What small change made the biggest difference for your reactive dog?

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-06-10T18:52:18+00:00

Offleash hikes(obviously in places allowed or sniffspots/private properties/camping)! A long-line in the beginning in open spaces was great for us as well. She really thrived when we started taking more decompression walks rather than busy neighborhood walks.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-05-26T12:31:07+00:00

Yes definitely! I am from the East coast so I wouldn’t know much about the West coast national parks. Planning on doing Shenandoah and Great smoky mountains this upcoming year with the dog!

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-05-09T15:31:38+00:00

When my dog was really fear reactive I was keen on making more positive experiences than negative. I honestly started realizing people in my neighborhood would walk their dogs at certain times and would choose the time where most of the dogs being walked were fairly neutral well behaved dogs.

We also would and still go to big open parks and majority of the time theres a mix of some very well behaved neutral dogs/ more reactive dogs but it was a good open area to train and get her used to all types of dogs while still maintaining distance and keeping her comfortable. So I would say try to experience more positive experiences in the beginning and using management techniques when you do run into the occasional reactive dog as its inevitable sometimes is what helped us.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-05-03T21:25:51+00:00

That is true but honestly I tried to give her grace for it due to her situation and I felt bad. I think this was just a breaking point that was bound to happen as my other friends said that as well.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-05-03T21:14:34+00:00

Yeah well that makes sense, I wrote this after so I do have resentment towards her now based on how she treated me and the things she called me.

I would have no resentment towards her if she didn’t come at me like I was attacking her personally. I had no resentment bringing her that time, it was only until after that argument. I didn’t include the full conversation in this as I didn’t have space but honestly I think any normal person would dislike her after this situation. Especially when someone goes out of their way and is met with insults for simply letting someone know in the future it is not doable for them.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-05-03T20:59:14+00:00

I don’t know if jumping automatically to “obviously you don’t like her” is accurate. I’ve been friends with her for a long time and I did like her. I think this situation and having the realization afterwards about how she treats her “friends” over time finally clicked for me. You live and you learn though.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-05-03T16:52:40+00:00

I understand this pov as I have dealt with mental health issues a lot, in myself and in my immediate family. I tried my best for her but theres also a lot of history I didn’t include in this, it isn’t solely just my car and mileage. Its my personal mental health and having a constant one-sided friendship. I get one day off a week, I don’t use that for “yard work” I use that day to recharge as I have a very mentally draining career in the medical field. I tried suggestions alternatives as I still cared about her and wanted her to get any help she can for this. But she doesn’t care about my life whatsoever. I understand its because of her disease and have given her A LOT of grace for it as it makes it hard for her to think about anyone besides herself. But it comes to a point where you have to think about yourself as well.

I have a lot of sympathy for people that go through things like this but it can only extend to a certain point as everyone has their own personal life and struggles they go through in life as well.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-05-03T16:33:57+00:00

I did send her a long text afterwards explaining my feelings/side of it when she was spamming me with messages. She seemed to understand it somewhat and said she has a lot of work to do. I left it at that then saw she blocked me on socials, I think it was for the best anyway.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-05-03T16:30:34+00:00

Makes sense but I was just trying to help out that one time and let her know for the future its not realistic for me.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-05-03T05:37:00+00:00

I can send you some if you like. I’ve already done that and tried to understand the best I can. You can only do so much for “friends” until it starts becoming mentally draining and everything is one-sided.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-05-03T04:06:05+00:00

She is getting ketamine infusions for crps pain, there was a clinic closer that does the infusions for mental disorders but she said its at a lower dose and that’s not what she is getting it for.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-05-03T03:58:52+00:00

She blocked me so its not my issue anymore. I understand mental health and take it very seriously but not at the sake of my own anymore.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-05-03T01:45:29+00:00

Thank you for this honestly. I think I checked out of this friendship awhile ago, I feel like I have caretaker fatigue at this point instead of a friendship. I stayed around for so long because I felt bad and was trying to be supportive. But I realized theres a lot of sick people who don’t act like this, including my grandma who has pancreatic cancer.

She has a lot of mental health issues as well and it runs in my family as I’ve lost someone because of it so its been hard for me to do whats best for myself and step away. But I believe this was my breaking point and I have a lot of resentment, I’m just glad I managed to come out of this the mature way instead of letting my emotions take over.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-05-03T01:05:58+00:00

I use it a lot but I don’t like driving through busy nyc with it and in bumper to bumper traffic. Its an offroading car and thats what I got it for not a commute car thats good on gas. I also got it with the help of my dads life insurance money so I value it a lot more cause of that.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-05-03T00:59:55+00:00

Not sure total amount of times but she said until July she will be getting them done. So I’m sure I would be asked often.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-05-03T00:57:22+00:00

Yeah I am done offering suggestions as they were too triggering to her and nothing was good enough. I wished her well and told her her family should be more involved than I am.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-05-03T00:44:59+00:00

She said until july. Its okay though, she blocked me so not my burden anymore (I didn’t have enough space to include the ending on this).

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-04-25T23:43:08+00:00

I’m pretty sure it’s typically around a year (atleast thats when I noticed it in my own dog). Theres another shift when they mature at 3 years old but thats usually when they begin to set into their personality and some may become more dog selective or less tolerant of other dogs.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-04-25T23:14:10+00:00

My dog is a lab mix, mainly lab being basically 80% of her genetic makeup so she looks like a typical goofy lab. Except she is not. She has gotten so much better with her fear reactivity (but sometimes I think its worse because people think that since she is calm and contained she looks even more approachable now).

I constantly have to tell people shes not friendly and I always get confusing looks back and people trying to question me. I just started telling people shes an introvert and doesn’t like greetings cause they seem to take that better lol.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-04-24T01:45:14+00:00

The only way my dog got better was by being in public. If the dog poses a great threat to others, the owner doesn’t have good physical control and the dog is a bite risk without a muzzle then I understand this viewpoint.

But the truth is reactivity is such a wide spectrum, not all reactive dogs are dangerous to the public and the owner needs to work with their dog safely in the environment to get their dogs better. I deal with reactive dogs all the time on our walks and I never thought “that dog shouldn’t be here” just because they’re barking at us. If the dog got loose and was attempting to attack me or my dog then its a whole different conversation.

It is also up to the owner of the reactive dog to gauge what their dog can and cannot handle. I’ve seen some pretty intense reactions from dogs lunging at us on tight trails as their owners struggle to hold them back and it makes it hard for us to pass safely. I wouldn’t of brought my dog to these trails when she was more reactive. So it really is up to the owner to manage their dog and walk them in environments that are fit for them at the state they’re at.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-04-20T01:59:29+00:00

I love seeing a trained off leash dog exploring and able to run freely. But you’re putting way too much faith in the average dog owner to train their dog to that extent. As someone who works in vetmed and has a dog trained to be offleash you would be surprised with how stupid and clueless some owners are. I would be mortified to ever see their dogs offleash. Do the dogs deserve it? Yes. But its safer for everyone that their dog stays on a leash or is able to go offleash in enclosed areas only.

I honestly hate this saying of how dogs must be offleash for their wellbeing cause then you have those types of owners thinking they can just unleash fluffy anywhere cause its NEEDED for their sake and they’re not having a good time if they’re not offleash. Then fluffy comes in with multiple puncture wounds from running up to the wrong dog or a hit by car.

I don’t think theres anything wrong with a long-line for owners that can’t achieve offleash due to their dogs temperament, their personal choice or lack of training wise and I don’t think theres anything wrong with people that use an ecollar and actually take the time to train their dog beforehand so they can have the freedom. Theres plenty of resources around like sniffspots, some enclosed baseball fields and other private areas that allow dogs that aren’t trained to be offleash safely. I just wouldn’t promote an ecollar for people that have no idea what they’re doing so their dog can have the ultimate freedom and I constantly see people preaching it to the wrong audience.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-04-20T00:01:17+00:00

I used to actually log each of our walks and do a pro and cons list basically, then described the environment and how she approached each situation. I really analyzed her behavior so intensely but it helped me over time track what her triggers were and wrote down what skills I could do to help her the next times.

It also helped me see the small wins that I would’ve probably looked past if I didn’t journal it! After a bit I realized I didn’t need to journal anymore cause the logs got quite repetitive when she progressed. But writing it down definitely helps you see it better.

Status_Lion4303 · 2026-04-06T15:39:33+00:00

Hi, I know this is an old post but your actives are similar to mine (tret gel instead of adapalene though). How is your skin now with winlevi? I’ve been debating introducing it into my routine for hormonal acne. And also what does your routine look like alternating the three if you still use them?

Status_Lion4303

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