; they told me if I did not want her, they would euthanize.

If I did not have the means to safely work with, contain, and manage this dog, euthanasia would have been the correct choice. At ACS, we recognize that behavior euthanasia, while deeply tragic, is sometimes the only way to give a dog peace and protect others from harm when a dog can not function safely or happily in the human world. Badger is inarguably a dangerous dog, and I go to great lengths to balance keeping her happy with keeping myself and others safe. The good news is, she has not had a single bite incident under my care, she has come a LONG way with resource guarding, and while she still dislikes most dogs, she does like Bolt. She is generally a happy, silly dog, but she will never be a trustworthy one, and having a constant awareness of and respect for that is how we ensure she is safely managed.

I recognize that dangerous dogs are a hot-button issue, and can assure you that if I ever feel I can no longer safely manage Badger, I will not hesitate to say goodbye. I do not recommend people take on dangerous dogs if they lack experience with reactivity and/or aggression, or lack the means to ensure safe containment and management. A rescue environment differs from a typical household environment, and people who want a pet dog deserve a dog that is companionable, safe, and easy to live with. The average household is equipped for a pet, not a project, and that is perfectly okay.