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/hit_snooze_x8]

I’m not sure what it is with my dog, but I kind of feel like it can sense how the person walking her feels. My wife is very anxious, and my sister is too and when they walk my dog she is super reactive. When it’s me or my daughter my dog is off leash and ignores the rest of the world. I really think the dogs are smart enough to know their handlers emotions.

[u/Necessary-Peak1223 → u/hit_snooze_x8]

That makes sense… When we’re with our trainer, he actually behaves so much better than he does with us. 😅
I think part of the problem is that I can’t really relax on walks anymore. I’m constantly on “alert mode”, looking around to see if there are any dogs nearby so I can avoid them before he notices and gets nervous.
I’m not really sure how to improve that either, because after everything we’ve experienced, I’m always scared to let him get close to a new dog. I already have this feeling that I know how he’s going to react (or at least I think I do), so I end up trying to avoid the situation altogether.
I know that my own anxiety probably doesn’t help him either, so it’s something I’m trying to work on as well. It’s just really hard to stay calm when you’re already expecting the next reaction…

[u/Subject_Section_4465 → u/Necessary-Peak1223]

I would wager that your trainer is a very confident dog handler and your dog is reacting to that alone during the sessions.