Reacting to Reactivity: How I Changed My Dog’s Life For The Better

This article was written by Gwendolyn Shope – Highland Canine Training’s professional dog trainer based in Raleigh, NC.

My heart sinks rapidly. Oh great, there’s another dog approaching. I swiftly make a 180 degree turn and tug on the leash to get my dog Odie turned in the other direction. At least she was too busy sniffing to notice this time. We had been on a walk for 30 minutes and seen three other dogs, each one prompting an immediate U-turn and diverting our course. I got lucky because two out of the three sightings I was able to skirt by without a meltdown, but one tiny white dog incited a tantrum of epic proportions. Barking, lunging, pulling on the leash with all the strength she had, she really knows how to put on a show. It was a show that made me dread walking her and riddled me with shame as other dogs would pass by totally unfazed.

It wasn’t always this way. Before she was adopted, Odie lived in a foster home with four other dogs and never had any issues. But we as a family were not exceptionally social people, and so Odie’s experiences with the outside world were virtually nonexistent. No other dogs to interact with, no people besides the occasional friend every couple of months. She lived in isolation, and while she loved spending time with her humans, her behavior towards other dogs and strangers began spiraling out of control. It was shameful and embarrassing to walk her in public around other dogs, but I knew she needed exercise, and so off we went twice a day around the neighborhood. Each time she reacted to another dog, the behavior was reinforced by the opposing dog going away, which told her that she made the correct choice in her reaction. She was constantly winning what she viewed as an extreme battle, and it was only making her stronger.

While walks were the main brunt of our issue, we also couldn’t have people over to the house without having to make accommodations for Odie. She had nipped at some realtors while we were trying to sell our previous house, and would go ballistic if the doorbell rang, so it was better for us if she was crated in a closed room when people had to come in. “Don’t mind the dog” was always uttered as she would be frantically barking from her jail cell.

How I tried to manage Odie’s behavior

When we talked to the vet about her behaviors they recommended medicating her to alleviate the problems, and so we did. She would wake up in the morning raring to go; I would give her a pill and take her out for a walk, and by the end of the walk, she was starting to feel the effects of the medication. She would come in and lay on the couch for hours, just completely zoned out. But if she heard a dog barking in the distance or someone walked past our house, she would bolt up and start barking, just like she did while sober. She even chased and bit someone while she was supposed to be feeling the effects of the medication. Despite this, it seemed to help a smidge, or at least keep her somewhat placid during the day, so we kept her on it.

I thought training collars were distasteful, so I bought multiple harnesses with front clip attachments to hopefully help us on our walks. The front clip was touted to help minimize pulling and help be able to more easily redirect your dog back to you. Well, it helped with the pulling only minimally, but the front clip did allow me to drag her out of situations with a bit more leverage. But how was the behavior itself going to stop? The internet had an answer for me, and it was oh so palatable. Just teach her to make eye contact with you, and soon she’ll be looking to you for guidance when she’s unsure, instead of reacting to another dog. That sounded amazing and seemed simple enough, so I got to work.

We sat in the living room multiple times a day for weeks, I made sure there was no possibility of distraction and would lure her gaze to mine by waving a treat in front of her face. As soon as I marked the desired behavior and gave her said treat, her eyes flitted from mine and searched for something more interesting. I could get the eye contact I wanted, but had a fat chance at keeping it. Soon it was time to increase my criteria and ask for her to look at me outside. Seems like such a simple request, but it took an arm and a leg to accomplish.

Getting Odie to “watch me” outside was like pulling teeth. I was simply not enticing enough to hold her attention when an entire world was at her disposal. She had done really well indoors, but that apparently did not translate to stepping one foot outside. I was back at square one and it was hard not to feel defeated. But I pressed on, and eventually I was able to reliably get her to look at me while we were out on our walks. The next step was to start asking for a “watch me” as soon as we saw another dog and try to get ahead of her reaction.

I was able to make progress, though it felt sluggish and not so significant at times. Meltdowns still occurred often, but there were certain times the environment would be just right and I could minimize her reaction. Those times felt few and far between. All I wanted was to experience a neutral walk. I wanted her to be neutral to other dogs, and I wanted myself to feel neutral about taking her out in the first place, instead of being consumed with anxiety. Dog trainers love to tell you that emotion carries down the leash, and I knew that getting worked up about walks was setting Odie up for failure.

The transformation

Flash forward to 2024, when I decided to seriously go down the dog training career path and was granted an internship with Highland Canine Training. I chose to not bring Odie with me because I wasn’t sure how she would adjust to such a drastic change, and thinking about living with her in a place where there were more dogs than people made my stomach flip. I would start fixing her when I got home, it would be fine, I told myself.

I began working with all kinds of dogs with varied behavioral issues, and I was able to get a comprehensive education about training collars and how to use them appropriately. Whatever reservations I had previously about the collars went out the window when I saw the results in real-time, and learned that there was a way to use the collars that was fair and balanced, and also highlighted positivity. I was watching dogs that were barking and lunging learn in one session what I had been trying to teach Odie for years. I purchased a prong collar and made plans to bring Odie up to the facility. We were going to deal with this head on.

Taking Odie out of her home environment actually gave me a great blank slate to start with when it came to her behavior. She had no expectations or associations with this new place and so I was able to very easily set some boundaries and ground rules for our new way of living. Obedience was now worked into the fabric of our routine, and there were new standards she was going to have to adhere to. Oh and there was one more thing, she needed to come off of that zombifying medication. I weaned her off appropriately and the spark in her eye began to come back. After about a week of adjusting it was time to get her assessed and start working on the meat of the issue.

Her initial assessment was a whirlwind. A scenario was set up for her to react to another dog walking past, and react she did. She was spinning me in circles on the leash, hair raised, lunging, snarling her lips into a “C-shaped pucker”. It was by no means unclear that she meant business, and if I had dropped the leash she would have charged the opposing dog and tried to attack. The trainer in charge of the session asked me to go grab the prong collar I had ordered. It was waiting patiently for its time in the spotlight, I hadn’t begun to use it prior to this moment. I fitted it to Odie’s neck and took her back outside. As soon as she saw the other dog again she rushed to the end of the leash, but this time she corrected herself in doing so. Odie had never been corrected in her entire life. I had read online that it was bad practice to even use the word “No” with your dog, so you can imagine how comfortable she was doing whatever she wanted. To her, a physical correction was huge.

After a few times of hitting the end of the leash it was like something clicked for her, and she realized “Maybe I shouldn’t do this”. She stopped reacting to the dog and started to offer other behaviors, like sitting or looking at me instead. Other dogs were brought out and we all went for a walk together, and Odie walked beside them as if she had been doing it her whole life. I was absolutely appalled. Who was this dog? My dog loses it seeing another dog three blocks down, and now here she is walking next to another dog? And there’s even a third dog on her other side! Am I dreaming?

I finally had a taste of what our future could be like, and I was so motivated to keep working on it. I worked Odie with the prong collar for a few weeks, I taught her how to heel by my side and we would go for multiple walks a day. She was no longer allowed to fly off the handle at other dogs, and she knew that. She would get antsy and whine but she no longer would charge and bark. It only took small corrections to remind her of my expectations, and she would fall in line quickly. And now her attention was on me instead of everywhere else!

Advancing to off-leash

The next step was to see how she would do with dogs off-leash, and in order to do that safely she needed to be reliable on a remote collar. So I spent my free time conditioning her on the e-collar and began using it more frequently than the prong collar. We spent a lot of time doing recall work and heeling, and Odie was loving it. The e-collar was able to give her a freedom she had never experienced before, and I was now able to take her out and really explore with her. Enrichment and exercise came together in a way that she had never known, and when I started fulfilling those needs for her, she became a much calmer dog. And our bond was stronger than it had ever been before. Odie was much more apt to listen to me now, because I was someone who provided structure for her and brought her to experience such fun things like off-leash hikes. My anxieties about taking her out had melted away as she continued to progress, because I knew I now had control over her unlike before.

When she started interacting with dogs off-leash, I was a bundle of nerves. I can’t tell you how many times other trainers told me to “Just relax”. Easier said than done! But each time we went out and the world didn’t end, it got easier for me to handle. It turned out Odie was actually a pretty socially adept dog, in terms of giving appropriate signals and communicating with others. She just had to get over the initial shock of meeting and greeting, but once she learned that not every interaction leads to a fight, the whole ordeal of seeing other dogs became a non-issue. We were now able to walk past dogs with complete neutrality, something I thought would only happen in my dreams. Odie even started to play with some of the other dogs she would go out with, and she never acted inappropriately. It felt to me as though it was a relief to her, to finally learn that she doesn’t have to go on the offense every time she sees a dog she doesn’t know. Now going out for walks is something we both look forward to, and no one gets worked up about anything except maybe a piece of beef liver I have in my pouch.

In conclusion

Odie’s overall behavior has improved leaps and bounds through all of this. She loves meeting new people and is overall a much more pleasant dog to interact with. She’s still a feisty girl with a zest for life, but she now knows that there are appropriate ways to act as well as inappropriate ways to act. I’m constantly proud as I watch her make choices to ignore what used to be old triggers, and our life together is a profound source of happiness for me.

Living with a reactive dog is hard on both parties; the dog and also the human. It can feel isolating and shameful, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. Working with your dog’s specialized needs and being consistent is worth it when you get to experience the ease of neutrality. Your dog would love to exist in a world where walks are calm and fun, and it is possible to achieve that. If you see room for improvement in your dog’s behavior, now is the best time to start working on it! With some patience and effective training, the world will open up for you and your dog, and you’ll never look back.