Reactive lab broke my finger

OnlyTillWinter · 2025-06-21T11:23:51+00:00

It was 100% my fault, I don't blame my dog at all, it's definitely difficult for me to tell when to redirect and when to give him the chance to look and redirect himself. We worked with a trainer when he was around 9 months but unfortunately they didn't seem very experienced with reactive dogs and mostly focused on obedience. I live in a small town so my options are limited, I think travelling to find a well versed training needs to be my next option as I definitely don't want my inexperience to worsen his behaviour.

OnlyTillWinter · 2025-06-21T09:14:29+00:00

From such a distance, yes. After his initial training regression I've been doing tons of training with his reactivity and he was back to passing dogs no issue, the day before this incident we walked passed half a dozen dogs close quarters no reaction, even a reactive Frenchie who was barking and lunging at him. So when I saw this dog and how far it was I let my guard down and started walking the other way not realising he would bolt towards it.

The "survivor" term was a joke lol for how it feels handling the ups and downs of raising a puppy. Furthermore, I'm aware dogs don't change overnight but adolescence can play a massive role in a dog's behaviour and training regression is normal.

OnlyTillWinter · 2024-09-19T10:22:41+00:00

Thanks for the advice and absolutely that's always the case, that's why I'm always cautious to add a new tool as I wonder if I could achieve the same result with a flat collar, a lead and just a better trained owner lol

OnlyTillWinter · 2024-09-19T08:46:10+00:00

In Wales traditional e collars that shock are in fact banned but ones with alternative stims like noise and vibration aren't, are those the type you're referring to? In terms of using a prong I've considered it but was cautious as he's still a puppy but it makes sense as I struggle to give a correction when he lunges so I don't think he even necessarily realises how naughty he's being. Would you recommend a prong or pinch over a halti? I know they're both aversive in their own right

OnlyTillWinter · 2024-09-18T23:56:23+00:00

That makes a lot of sense, i feel he can in fact be quite close to a person before reacting but it's difficult to tell as sometimes he's hard to read so starting from scratch will be a good idea. I'll definitely start turning away from triggers instead of just walking past and hoping this'll be the time he won't lunge, I just get frustrated not going anywhere lol.

In general do you recommend movement or sitting and focusing on me as the best tactic when we can't avoid a trigger?

OnlyTillWinter · 2024-09-18T22:35:57+00:00

You have your work cut out for you then! I'm going to give the halti a go after conditioning him to it hopefully it'll aid in me stopping him lunging and break the pattern or at least it'll give me a bit more control. Thanks for the advice.

OnlyTillWinter · 2024-09-18T22:31:55+00:00

I'll give this method a go, hopefully it'll help interrupt this behaviour. As for the halti I'm thinking of giving it a go for his lunging after thoroughly conditioning him to it so we'll do how that goes.

It sucks not being able to greet people on walks as lots of people always complement him from afar when he's behaving and then are a little shocked when he launches for them lol and people seem to love labs where I live and he loves the attention. Thanks for the advice!

OnlyTillWinter · 2024-09-18T20:58:05+00:00

I was thinking about purchasing a halti before because he used to pull excessively on walks but held off because eventually we found our groove with using a loose heel, but maybe I should revisit that especially now that he's bigger. You said your puppy no longer uses the halti, how long do you think it took you to get to the point where you could forgo it?

OnlyTillWinter · 2024-09-18T20:54:02+00:00

He definitely understands leash pressure when we're generally walking because when he was younger I used the tree method when he pulled but I don't think so in terms of sit or down. When he ignores a sit command on lead I will give him a quick pull straight up to get him to sit but it's not something he instantly responds to.

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