#Reactive Dog

Reactivity can feel isolating as hell, but you’re not alone – and you’re not failing. Working through reactivity is HARD. And it asks a lot from both ends of the lead. But you’re still showing up – even through the bad days, the tears, the judgemental looks – that counts so much more than you realise. Today, I can proudly say that walking past other dogs without a blow up is our new normal. Reactions are few and far between (though we still sometimes have our moments). When you feel that dread before you walk out the door with your reactive dog… remember that the walk doesn’t have to be perfect. Success might be getting to the letterbox without tension, or walking past that trigger an inch closer than you did last week. None of those moments feel huge at the time. But string them together. and suddenly you look back and realise you’re standing somewhere you weren’t sure you’d ever reach. So if you’re seeing this and in the midst of your reactivity training journey – keep your head up, and keep showing up for your dog. It takes a whole lot of time, patience, courage, and mutual learning – but it IS possible. Don’t give up ❤️ Thank you @will_and_mill for inspiring this video! #dogtraining #reactivity #reactivedog #reactivedogtraining #dogsofinstagram

Reactive dogs are good dogs too 🫶 . . . . #dog #dogs #reactivedog #reactivedogs #reactivedogsunite #reactivedogsofinstagram #dogstagram #dogreactivity #doginstagram #doginsta #dogsofinstagram #dogsofinsta #dogsofig #instadog #reactivedogsaregooddogstoo #reactivedogtraining #dogbehavior #anxiousdog #cattledog #blueheeler #dogmom #dogowner #dogaccount #doginfluencer #dogfluencer #dogmodel #dogparent #rescuedog #ilovemyrescuedog #rescuedogsofinstagram

If you have a reactive dog, try this #dogtraining #southenddogtraining

Dog “reactivity” isn’t just bad behavior — it’s often a nervous system that’s stuck in overdrive. When a dog doesn’t have clear structure, boundaries, or meaningful outlets for their instinctual energy, they live just below threshold… constantly. It doesn’t take much for them to tip over into barking and lunging. That’s not defiance — that’s overwhelm. The fix isn’t just correcting the explosion. It’s changing the baseline. When we intentionally build in moments of regulation, give them purposeful ways to use their energy, and create clarity in their daily life, we help bring their nervous system out of survival mode. Over time, that’s where real emotional stability comes from. #dogtrainer #reactivedog #aussieshepherd #regulation #nervoussystem

If you’re overwhelmed with your dog’s reactivity and you feel like you’re still struggling, comment “REACT” and we’ll send you the link to find our Reactivity webinar which offers you easy-to-follow and simple step by step training to fix your biggest issues today. Reactivity can be extremely difficult to work through-especially when EVERYONE has a different opinion on how to handle it! I like to think of reactivity as a bubble - the longer your dog stares (loads up) on a trigger the bigger the bubble gets and it's more likely to pop (barking/lunging/ pulling). You need to do things that allow the bubble to deflate (relieve pressure), the best way for that is to get distance from the trigger and rewarding for eye contact. ❌ don't ask your dog to sit when a trigger is passing. All that's doing is stopping everything so your dog can focus HARDER on the trigger! ❌ don't just yank on your dog while they stare at the trigger. This is just going to piss off an already aroused dog. (Think of drunk dudes getting in a bar fight and people trying to hold them back, it makes them want to fight MORE). ❌ don't allow your dog to get to the trigger after they pulled/lunged/barked. The majority of reactivity we see IS overly friendly reactivity- just because it's not coming from an aggressive place, doesn't mean we should reward that behavior by giving the dog what they want. ✅ do give a wide berth when passing a trigger, moving out wider and wider if your dog is still focused on the trigger. This allows you to give your dog space from the trigger while still moving past it. ✅ do turn around and walk the other direction when you think the trigger will be too much for your dog to handle. This is the least challenging way to deal with a trigger, so if you're early in your training journey with your reactive dog- start here! ✅ do back pedal when your dog focuses too much on a trigger, to allow them to reset (deflate that bubble)! 🚨in addition to these, switch your dog to the OPPOSITE side of your body, away from the trigger Focus on rewarding them when they do what you want them to, and redirect them when they get too distracted by a trigger.

Struggling with reactivity? This is how to fix ANY reactive dog. Your dog is reactive because they don’t understand the expectations. They don’t know what is right and what is wrong, and the behavior of reacting is the most reinforcing behavior. To fix this, you correct your dog’s behavior of reacting… firm but fair. Your dog begins to learn that reacting is wrong, and that’s where it’s SO important to communicate the desired behavior. You create this clarity, and pretty soon, your dog is neutral and understands your boundaries. - Do you want me to help you fix any behavioral issue with your dog or improve their responsiveness, click the link in my bio to learn more about my in person Board & Train Program in Northern Virginia or my fully virtual Dream Dog Program. - #reactivity #dogtraining #reactivedog #balancedtraining #prongcollar

i have always hated the label “reactive dog” because it assigns a label to a dog based solely off the moments they’re stressed out, when there’s so much more to them. thanks to positive reinforcement & a proper behavior modification plan, harvey’s reactions are very few and far between these days. he still doesn’t like strangers touching him, he never will (neither will i, so who am i to judge) but let this video serve as your reminder to not judge a reactive dog parent based off the 5 second passing on the street. there’s so much more to a reactive dog than their reactivity. just like there’s so much more to anxious people than their anxiety. #reactivedog #reactivity #reactivedogtraining #dogtrainer

Dog reactivity or aggression is often a fear-based behavior. The dog typically acts out of fear to cause the trigger to go away or increase the distance between themselves and the “threat”. • When working with reactive behaviors, the most important factor for success is distance. You want to start at a point where your dog can acknowledge the trigger but still capable of paying attention to you. This distance is called the dogs “threshold”. Once you figure out their threshold you can work with your dog when the object(s) your dog feels threatened by are around (at a comfortable distance), and teach the dog how to redirect their attention back to you. • Once you establish the behavior you want at a distance, the goal is to begin to decrease your dogs threshold. You do this by slowly moving closer to the trigger(s) while continuing to redirect your dogs attention and rewarding the proper behavior! • • #beforeandafter #germanshepherds #germanshepherdsofinstagram #germanshepherd #positivereinforcement #training #dogtraining #obedience #properpaws #dogreactivity #dogreactivitytraining #unleashyourpotential #puppytraining #saltlakecitydogs #saltlakecitydogtraining #saltlakecitydogtrainer #utahdogtrainer #utahdogtraining #Dogtrainingutah #Dogtrainingofutah #Dogsofslc #dogsofutah #saltlakecityutah #slcutah

If a dog is coming after you, don’t be like a tree and stand there, and definitely don’t turn your back or try to run (unless you know you can get to safety before the reach you.) Be assertive, stand your ground, defend if needed. And always report incidents.

The brutal truth about reactive dogs no one wants to hear Everyone secretly hopes there is a quick fix for reactivity. One perfect tool, one magic cue, one trainer session that suddenly changes everything. But the brutal truth is much more boring: you just keep walking your dog past other dogs, and the reaction slowly gets smaller. Not in one day. Not in one week. Just a little bit less, over and over again. Our young German Shepherds in this video are a good example. They still react when another dog barks at them, you can see it. But now they calm down much faster. A month ago, the moment they saw any dog on the horizon, nothing else existed. No correction worked, they just completely lost it and went crazy. We didn’t have some magical “click moment”. We just kept going. Same walks, same rules, same calm corrections. And very slowly their reactions started to shrink. Now they could take a gentle reward without spinning out again. They are still far from perfect. But now they can get triggered and then actually come back to reality. They can notice our correction, think about it, and choose a different behavior. Give us one more month of these boring, regular walks, and I’m pretty confident we’ll end up with balanced, social German Shepherds that you can actually live with. That’s the real hard truth about reactivity: it’s usually not one big breakthrough, it’s a hundred tiny, boring wins that add up. If your dog is reacting now, don’t wait for magic. Just keep going. Keep walking, keep working, keep showing up. And if you want to see how this plays out with our two shepherd teenagers, stick around and follow the journey.

Reactive dog owners, I see you! But I’m not staring judgementally as some people do. 👹👀😅 Just fyi, these videos also get filmed for training purposes

Man this one was a dooozy and we got the whole process on film. Comment reactive and I’ll send you the full breakdown. #reactivedog #dogtraining #dogtrainer #aggressivedogtraining