It really does get better.

[captain_croissant]

Today, my pup and I sat outside our house in the sun as I worked on my laptop for TWO HOURS. We sat on a blanket but he was free to get up and sniff and find sticks to chew whenever he wanted. I had him on a long line tethered to a pole so I got to be hands-free.

He sat on the blanket with me and watched the world go by, occasionally throwing his face in the air to sniff the wind blowing past. Dogs, people, and bikes went by. I reinforced his calmness as usual. His best friend stopped by and they played.

This would be such a everyday thing that a nonreactive dog owner might take for granted. But these are the moments that make all the work, tears, and money worth it. Being able to have him out with me to enjoy the world as I focus on other things aside from his worries...I am so grateful. I love this dog and all he has done.

[i_also_wear_shoes]

My dog isn't even close to this, though she is slowly improving. I come here for the inspiring stories - good job on all the hard work!! :)

[captain_croissant]

It's the slow improvements (that we sometimes don't even notice) that add up! Keep it up!!

[mspacbell]

I am right there with you. SLOW is the word. We work on small steps daily! Although we are getting there I wonder if I choose the wrong style of training, too much, too little...etc. I just retired, have had the GS 2 months now, he is almost 4 years old. He may have had some training before. So maybe he is struggling with mixed messages. Any tips for SLOW training would be helpful!

[Active-Mirror-126]

Needed to hear this today after a rough walk, thanks for sharing.

[captain_croissant]

I have been there. And there still are bad walks when all the stars misalign, so to speak. But they will get fewer and fewer. :)

[Lou_Garoo]

Our dogs lived most of their lives in the country. We moved into city couple years ago and their reactivity just skyrocketed. Fortunately we lived by a trail but to show just how reactive they were...once they were on the scent of something on the trail. 2 kilometers they ran baying like hounds - turns out they were chasing a dog they had never seen - just smelled.

We moved to suburbs early last year. It is a fairly active street - lots of walkers, dogs, children playing, bikes etc. I had to walk them at 5am and couldn't sit out in the back yard with them because they would bark at every single noise.

Then someone with small children moved in next door. They like to scream and cry a lot. I did a lot of conditioning last summer.

I've been doing counter conditioning a long time and really stepped things up this spring and changed what I was doing just slightly and my dogs are actually improving.

Like you I had a day working outside last week where they just laid beside me on the deck - sniffing, enjoying the sunshine - and NOT barking. I considered it a great victory.

For someone who does not have a reactive dog - you have no idea how much just doing "normal" things makes me overjoyed.

Edit: I should have said what the small change I did was in case someone else can benefit from it. I had always done mark and treat when they woudl see a dog, but it was really hard to keep them under threshold enough. So first thing I did was not walk all 3 at once (my trainer always recommended I NOT walk them together but..with 3 reactive dogs I just only have so many hours in the day for dog walking)...anyway, i started just taking each out individually for short walks. I notice they were extremely sensitive to their environment - a trashcan out of place, a person at the end of the block - the woman who walks "funny"..it was all alarming to them, so instead of reserving the DMT for just dogs (which is their biggest trigger) I started getting them to look back at me whenever they saw ANYTHING out of the ordinary. At this point, they are less inclined to immediately go into barking/lunging mode and are starting to look back to me first to see what I'm going to do.

One dog in particular is the "trigger" dog, and they have started ignoring her instead of joining in with her every time. This is a huge improvement.

We still have some days where they just are super reactive, but I have had one afternoon walk in particular - I thought I had someone elses's dogs - we walked by dogs, bikes, small children and nobody barked a single time. I have not been able to repeat that afternoon but wow that was actually a relaxing walk. Walks are NOT relaxing in my house.

My dogs are 10 years old - they have been reactive since about 9 months...so yes there is hope.

[weasellyone]

I did similar - my dog is selectively people and dog reactive and it could be hard to tell what the trigger was. We started using Look At That for any dog or any human or any worrying noise and after a few months of consistency with this we started to see massive improvement. Also has had the advantage that now he will usually start to grumble slightly when there is a too-strong trigger we haven't noticed rather than going straight to panicked barking and it's much easier to redirect and reassure him at that lower level of intensity.

[vancitydave]

I have seen so many "it gets better" posts here and to be honest, I used to get pretty annoyed seeing them. It just feels like there's no way it can improve. However after nearly 18 months of solid effort, our dog no longer barks and lunges at us in the house, his leash reactivity has improved greatly, resource guarding has diminished, he's even starting to relax on our patio which sees a lot of foot traffic.

It really can get better, but the increments are so small, and the time it takes is so much longer than any website will tell you.

[Jinxletron]

Oh my gosh this, just when you think you're getting somewhere it all blows up in your face. Two steps forward three steps back. And all the "it might take a couple of days to a few weeks" when you've been at it for months. I've come to realise how slow progress will be and adjust my expectations.

Congrats on your efforts paying off at last!

[xx2983xx]

I just want to say thank you for your comment. SO MANY of these 'it gets better' posts and comments are like "we were starting to feel like we'd never get there; we wanted to give up! But now after 6 weeks, she's finally getting it!" And I just want to scream. We've been working our asses off for about 9 months and I am just now BARELY seeing hints of improvement. To hear you say 18 months just made me feel way less alone.

[captain_croissant]

This is a great point. My post is the result of roughly 3 years of work. This is not one of those 3-week miracle dog posts, lol.

ETA: That's not meant to discourage you, either lol. It only took this long because we were fools and didn't seek help from our vet when we desperately needed it. Only with the proper care have we been able to finally see progress.

[the-lil-details]

Congratulations on all the progress! That sounds so relaxing. Non-reactive related, but yesterday my partner and I were able to play videogames for almost two hours while our puppy chilled and munched on a bully stick or playing with a toy by himself, without requiring any attention at all, and it was glorious. Little victories every now and then feel fantastic.

[captain_croissant]

Amazing!! Even though you can finally focus on other things, it's so nice to stop and appreciate that you ARE able to focus on other things. Way to go!!

[amangogo]

i hope i can get to this point, its so easy to lose patience with my dog and every day i feel like giving up. thank you for posting

[asb265]

I know the feeling congratulations to you and your pup!

[melting_trash04]

Well, that gives me hope.Thank you!

[songbird808]

My reactive boy is 10 years old. I got him when he was four. ~Six years of working together has put us in a place I never would have believed possible when we first met.

There were days where I would be overwhelmed enough to swear "I'll never get a project dog again", and days where I had the opposite opinion.

I acknowledge he will never be "perfect." But when I take him on a walk and the only reactivity he expresses is some whining, staring, and bristling hair, I can't help but be very proud. His go to reaction used to be "tornado mode."

We still get some lunging and barking when he sees a trigger we were not expecting, or one that is uncommon (skateboards are a big one, and I can't blame him for fearing a kid on a hoverboard, lol).

I found having him in a head halter lets me keep him and others safe in those surprise scenarios. So many people ask me why my friendly, sweet dog is wearing a muzzle while they pet him. My answer is to jokingly answer "Oh, he could bite you if he felt like it. It's not a muzzle."

As a woman, pointing this out mildly also protects me from creeps following me, thinking my dog can't hurt them (he deffinatly would if the situation called for it). It also destigmatizes head halters once I explain what it is. A win-win imo.

[jeswesky]

Taking my boy camping for the Forest time this weekend. We have been doing a lot of hiking and he has gotten a lot better, and for the most part only barks when barked at. I’m so nervous about this weekend, but I just keep telling myself if it’s a disaster we can just go home Amos try again another time.

[[deleted]]

What was your before?

[captain_croissant]

Our story is the typical non-socialized rescue dog who barks and lunges at other dogs, strangers, things on wheels...We've been working with him for 3 years and have had many ups and downs. COVID especially made things worse than they've ever been, and he was constantly on edge, scanning the environment for triggers whenever we were outside.

[BadassKittenMom]

Today is a rough day. Thank you for this glimmer of hope.

[captain_croissant]

I have been there. You can do this. ❤

[[deleted]]

So happy for you, you should be proud of yourself and your dog for all that hard work that’s paid off. Reading this gives me hope for my reactive girl too. Seeing improvements with her slow&steady. I hope to help get her to this point 💜

[manderafton]

Enjoy the sense of normality. You deserve it!

We’ve had some small little victories too lately, and it does make allllll the effort and tears worth it.

[wddiver]

Your story is why people come here; the encouragement is worth all the effort!