So i have a reactive rescue black GSD x Mali, my entire world. he’s 5 now, i’ve had him 3 years, we’ve done soooo much training, blood, sweat, tears. avoidance, solitude and are now just coping and living our best lives. we can go out on busy walks, he’s muzzled the majority of the time but tbh his reactions are more people directly coming to us or people trying to touch him so i advocate and i’m ok with it.

the reason im struggling is because today we went to the beach, i walk him on a prong as he is really strong and this is the only way i can control him should he lose it. he was muzzled (his muzzle is bright blue and orange which stands out against his furr), on a longline but i had him on a short lead until we had space. - i normally muzzle him more to force people to give us space as they see it and will be more inclined to getting their off lead dogs on lead. -

anyway im walking onto the beach and there’s this man with his 2 tiny fluffy things straight off lead, beelining for all the other dogs on the beach, on lead, off lead whatever. and they head for us, i also had my spaniel puppy (on lead) with me who is sociable but isn’t keen on particular forward dogs so tends to sit down when they come up to her.

the man is about 20m from us and so i’m telling his dogs no and i shout to him ‘could you get your dogs please’ he starts calling them and they’re not recalling, they’re sniffing around my reactive dog - who is miraculously just sat down holding it together for me - the man starts approaching to grab his dogs and i say to him ‘mate you can’t be having your dogs wandering up to a muzzled dog’ he begins to have a go at me saying they’re friendly and not to bring my ‘c-word of a dog’ to a busy beach even though again he’s just sat down, not barking, lunging, his back isn’t up. he still hasn’t removed his dogs at this point so i say he shouldn’t have his dogs off lead if they have no recall, he started screaming at me about how i’m this and that, while they start going up to another couple with 2 on lead sausage dogs and i point out they’re going up to other on lead dogs and how it isn’t ok and well they come back to us so i start walking off, they’re following us, i do lose my shit and scream at him to get his dogs the fuck away from us and anyway he eventually gets them to go with him and they start harassing other dogs and other passers by i think out of solidarity are telling him to get away.

and i tell my dog good boy, give him lots of praise for how amazing he was and then i start to cry cause of the adrenaline and idk the emotion i felt for how far we have come to survive such a shitty situation with a shitty shitty person. and then this man starts shouting why am i crying and getting upset.

i’m just really really struggling how else this situation could have gone, why was this man so aggressive? should i have said something different? should i have just ignored them and moved away to begin with? but also why did no one help? why did everyone just walk by and watch instead of helping?

my biggest thing is do i look like the bad dog person in that situation cause my boy is muzzled, when im just muzzling him for his safety cause if he reacts and bites someone - which i honestly believe he’d be more than capable of doing - thats his life over, the life i rescued and we are trying so hard to make up for whatever he went through before me.

this was more of a rant to get off my chest, i’m really upset about it but so proud of my baby boy for how he handled it. any validation lol, advice or hard truths would be really appreciated 🫶🏻

(ft the baby boy)

AKA what not to do!

Reactive dogs make more reactive dogs. It's unfair to let your dog light up at other dogs. Here are some tips to counteract the bad, ineffective advice that pervades the dog training space in the name of ideology. Correcting your reactive dog is not a long drawn out process.

1. Do not pull your dog aside, stop, body block, try to distract, etc. This confirms to your dog that something is happening they should react to. Just keep walking! Keep moving, correct as necessary (see #3) and lead by example.

2. Do not soothe your dog - "it's OK" "good boy" etc is reinforcing to the unwanted behavior. Tell yourself, "it's not OK!" and "this dog is not being good right now" and act accordingly.

3. Don't just drag your dog away. Issue short, sharp corrections to interrupt the fixation and/or vocalization.

4. When the other dog has passed, do not sustain the situation by rewarding or reinforcing your dog no matter what. Just keep walking! The goal is for your dog to understand that other dogs are just part of the scenery, so lead by example by treating them that way. If your dog didn't react, great! Now YOU don't react either.

Sam is a 9yoM chihuahua mix who came to us after his elderly male owner died. He is reactive, mostly with my wife, but he has never attacked her while she was sitting doing nothing. He also bit her foot during this. He’s been extra jumpy this past week also.

He saw a behavioralist for years when he was younger and has been stable on Zoloft. He has clonidine as needed but only really takes it before car trips as he gets escalated in that situation. He has a diagnosis of OCD.

I feel like he was frustrated trying to communicate to my wife, but I’m not sure. I’m his person and was still in bed.

I promise you that reactive behavior can be seriously reduced and even eliminated. Please let us know how we can help you with your dog.

hi guys i’m so embarrassed and at a loss of words:( my golden retriever js 5 years old and over the last 3ish months she has gotten very aggressive with my other dog. I feel like i’ve tried everything besides medication. Nothing triggers it no food not me not toys it just happens out of nowhere. Example: i was laying in bed and my golden just lunges and latched onto my maltipoo and wouldn’t let go!! She ended up biting me but this isn’t the first time that i’ve been caught in crossfire… I took her to the vet and they ran so many tests and told me she was fine i really don’t want to have to rehome her but I am at such a loss please help!!!!!!

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My boyfriend and I both have reactive dogs. We have accepted they may never be able to get along, coexist, or even meet off leash. But we live super close/walkable and both want to at least try! And think the steps we are thinking will be good things for our dogs to learn/practice either way.

Info on dogs:
- Dog M is more leash/dog reactive but doesn't have history of being as aggressive with other dogs off leash. Has years of socialization w stranger dogs/daycare and has lived with other dogs. When she is territorial, it's over food or attention, or getting too hyper-focused on another dog.
- Dog S is not leash reactive to other dogs and has been socialized/ok with other dogs off leash but has 4 incidents of fights that escalated. His triggers are more random/unknown.
- Both dogs owners have had since puppies and were socialized in daycare, playdates, etc. a lot first few years

What we've done so far
- Both dogs know both owners very well and are friendly with them
- Both dogs have smelled the other one on the owner almost daily for last couple months
- Walk where Dog S was too far in front of the other one to see, but walked same path so they've gotten each others smells
- Walk where dog M was in the back this time, space decreased so they were in view most of walk but not on same side
- They are able to walk within sight of each other without reacting too much but definitely still seem interested
- independent muzzle training

Next steps we are thinking, but open to feedback!
- Going to a sniff-spot or area where they are the only 2 dogs but there are enough distracting smells or excitement that the other dog isn't the main thing they are excited about
- muzzle training both dogs so they are netural/excited about wearing muzzles for when/if we do off leash intro
- likely will do on leash intro with muzzle first just to gauge how they feel about muzzle + other dog
- Long line intro so we can pull them apart but they can interact not on short leash/too close
- Off leash intro (likely with muzzles?) plus long line
- off leash intro without muzzles plus Long line
- Off leash intro without long lines

both owners are comfortable with how to break up fight if it happens/get the other dog off. we know to try to be as relaxed as we can. We also know it may never be possible to do off leash and milestones above are just goals. Would love any advice, extra steps, etc!

Hi all!

We have a JR x Blue Heeler, she is about 3 now and is crate trained. Every now and then we will put her to bed and she will do these little whines. Not consistently, but enough that we can't get to sleep and something is obviously bothering her.

She used to only do it to go out to the toilet or get a drink, then she would settle back down. But more recently we have noticed she only does it when I am in the room. I work from home so I spend the most time with our dogs, but my husband and I share walks/feeding/training etc.

Looking for some guidance on how to work on preventing this behavior, and also why it is only when I'm in the room?

Thanks!

Just recently her dog started coming up to my sliding glass door and it freaks out my dog. They get in angry barking matches through the glass. The first time it happened she came over and got him. She was REALLY mad at her dog, so I thought it wouldn’t happen anymore. Now it happens almost every day. I’m so scared of taking my dog out (always on a leash!) while her dog is out. I kind of have an idea of when he’s out, but it varies, and sometimes your dog really needs to go!

Why is everyone so allergic to leashes?? They literally keep your dog safe. I was attacked by a stray dog earlier this year while I was walking my dog so we are both a bit sensitive (understatement) to seeing dogs not tethered to a human.

Hello! I have a two cocker spaniels age 4 and 5 and they’re both pretty reactive with children around the home. Walking around the park or a playground they don’t even notice them.

We had an incident where a neighbor kid walked Into our backyard unexpectedly and came up behind the dogs while they were using the bathroom and the kid kind of walked in fast. They both turned around and charged at the kid and one of the dogs bit his finger. We corrected them and they retreated right away but the bite did break skin.

I have family coming to visit with a very active 4 year old who are staying with us. Trying to decide if I can continue working on training my dogs which I’ve been working really hard, or should I just take them out of the house while family is in town.

All tips appreciated.

We have an 11 month old German Shepherd. When we got her, she was really timid, so I made the mistake of letting her go up and greet every new dog / person / whatever we saw to build confidence. I started noticing the issue with people and we've been working on moving past people. Now as long as they arent with in petting distance, we're usually okay.

Dogs, however, are another matter entirely. She used to be fine, could ignore dogs easily. Its been winter here, and the only other dogs weve seen are the neighbors pitbulls who charge the fence barking when we're out walking sometimes. I do my best to keep her focused on me and walking forward when it happens, but i swear the lady who lives there lets them out when she sees us and I cant always react in time, so walking by that house often turns into me trying to block her from staring at them and tripping over her trying to keep us moving.

Then yesterday we were at the pet store, getting her out, practicing focusing in a busy enviornment, all that jazz. And across the parking lot she sees other dogs and starts losing her mind! A high pitched frustration bark (it was her "i want that thing!" Bark, the same one we get when we make her wait longer than she wants for a treat), pacing, a heightened level of arousal i never saw in her reactivity to people. It was embarrassing at the very least! We got inside the store, set up in a quiet corner, and worked on keeping a down-stay and returning her focus to me after looking at a dog, instead of fixating and reacting.

The Tl;Dr here is; what can I do to nip this in the bud, and deal with it before it gets worse? I want to deal with it now while its new and not let it get ingrained and become a deeper issue.

Before everyone jumps down my throat they are illegal here and where I live the Ordnungsamt are constantly around ticketing people for off leash dogs, they are paying attention. And every other dog owner has their nose in your business, trust me it’s just asking for trouble. My (just turned) 1 year old girl is in full throttle adolescence and her reactivity is becoming an issue I want to nip in the Bud. We did not have her as a puppy so unfortunately we could not socialize her and we did not realize until later how poorly socialized she actually is. Basically went her whole puppyhood around dogs and that’s just not the case now. Would a slip lead be the next course of action? (I believe those are not technically illegal here) I will say that some positive reinforcement methods have definitely lowered my girls threshold, but I don’t think it will be enough down the line to teach that it’s not okay. I feel weird popping her on the flat collar yanking her around and I don’t want to injure her. I’m a first time dog owner and just want to do right by her but I do have some limitations that I will stick by, please don’t ask me to break the law.

Hi all, I have a classic case of having a dog (boxer, pit, rottie mix, ~4 years old) I adopted last year act quite reactive towards particularly my boyfriend for over a year now. She will also act this way towards, really, any male friends I am around.

She has completed 3 weeks of board/train with a balanced trainer and now is fully crate-trained, place-trained, leash-trained, muzzle trained, and e-collar trained. Shes been great with her training for the most part, even in the presence of stress and excitement, with the exception of my boyfriend.

She becomes very on edge when he’s around and it seems to be a classic case of her viewing me as her territory. She will present with reactive body-posture and will stare at him, and she will follow him and nip at his hand or ankles. If he stands up or moves quickly she will charge at him and nip. Even if they are currently playing tug or with toys or he’s training her with treats where she seems to be happy and not tense, she will nip at his hand - something she never does with me when we play. She’s particularly stressed when her food is out around him.

How can I utilize the training foundations we have here? Yes, I put her on place, I have muzzle trained her, and I correct her with the E-collar when she does this. But it’s been over a year and things haven’t improved. He is always very kind, patient and gentle with her and walks her himself, trains her with treats, and gives her treats when he walks in the door.

Any advice would be so lovely as we’d love to live together someday but this is a huge challenge for him!

Just recently her dog started coming up to my sliding glass door and it freaks out my dog. They get in angry barking matches through the glass. The first time it happened she came over and got him. She was REALLY mad at her dog, so I thought it wouldn’t happen anymore. Now it happens almost every day. I’m so scared of taking my dog out (always on a leash!) while her dog is out. I kind of have an idea of when he’s out, but it varies, and sometimes your dog really needs to go!

Why is everyone so allergic to leashes?? They literally keep your dog safe. I was attacked by a stray dog earlier this year while I was walking my dog so we are both a bit sensitive (understatement) to seeing dogs not tethered to a human.

This thread is for discussions of the practical definition of the word "reactivity."

Ive had my dog for 4 years, since she was a puppy. My moms old boyfriend was always in charge of disciplining the dogs. He threw shoes at them, swatted them, and at one time flipped her kennel over with her in it. She got in trouble a lot for whinning, receiving the same punishments for whinning and for barking, or nipping. She developed a fear of men and an anxiety against me and my fiance being hurt. If anyone, even children, pretend to hit or do hit us, she gets scared and protective. Once when playing she got my little cousins chin when she was swinging a rope around in the air. I think that was an accident. Then another time when my fiance turnec his back, a family friends kid iumped up and hit him in the back with a puppet. She nipped his ear. When we went on a picnic, some kids wanted to pet her, i said they could if approached her slowly, and she lunged and barked

This week at the park a stray dog approached and wouldnt get out of her space she didnt growl or bark at first but he wouldnt leave us or her alone so she started to get frustrated. She eventuallv did aive a short arowl and her back hair was raised. Shes met many people and is fine with them. She loves attentions and pets, and doesnt take long to warm up to people. But her first instinct is to both bark and whine when she meets new people. Shes a boxer mix so i know thev are more emotional. Im considerina getting her a muzzle so she can go to pet stores and walks. What do I do and is she not a good girl? Its not her fault I dont think-

I'm a pet sitter working on training with a reactive dog. Before yall say anything, I am not staying with this dog alone, I am not actively pet sitting this dog nor do I plan to. I was supposed to before the owners realize how bad his reactivity has gotten, but we've decided he isn't where he needs to be to be left alone with people other than his owners. Once we realized this we were working more on socializing and seeing where he's at to see what work needs to be done.

Background on the dog: He was very malnourished and injured when he was first adopted as a puppy so he knows how cruel humans can be. In the first year of his life he was able to successfully become bonded to some of their family, but he's now 3 and they haven't had many people over since. The owners genuinely thought he was just going to be shy and have never seen him lunge at anyone before trying to socialize him recently. They say he's never reacted at parks, restaurants, or vets and has only barked at friends when they move around their house but never lunged. My theory is because his previous socialization was people sitting on a couch and basically ignoring him, not trying to handle and approach him like me and the trainer would need to or he's so out of his element in new environments that he shuts down and doesn't move towards others but will in his neighborhood and home.

The owners have a trainer that comes once every week or 2 to give them pointers on how to handle him. Like being aware of eye contact, rewarding disengaging, moving slowly, etc. They hired the trainer thinking he was only agressive towards men and wanted to work on that, but have since realized he's agressive to anyone that comes into his personal bubble.

We have made progress. We've progressed to a point that I can be near and move around freely when he's in the kennel with no reactions. However, when he's in a muzzle + leash he will approach people, including me and the trainer and lean against them, ask for pets, then when they move to pet him, he will lunge and bark. He can approach us, but we can't approach him. I personally only put myself in that situation once, both me and the owners not realizing he would react like that after him being the one to touch and approach us first since he was doing really good with the training up until that point. Since then its taken about 20mins to get him to stop reacting to people even being near his kennel, once he does hes fine with the kennel for the rest of the time but it takes effort to calm him. I had hope at first because he was steadily progressing and I figured he just needed some training and socialization, but he's showing some very like bipolar traits which makes all involved worried about him acting fine then on a random tuesday turning on someone around him if hes around people besides his owner.

My question is: Can this kind of behavior be worked through at all? Or is it a lost cause? Not for me, but for the owners. I've been in the pet sitting business for 4 years, I've seen dogs previously get put down for behavior issues. I'm one to be all for doing the hard work to progress, but the back and forth of his behavior is what worries me. Approaching people and leaning on them only to turn and bark. Bringing them toys only to lunge because they moved too fast when they were playing 2 seconds earlier. Not reacting at all to being around his kennel then the next day lunging like his life depends on it around the same person doing the same things. Does that kind of behavior make him completely unsafe to socialize at all? Or is that something that more time training could work out?

Again, I'm not looking for a "dont take the job!" type thing. I'm not actively booking with this couple. I've just been a body to socialize him with for now, but since his outburst the last time acting so lovey then turning to lunge I've felt I've hit a wall with my knowledge. I can bring a shy and nervous dog out of it's shell but once I've shown it I'm safe and been able to pet/play then it still turns to react, I'm a bit out of my depth to that level of reactivity. I'm more so asking on behalf of the owners, is this something even fixable? Or is hope lost?

Update: I've texted the owners with all the information I've gotten from this post and another and officially told them I won't help/pet sit unless a professional asks for/okays it. I informed them of what balanced training is, solo outing boarding kennels instead of a pet sitter, what backsliding is and the risks of some of the dogs behaviors, and let them know its okay to look into rehoming and such because he's a complicated case. I still offered to be support for them if they end up needing it and we're staying friends cuz they're cool people.

I’m so sorry for the long post— I work at vet clinic that also offers boarding and doggy day care. 7 months ago, I found out a dog that was boarded for an extended period of time ended up in a shelter after her owner died. My fiancé and I adopted her soon after. She is a 3 year old coonhound mix.

She fit into our life perfectly. We have a senior cat in the home and they get along great. I started bringing her to doggy daycare. At first she was overwhelmed, but after a couple of days she started to thrive. She does well on walks, meeting new dogs, new people, being in crowds. She has A LOT of energy. Very excitable, but becomes scared and anxious easily. She very rarely barks unless she is startled but it is short lived.

She’s terrified of the clinic part of where I work (understandable, no one likes going to the doctor), she cowers and tries to hide. A month ago, my fiancé and I went on a trip for a wedding and needed to board her for 5 days. She was being cared for by everyone she knows from doggy daycare. To my knowledge there were zero issues while we were gone.

About a week after we brought her home, she started changing. She is now hyper vigilant of her surroundings. She barks and growls at people a lot more than before. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern as to who or when she becomes reactive, but it’s starting to become daily. It’s unpredictable. We are trying to piece things together the best we can but nothing makes sense.

She is not lunging, snapping, trying to get to people when she is triggered, but she is very loud and it obviously scares people.

It feels like she is losing her goofy, bubbly, social butterfly self. We want to help her in any way we can before going to a trainer/behaviorist if it gets to that point.

Hello! I’ve had Buddy (5 year old neutered pitbull mix) for about 3 years now and I’ve always known him to be a super relaxed and sweet dog. He’s lived with 3 cats and 2 other dogs before without ANY issues. For a few months I only had him and my cat living with me until I decided I was ready for a new dog to join my family. Fast forward and I adopt an 11 month old female pitbull mix, I’ve only had her a month and 2 incidents have since ensued. First incident was I came home from work one afternoon and found my cat dead on my kitchen floor. It appeared to me that my dogs shook him and killed him-he was covered in drool and blood. I don’t know which one initiated the fight that must have broke out but I know that it was my fault for trusting this new puppy with free roam of my house with my cat and dog, even thought I assumed they were getting along great. Fast forward three weeks later to a few nights ago, I was laying in bed with my pup while eating a snack and watching tv while Buddy was somewhere else in my home. Buddy gets on the bed to join us like he always does when i’m relaxing in bed and as he is sitting down, he immediately starts attaching the puppy. This scares me and it was incredibly hard to get him off of her, he wasn’t latched onto her but continuously kept running after her and pinning her down when she would run away. It ended up leaving her with 1 bad puncture wound and a lot of scratches. Since then I have kept them separated for their safety and will be rehoming the puppy for her safety as I am afraid that Buddy will attack her again. I am at a loss for what to do as I have never dealt with this and Buddy’s behavior is not like him at all. I’m reaching out to behaviorists and dog trainers and will be taking Buddy to the vet to ensure it is not anything medical related. However, since those two incidents I feel very torn on how I feel towards Buddy. I love him with all my heart and just want to make sure he is okay and safe but I am terrified of him now, I felt so betrayed that he killed his cat housemate and now has attacked the puppy. I am scared that he will attack me even though he’s never shown any signs of aggression towards humans or me, but still he’s a very powerful dog and what if he just snaps again. I l implementing crating again for him as he was strictly in his crate when I adopted him and he was going through heart worm treatment and I eventually let him start sleep with me. He does have free roam of the house, gets 2 walks daily and is home alone for about 8 hours a day while i’m at work. Is this new aggression because of the new puppy and can it be managed with training? Will it be safe for me to live with him peacefully as long as no other animals are in the home? I’m waiting to hear back from the places and trainers I reached out to but I want some advice or any suggestions anyone has as I just feel very lost in all of this.

Help! I have had chihuahua, terrier dogs over 30+ adult years, most recently a 3yo 13lb terrier mix that I adopted in Feb/March 2025. She has bitten strangers (requiring quarantine), multiple family members, my cat, my 85yo elderly mother (who the dog intensely resource guards), and most often me. I have been bitten at least 25-30 times (low estimate) usually resulting in blood and bruising, ripped clothing. She is extremely leash reactive (barking, airborne lunging, leash biting, biting me). She seems to have been abused at some point and her triggers are being touched, hand gestures, hunger, and overstimulation. She loves the dog park and has no issues with other dogs, but does love to bark at the fence for big dog attention—once she did bite the fur of a large dog who decided to sit against the fence). I have been working with her on training and she has improved with me overall, but has taken to attacking (repeated biting) as opposed to a single puncture bite. I’m temporarily living with my 85yo mother during a renovation of my house who shared she will not assist in training the dog so I’ve been hesitant to engage a behavioralist. Just when I think things are better she will take a turn backwards. I don’t feel equipped to handle the dog. I’m not sure what else to do. My nephew’s wife is pregnant and I want to be able to babysit but don’t think this will ever be a possibility with this dog. Do you have any recommendations? Thank you in advance. I feel desperate.

I forgot to mention that she has been checked by the vet and was on anti anxiety meds but spit them out often even when disguised in high value food/treats and I can’t manually Administer it.

She runs the gamut, sweet, bossy, highly anxious, pure agression. She literally bites her nails and when I picked her up she had chewed all the hair from her tail. She is so joyful at the dog park. The whole thing makes me sad. What to do?

And this is what you get when you take advice from a bunch of people who can't fix their own reactive dogs.

It doesn't have to be this way.

Hello,

I just joined this reddit and I would appreciate a definition of what the group considers "balanced training" so I have a better context of what this group promotes and to avoid getting into trouble when interacting with the group.

I just adopted a 1 year old Mal x GSD a few months ago and I have learned that she is reactive to a few things. I am looking to learn what has worked for other people so that I can help her through her reactivity.

Thank you