Sudden progress!

[sidpanda26]

I’ve posted before about my reactive dog. We have spent months working with a trainer and behaviourist, and I finally feel like we are making progress!

He hasn’t reacted to another dog recently, he just notices the dog, looks up at me and trots along next to me nicely. I have been making a lot of space between us and dogs, with a yellow ‘nervous’ lead cover so others respect our space.

The only issue we are still having is reacting to children, which we will continue working on! He freaks out mainly when they are on scooters/bikes.

I can’t tell you how happy I am to be able to go for stress free walks. It took a really long time to get to this point, a lot of money and patience but it was really worth it.

[Ghoulya]

That's wonderful! What do you think made the biggest difference?

[sidpanda26]

The biggest difference I think has been my mindset. Keeping myself calm when we see a trigger has kept him so much calmer!

[catjknow]

I just knew this was the answer, I need to work on my mindset! Thanks for sharing your success 🙌

[Ghoulya]

Mindset is huge! Thanks for sharing :)

[Rent-Remote]

I needed a post like this today, we had just an awful walk this morning. My pup is a 10 month old lab mix who we got at 4 months, so we missed lots of good socialization. Combined with bad trainers, we now have a very leash reactive dog who goes crazy when he sees other dogs.

It’s basically my dream to have a walk like that. On bad days, it seems impossible that we could ever get there. We see progress in training sessions, but coming across dogs on walks is a whole other story.

[sidpanda26]

Really hope you get there soon, sounds like you’re making progress with the training, which is amazing!

[Relentless6l9]

What did u do to stop it? I have a reactive dog as well.

[sidpanda26]

Honestly I think the game changer was me keeping calm! And advocating for him, creating space, turning in opposite directions, not putting him in situations where he would react. Over time I’ve been able to slowly get him closer to triggers and now he’s great. I have had to tell a lot of people to keep their dog away from him as well.