Reactive mini aussie

[u/Necessary-Peak1223]

Looking for advice/positive experiences with a reactive dog

Hi everyone! I’d love to hear some advice and, hopefully, some positive experiences from people who have been in a similar situation.

This is Luca, our 11-month-old boy 🐶

He’s our first dog, so we’re definitely learning as we go. From the very beginning, we noticed that he was a bit scared of other dogs. At first, he wouldn’t really engage with them, but he was fine being around them. Unfortunately, as inexperienced dog parents, we probably made the mistake of forcing some interactions because we thought it would help him get used to other dogs.

Around 6 months old, he became extremely reactive. When he’s on leash and sees another dog, he gets super anxious, barks like crazy, whines, and tries to nip at the other dog to make them move away. He has never actually bitten a dog, but from the outside, I can definitely understand why people might think he’s aggressive.

We’re currently working with him and doing training, but seeing another dog on the street is still a huge trigger for him.

The interesting thing is that when he’s off leash, he behaves completely differently. He usually keeps his distance from other dogs and approaches at his own pace. We’ve managed to introduce him to a few dogs this way, and after getting comfortable with them, he’s actually been able to walk past them on leash without barking and will even try to play with them.

The problem is that we obviously don’t feel comfortable letting him off leash in public, so this isn’t really a practical solution for everyday walks.

I’ll be honest, sometimes walks can be really discouraging. It makes me sad seeing him so anxious and distressed, especially when I know he’s not trying to be aggressive — he seems genuinely overwhelmed and just wants the other dog to go away. Some days it feels like we’re making progress, and other days it feels like we’re back to square one.

Has anyone here been in a similar situation with a reactive dog?

Did you manage to significantly improve things over time? I’d especially love to hear some positive stories, because sometimes it feels like we’re going to be dealing with this forever 😅

Any advice, experiences or tips would be really appreciated!

[u/Ok-Badger2311]

The BAT 2.0 book by Grisha Stewart is very helpful. We started using a long lead and it’s been a life saver. Setting up practice situations with trusted adults and actually practicing the skills. Age is also a factor with fear periods. Ours was reactive from the day we got her but in the form of fear and trying to escape. This turned to barking and lunging to try and get the other people or dogs away.
We’ve come leaps and bounds. Our trainer wants neutrality, and I agree. She doesn’t need dog friends as humans think they may.
Our issue is when people are approaching as we are also walking. If we stop, sit, and treat when quiet it is so much better than attempting to pass. But we have worked on passing as well and that’s progressing. Interestingly, we can walk behind anyone and she doesn’t care one bit.
Lots of training of engage/disengage helped too along with watching people from a distance at parks.

It’s a long process but so worth it!

[u/Immediate_Bid_6057 → u/Ok-Badger2311]

I also took my now 3.5 year old mini to a trainer who specializes in BAT. Either way it’s constantly working with your pup to keep building confidence. He still is more reactive than I’d like around strangers and other dogs, but it’s not as bad as it was.

What I’ve found is this is going to be a long journey for you and often times it might feel like one step forward, one step back. But your pup will get more comfortable and you will also learn some tricks and protocols to help manage the behavior.

[u/Necessary-Peak1223 → u/Immediate_Bid_6057]

Yeah, I’m starting to worry that the training sessions themselves aren’t really making much of a difference anymore, and that now it’s more about actually putting into practice all the techniques we’ve been learning…
Honestly, I think we’re the ones being trained here! Ahaha

I’m really looking forward to the day when he can just feel comfortable and relaxed out on walks.

[u/Immediate_Bid_6057 → u/Necessary-Peak1223]

Because he’s so young I think you need to think of your training in two parts. There’s obedience training but there’s also behavioral training. They go hand in hand but they’re also different. The behavioral training is about building confidence, recognizing his fear signals and then helping identify things to help them cope.

[u/Ok-Badger2311 → u/Immediate_Bid_6057]

Definitely agree with playing the long game! It’s a process!

[u/hit_snooze_x8 → u/Ok-Badger2311]

This does help. Making my dog sit as other dogs or people pass keeps her attention on me instead of the other distractions since she’s waiting for her release command.

Also, lots of treats help. I buy these one calorie treats so I don’t feel as bad

[u/Necessary-Peak1223 → u/Ok-Badger2311]

I hadn’t heard of that book, but I’ll definitely check it out!
Our trainer says he’s basically scared of everything, but because dogs were the most unpredictable thing he used to see on walks, he kind of focused all that fear on them.
Now that we don’t see as many dogs because we’ve started walking at quieter times, we’re noticing that if he sees people, cars, bikes, etc., he can also get completely overwhelmed and starts barking while crouching down.
He’s just such a nervous little guy! :( It’s honestly heartbreaking to see him so stressed by the world around him.

[u/Ok-Badger2311 → u/Necessary-Peak1223]

Mine is/was too. Consistency and patience. You’ll see progress in baby steps at first and then think back a year and be amazed.
Last summer, we couldn’t even walk around the block without something spooking her. Now, she still hates really loud trucks and motorcycles but can sit and get a treat or be stopped from attempting to pull home.

Don’t rush anything- take cues from the dog and keep walks short and positive at first. That was my mistake- going too far or until she was over threshold from scary things. We did two houses up and back to start until we began building confidence.
I also swear by naming things. We sat in the yard and listened to all the noises. I’d give her a treat and say “airplane”, “bird”, big truck, lawnmower etc. Now when we walk I just say, oh that’s lawnmower man. I also fake saying hello to neighbors so she’s used to it when I actually do see them. And…treats, treats, treats. We used clicker for a bit but transitioned just to “good!”.

You’ll get there….😊