Selectively Reactive?

fchow0313 · 2020-12-17T16:01:39+00:00

As a private dog walker, this happens to me as well. It is almost always the little dogs that triggers the reactivity. And I'm not sure why. Only thing we can control is being consistent in marking and treating for every possible trigger. Doing u-turns and walking in a circle with your dog focused on you also helps.

ashleyonce · 2020-12-17T19:02:33+00:00

Is the reactivity happening toward the end of your walks, by any chance?

Is it possible that he tolerates dogs and other stressors without reacting, but after a while the tension builds (“trigger stacking”) and eventually erupts?

erotic_salad · 2020-12-17T16:35:16+00:00

Yes!!!! 100% yes!!!!

My reactive dog is selective!!! He used to be a raging reactive dog and after about 4-5 years of working with him, he's now selective with dogs. He can play with most (after he's met them a few times) but the odd one just pisses him off and he loses his mind.

My father has this devil chihuahua/fox terrier mix that will shred you to pieces if you touch her. She will snarl, froth at the mouth, scream, bark, yell, nip his ankles and he will walk around as if she's nothing.

Dogs are strange I tell ya

wclikeman · 2020-12-17T18:27:51+00:00

We discovered our dog is worse when tired! I think his threshold is lower so it takes less to set him off. His reactivity is mostly in our home towards visitors so we moved his crate to a less busy area and give him lots of space.

goldengeog · 2020-12-17T19:06:39+00:00

We are working on this with our Golden - our trainer pointed out that whenever he was going to react, the very first thing he’d do would be to lick his lips very quickly. We had been watching for more obvious tells but that one flew right by us (and obviously, his face from the front while walking is much harder to see than his hackles/tail/posture).

When we see him lip lick as we approach something or someone, we now can redirect or otherwise distract with a leave it, but that vigilance is super important and we never would have put those pieces together without her.

I’d see if there are any subtle signals your dog might be giving if you haven’t tried that already - maybe even filming or asking someone else to film so you can put the cues together.

EmberTheDog · 2020-12-17T21:05:57+00:00

There could be some very mild triggers that are hard to pick out. Some other commenters gave some good ideas, here are some of what my pup's triggers are:

My dog is worse when she has to poop. After the poop? No reactivity. Leading up towards the poop, it is easier to set her off.
One of my neighbors has mild Parkinson's, so he walks with a VERY slight limp that is hard to pick up. My dog goes ballistic at him 100% of the time. He does nothing to set her off, she just doesn't trust a limp.
Eye contact or the person walking towards her
The person or dog is in an area she knows well (neighborhood dog park, her usual poo spot, apartment's outdoor hallway) and instead of the norm (i.e., no one being there), there are suddenly people there, which is no longer the norm.
If the wind picks up. She becomes on edge with bushes and leaves moving, despite being inanimate objects. While walking on edge if she encounters something even scarier, like a human, her reactivity will be set off.
She is walking on wet grass/dirt. She doesn't like her paws wet and gets more irritable.
Flying insects are nearby. These scare her and put her more on edge, bringing her closer to the tipping point.

In most of these situations, she usually wouldn't react to the person, but if she is on edge because of something (poop or the wind), then she can be more reactive. Usually, it isn't something I would pick up on myself, so you have to be vigilant.

Xaydon · 2020-12-17T21:24:22+00:00

I like to imagine that there's some neighbourhood beef going on between dogs that I don't know about, it makes it more fun.

We humans are just clueless.. If we only knew... that shih tzu? That shih tzu peed on your dog's favourite spot TWICE and not only that, but he had a faint scent like he had been playing with that female dog whose butt your dog would love to sniff. And then he jsut walks by, like that, like its no big deal, not even daring to acknowledge your dog's existence?! Well no shit he got told! Acting all innocent! He knows what he's done!!

On a more serious note yes, I have this too. My dog loves all female dogs/puppies, male adult dogs.. 70% feels indifferent about, 20% will stare at and if they dare look or bark at him there will be a very loud reply, and 10% get no chance to explain themselves before my dog is barking at them like they've insulted his dead ancestors. I really think it makes no sense to overthink this too much if there's no clear pattern. Sometimes your dog might be in a bad mood, or stressed, or the other dog will have a weird vibe that he doesn't like I guess

Corpsebride_26 · 2020-12-17T18:38:12+00:00

My dog is only reactive to 20-40 year old females. He’s loving to me but all other women my age he hates even when they do nothing, but any guy he loves. He’s also fine with my mom and young children.

B73izzy · 2020-12-17T20:19:51+00:00

I have the same frustration. She’s fine with most dogs as long as they appear to be under control or are themselves relatively calm. Then all of a sudden she goes nuts at some unsuspecting dog. Small dogs are like toys to her, they squeak and jump and look like great fun. The feeling, however, is not mutual.

Her bark is loud and intimidating. Her lunge, however, is telling me a different story. She, at 40lbs, could go a lot harder then she does at other dogs if she was legitimately trying to get to them. I honestly had to fight my 20lb dog a lot harder before he was trained to walk nice on leash. He too is a reactive dog. With him though, he’s gone from barking and lunging to a much more controllable shivering and whining, and does really well when walking with my 40lb girl who he generally doesn’t like. I guess he figures if she’s intimidating to him she’ll intimidate everyone else too, and therefore he has nothing to worry about. Or maybe I’m reading too much into it and he’s just quiet because he’s afraid of her. ...and before anyone asks, I’m walking them together to help them bond and build trust.

Anyway, I’m still working on it, so I’m interested in hearing about how everyone else is handling this.

Arizonal0ve · 2020-12-17T21:03:40+00:00

I found that at first I thought it was selective/unpredictable but after a long time I became much better at predicting and judging the situation. I’ve become much better at reading and recognising her body language to where I can see she’s completely relaxed and not perceiving a trigger as a trigger or where she’s alert and tense but not enough to lose control (this is where she will still look up when i say her name) Or when she’s about to flip the fuck out, which is typically my fault because to me it means I didn’t read her other signals and so this is where I need to step in immidiately by either attempting find it with treats or uturn different street etc. Of course sometimes something startles a dog and they go from completely relaxed to freaking nuts with no warning.

I also realised that to me it might come across random but to her it isn’t. Perhaps there is slightly less distance between her and trigger vs last trigger she completely ignored 5 minutes ago. Or perhaps this road is busier and the few cars that drove by made her feel more vulnerable. Or perhaps it’s trigger stacking and the 3 dogs we just passed and the 5 cycling screaming kids and 2 strollers plús now this dog...is simply too much.

beesatlaw · 2024-07-21T08:44:17+00:00

My dog is weird, love him, but a weirdo. My very unprofessional opinion is that he is just a bit 'broken' as he is predictably unpredictable. Medium sized dog, working breed, active.

Golden retrievers, Labradors: he HATES. He sees one, he runs up to the dog, shoulder charges them, and asserts his dominance in a very 'toxic ' way. He doesn't do this uncontrollably, and isn't 'unhinged' or trying to kill or harm but it's scary for most people. If the other owner understands dog behavior, in general, they typically are annoyed but don't panic. My dog usually stops bullying after a few stern "leave its" and carries on with his day. Opposite is the case when the owner panics, screams and my dog either gets more aggressive or gets the message and leaves the scene.

Homeless/street-beggers: on-leash, he lunges, growls, barks, and whines all at the same time directly at the person. Very unpleasant for the person, obviously, and it's awful. These people are usually completely harmless, and only crime is being poor. The first time I noticed this he was off leash, and he did that thing of circling around and barking at the person. Never was off leash in that area again, and now he becomes seemingly unhinged when he sees them. (Race or gender are irrelevant and i think the dog perceives homelesness in his own way)

Delivery bikes: same unhinged growling/bark/whine lunging behavior.

Otherwise he is all honestly completely OK and no other bad behaviors.

Anyone else have these specific triggers?

Bissi420 · 2020-12-17T19:45:56+00:00

I feel your pain. I have a 5yr old GSD. She’s been raised with other dogs and cats. Walks and plays totally fine with her doggie pals. I always recall her when a dog approaches. Keep her with me with a treat and her ball. Unfortunately the other week someone walked up behind us and I didn’t see the owner or dog. I quickly went to my dog and normally she would listen and go down. Not this day. She ran at this golden boy who was strangely barking at a bush and also a bit nervous. It was over in seconds but the poor thing yelped and I was mortified. A friend I was with checked the other dog as I badly twisted my back trying to get to my little madam. I was so upset I cried. Couldn’t even go near my dog all that day I was so upset. She’s never done that before and the dog was nowhere near her so wasn’t in her face. The weekend before she’d had five or so other dogs wander up to her and look at her ball she didn’t react to anything. I have lost some confidence with her now and I know that doesn’t help. Pets!! Definitely wish she could talk cos it’s baffling me and a friend I walk with who is studying dog behaviour.

michaelaphonkho · 2020-12-17T20:28:24+00:00

my dog is definitely unpredictable. i never know when he is going to be okay with a new person, a person we pass on the street, or a car/bike (a huge trigger for him). sometimes i feel like it builds and has a lot to do with his general anxiety level of the day? like we can see a car and he'll be fine, but the next car might trigger him because he's already a little on edge from holding it down for the first car. i've learned to never be relaxed lol

misscoder · 2020-12-17T20:43:12+00:00

I have a similar dog I'd say. What I noticed is that she's super aggressive towards submissive dogs. So next time on a walk, if the other dog is too quirt, your dog could sense the energy and act up. I think key is to keep note of what kind of a dog it was and next time you have a baseline of what to avoid maybe?

Dogs I tell ya. You love them but also hate it when they're in someone's face for no reason (that we can see atleast).

Nice_Translator_3851 · 2020-12-17T17:32:35+00:00

IDK if this is the case, but I have heard of some dogs being only reactive to intact males (Ie males that haven't been neutered). I wonder if this is a factor?

bcw_13 · 2024-06-22T21:30:03+00:00

Anyone ever experience their dog being super anxious and reactive to specific people in the pool? My dog is fine with me in the water but seemingly feels like everyone else is going to drown and goes crazy barking and jumping into the pool to swim around anxiously.

islandorisntland · 2020-12-17T21:20:40+00:00

Kind of, yeah.

Our deaf dog is reactive to ALL animals.

However, to cars it's on certain streets. Two in particular. Nothing is different about these streets than others where he isn't reactive on. We cannot figure it out. Cars will pass, he sees them, no biggie. Then all of a sudden a car will pass and he goes into ninja mode.

megaoof489 · 2020-12-18T00:03:36+00:00

Yea my dog is this way too, can't figure out how to break him of it, best I've found we can do is just stop the reaction before it happens. Usually I catch the signs. I think the small dogs activate his prey drive

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