How to Stop Dog Reactivity in West LA

For this West LA dog training session we helped 5 year-old Mini Bernedoodle Zoara by sharing tips on how to stop dog reactivity.

We started out the session by having a fairly in-depth conversation about Zoara’s backstory. I learned that she did not get socialized as a puppy, may have had a couple issues at a daycare when she was a little younger than the ideal age.

We will never know for sure if any of those factors were contributors to her behavior around other dogs. That said, I’ve worked with over 1,000 reactive dogs and the overwhelming majority of them were not socialized around other puppies when they were a puppy themselves.

This is why it’s so important to get a young puppy into puppy socialization classes where they learn to socialize with other puppies when they are open to it, especially the most important period of time which falls from 8 to 16 weeks.

Zoara’s guardian had worked with a good trainer and a couple other people that may not have had as much dog knowledge as she would’ve liked.

We spent the first half of the session going over a lot of dog behavior fundamentals.

We re-introduced a marker word, went over a hand targeting exercise to help the guardian practice for timing, then I discussed how to properly introduce a cue before finishing up with an easy way to fade the lure.

Next I went over the importance of celebrating desired behaviors. This is one of the easiest things that you can do that will have the biggest impact on your dog.

• It increases a dog’s confidence
• helps dogs practice basic obedience
• motivates dogs to want to do what you want
• teaches dogs manners

Anytime someone hires me to stop dog reactivity I always make sure that we go over Dog body language. Learning when your dog is uncomfortable through their visual cues gives you the opportunity to move them away from the scary thing.

I also went over how to read Zoara’s cutoff signals and signs of consent. This is another incredibly important thing to do to stop dog reactivity, but it also helps people have a better relationship with thier dogs. Clear commiunication is a foundation of a confident dog. And if your dog is reactive, making it feel secure and confident is incredibly important.

Just like humans, dogs don’t offer behaviors for no reason. And when a dog is uncomfortable, they are going to give you a number of indicators to communicate how they feel.

If you read these subtle body language communications and move the dog away, the dog feel secure, confident and has no reason to act out. If you don’t, the dog will become overwhelmed and when that happens, you can see an emotional outburst.

Many people think that a dog acting out is being aggressive. But it’s usually an emotional response. The dog simply passes its ability to contain itself due to the overwhelming feelings that they are experiencing.

In order to stop dog reactivity, you need to set your dog up for success so it does not feel overwhelmed. Remember, dog’s don’t react by barking, lunging and snapping intentionally. They are overcome with emotions. That’s a really important thing to keep in mind when you have a reactive dog. Fortunately Zoara’s guardian understands that. But I wantded to mention it as many people, even if they say they understand, still react as if the dog is choosing to be reactive.

We wrapped up the first part of our session we’re going over how to use the positive interrupter chained with hand targeting to stop unwanted behaviors before they start.

An Easy Way to Stop Dog Reactivity

Since Zoara is only reactive around other dogs, we went out for a walk to the Culver steps so that we could find a dog or two to practice around.

One of my favorite ways to stop dog reactivity is something called the engage disengage game. This is a desensitization and counter conditioning exercise that has a very high success rate in changing a dog’s emotional responses.

If you have a dog who barks, lunges or snaps at other dogs to make them go away, you’re definitely going to want to watch this free positive dog training video on how to stop dog reactivity.

It was great to see how well Zoara responded to this exercise. I made sure to point out some contributing factors such as it not being super busy, the other dog being farther away and having someone working with Zara who has professional level timing.

As we were leaving the steps, we got caught in a little bit of a choke point where another dog was approaching. Because the dog was approaching in a front facing way, Zara did respond although she was easily redirected.

It was a good illustration of how important it is to keep your head on a swivel anytime you’re doing this exercise to stop dog reactivity. Our goal is to create a situation where the dog feels comfortable and secure so it does not act out at all. For this reason I recommended the guardian try to practice with a friend so they can have another set of eyes to keep a lookout.

Dog dog reactivity can intimidate some people, but if you practice this exercise with enough distance (which is crucially important), the dog shouldn’t react at all.

Zoara’s Mom Practices this Exercise to Stop Dog Reactivity

As we were walking back to Zoara’s home, we ran across a dog that was across the street being walked by a woman who works at Amazon. I asked her if she would help us practice so that Zoara’s guardian could take a turn at the engaged disengage game.

Ironically, the woman who helped us said her dog Luca was also dog reactive. I told her that she should go to the website and look for this write up for some tips on how to stop dog reactivity to help her with her pup. So many people have a dog dog reactivity, its a very common request that I get.

You can see Zoara’s guardian practicing the engaged disengage game with that dog in the video below.

In this situation, the dog was probably too far away to have truly effective practice but it was a good opportunity for the guardian to get some hands-on training.

Just like humans, it’s often best to practice in an easier situation to work on your fundamentals and mechanics before doing the real world situation.

It was great to see Zara looking at the other dog and looking away easily. This is the start of how you stop dog reactivity. You methodically create positive scenarios where the dog can engage with the other dog at a distance where they feel comfortable, and then create positive ass associations. Eventually the dog dog reactivity isnt what the dog is practicing.

May sound odd, but creating a situation when a dog is around another dog and it doesnt react is practicing not reacting. The idea is to get the dog lots and lots of practice being around other dogs without being reactive.

We chatted about the engaged disengaged game and a couple of other elements that are important when you want to stop dog reactivity on the walk back to Zoara’s home.

Zoara’s guardian had gotten a lot of of this information before but I was able to connect the dots for her in a way that hopefully will help her better understand A to Z.

In addition to the tips to stop dog reactivity, we covered a number of other things.  I wanted to record a summary video to make it easy for Zoara’s Mom to remember everything.

I sat down on the floor and called Little Zoara over so that we could record this roadmap to success summary of her in-home West LA Dog Training session.

I’d like to have Zara’s mother watch this video once a week for the next couple of weeks until she is finished with all of the elements that we discussed.

Stopping dog reactivity is not an overnight success. It’s gonna take some time and practice. Fortunately for Zara, her mother is dedicated and driven to stop dog reactivity in her cutie pie.

I’m looking forward to getting updates and progress reports about little Zoara’s progress.

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