REACTIVE TO RESPONSIVE ★
What is reactivity? In this new series, behaviourists Toni Shelbourne and Claire Lush help you to understand your reactive dog’s responses and explain how you can support him.
How you can support your reactive dog and help to change the underlying emotion that drives his behaviour.
So, what does reactivity look like? A simple definition would be ‘reacting in response to a stimulus or situation instead of creating or controlling it’.
For your dog this might be barking, lunging, growling, snapping, biting, chasing, or attacking another dog, person, or object. Some dogs might fixate on another dog, others might allow a dog to approach and then suddenly act in an aggressive manner as they seem to lose confidence in the interaction.
TYPES OF REACTIVITY
THERE ARE VARIOUS REASONS WHY A DOG MIGHT ACT IN THIS MANNER AND WORKING OUT WHY CAN INFLUENCE THE BEHAVIOUR PLAN. REASONS CAN INCLUDE:
● FEAR — many dogs become fearful of other dogs, people, or even objects like cars. They could have had a traumatic experience in the past, like being attacked themselves, not had the opportunity to socialise as a youngster, or simply be shy in nature. These dogs will possibly be fearful their whole lives and need sympathetic handling and management to cope on walks.
● FRUSTRATION — dogs who don’t get the opportunity to mix freely with others of their own kind can display frustration, which looks very similar to aggressive behaviours. Owners often describe these dogs as fine off-lead with others or OK once they can go and greet the other dog.
● MIRRORING OWNERS’ CONCERNS — this has increased over the past year due to our concerns about getting close to people. Dogs pick up on an owner’s emotions and can feel worried about other dogs or people approaching; they are mirroring us.
● PREDATORY — you can also get the occasional dog — although it is rare — who enjoys attacking others. These individuals generally have a high prey drive or are experiencing predatory drift — that is attacking animals they wouldn’t normally.
There are many reasons why dogs are reactive and continue to be so. These include one-trial learning, personality, early experiences or lack of socialisation, genetics — the list goes on. The important point is to manage expectations. Owners often tell us they are embarrassed by their dogs’ behaviour, finding it frustrating and difficult on walks. They ask us if we can
‘fix’ their dogs, but the answer isn’t as straightforward as that. Take a dog who has been attacked; put simply, and in human terms, this dog will be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In a similar scenario, the brain and the body will react as if that initial attack is about to reoccur. At this point your dog’s survival instinct takes over, and he will go into a fear response of either fight, flight, freeze, fool around, faint, or flock (seek the safety of a person). Your dog doesn’t feel safe and there isn’t a conscious decision to the response in this situation.
MANAGING EMOTIONS
When helping a reactive dog, you first need to deal with the underlying emotion and the memory of that negative experience (or teach the dog how to manage frustration if this is the cause). For many dogs, their response will be ingrained and lifelong. What can be achieved is helping the dog’s and owner’s emotional state improve, coupled with teaching a set of tools to help build resilience and diminish the degree of the response. You can also introduce supportive management skills, so owners help their dogs feel safe in tricky situations.
SETTING DOGS UP FOR SUCCESS
The first thing to remember when helping your reactive dog is to set him up for success. Ask yourself: ‘Can my dog respond and engage with me in this situation?’. Dogs need space from the thing that triggers their reactivity, and this can make it difficult when trying to find a suitable walking location. Try to find walks with wide, open spaces that you can retreat to when a trigger approaches; this way you can see what is coming and have the time to support your dog while creating space