Living With a Reactive Dog, Part One

When your dog strains at the end of the leash, barking and lunging at cars, people, other dogs, bicycles, etc. it can feel frustrating and overwhelming. It can be embarrassing when you feel like everyone is staring at you and judging you for your dog’s crazy.

Usually, as a trainer, I’m focused on the dog side of the equation and helping people fix their dog’s reactivity, but I wanted to take a moment and offer some coping strategies for the human side as well. In this blog series, I’ll be focusing on your side of the equation and how to cope with living with a reactive dog.

You’re Not The Only One

When you have a reactive dog, it can seem like your dog is the only dog in your neighborhood that is a nut job and everyone else is judging you for your inadequacy in controlling the little psycho. I can tell you with 100% certainty, this is NOT the case! Actually, the majority of behavior cases I work with are reactive dogs.

Recently, I started on a case with a woman who was at her wits end with her dog lunging and barking at kids, other dogs, and men. As we went out for our first walk, she kept telling me how she just didn’t understand why her dog was like this when everyone else’s dog was so good. She was so worried about her own dog’s behavior and what other people thought of her that she couldn’t see that everyone else was busy dealing with their own reactive dogs. I swear she lived in The Reactive Dog Neighborhood. I could have had enough cases in just that neighborhood alone to keep me busy for a year!