The REACTIVITY TIP that has NEVER failed me…
When it comes to Reactivity with our dogs, one video would never sum up everything you need to know. How a trainer addresses reactivity in one dog will be different than how they address it with another.
Even within that system, Step 1 is not the whole process. Just a singular part. There will be multiple steps that require both consistency and the ability to read the dog so you know what to do when – when is it time to move on and what isn’t working? However, there is one tip that has never failed me and it is one thing I do with EVERY dog that has reactivity, no matter if it is towards other dogs or humans, no matter the age of the dog, no matter what.
And it’s THIS: ENGAGEMENT
Rewarding my dog for engaging me.
So how do I do that? In this video, I am showing a sped up version with Finn, a very nervous GSD. Mind you, reactivity does not need to be explosive. It can, but it almost never starts that way. The “it came out of nowhere” is simply an owner who didn’t know how to read the body language that the dog was giving – signs that said it was uncomfortable. In Finn’s case, you can see his body language that he’s very comfortable with me as the handler, but very nervous about the environment we are in and extremely observant about his surroundings. Prior to this video, we have a history of a conditioned marker. “Yes” means, come to me and get your reward. It’s also important t
o note that some dogs will not take a reward when stressed.
We have worked up to this and still, I am using high value food. In this case, I am simply waiting for Finn to give me any amount of eye contact, then I’m marking that behavior and exploding backwards while heavily rewarding him. I COULD wait for him to just give me the eye contact before moving backwards, however he is a dog I trained a while back and is only with me for a week of vacation boarding, so I don’t have a ton of time with him. I’m moving backwards to take away his sense of social security. The moment he thinks “hey wait a minute, where did she go” and then looks…mark, then move, then reward. Again, this is not a complete fix, but it’s one huge part!
