It’s been some time since we finished our online “Reactive Dog Management” class, but we have worked at our own pace and are still practicing some of the commands we learned.
*Disclaimer: I am not a dog trainer. I am simply sharing some things we’ve learned that have worked for us. For serious behavioral issues with your own dogs, you may need to hire a professional.
We started out working indoors, and then as the weather improved some, moved it out into the dog pen. Muddy conditions made it difficult to move it into the yard or onto the road, but we finally got a chance to do so last week. While working with Luke alone might have been more ideal, Cricket really wanted a walk too so I decided we’d have a walk and train all at once and just do the best we could. Since I walk Cricket on our hands-free leash, that at least gives me one hand free for handing out treats as needed.
We learned to use a few different tools in our class. Some were new to us, and some we had already worked on but just found different ways to refine and use them as we needed. I highly recommend the class I took from Fenzi Dog Sports Academy. What we learned was not just for walking, but for managing reactions at home, in a crate, and in the car as well. I already wrote about some of the mat work we’ve done, and that is still coming along well.
For outdoor use, the key to management is distracting your reactive/shy dog from something that might upset him/her. We didn’t learn ways to make them less fearful, but how to help create distance from a situation that they may not like.
We train with treats, but we also want to try to be able to get them to follow us without having a treat; since situations can make it difficult sometimes to get a treat if something comes up suddenly. This included the following commands:
- “Touch”. Hand touch. Distraction by having them touch your hand with their nose, in different positions. Luke’s “here” command also involves an outstretched hand so this one has dual use for us. Recall is on the list to practice in this class too.
- “With Me” Side walking and sits. Having your dog follow you at your side (similar to “heel”) and/or sit when you might need get them turned away from something that could upset them.
- “Let’s Go” Tying in with the above is speed and direction changes.
- “Get It” – this command was taught as “find it” but since we already use that for nose works we had to come up with something different. Treats are tossed on the ground and they are distracted finding them.
- “Up” – Getting them to put their paws or whole bodies on top of something (rocks, walls, etc.) where you can then block them from view of something you don’t want them to see. We already had worked on this command with Luke, using “Paws Up” or “Up Up (all the way up)”. Since there might not always be something handy for them (especially where we walk on rural roads) to get up on, I trained Luke to do this on our chain link fence in the yard, and then on my arm. It is fun to do some improvising when you’re training, suiting things to what your own situation might be.
- “Leave it”. If you need to get out of a situation quickly, you have to be sure that you can distract your dog from something they might have their nose or attention on. In Luke’s case, it’s not just that, but getting him to stop eating grass! We use this around the house a lot too, if he’s barking at someone or something and we want him to stop. He still needs more work, but he does well at this most of the time.
For our first time out walking, my main goal was to find out which commands he did well at, and which he needed more work on. Cricket is easy. Since she’s older, she walks fairly well, and all she needs to hear is the rustle of the treat bag or her name, and I get her attention. They both also know the command “watch me” quite well so I use that too.
Luke is more difficult. When we start out on a walk, he is so focused on smelling things that pretty much nothing I say gets his attention. We just walk for a bit until he’s settled down some and then we can start working on things. I found he is doing quite well with both “With me” and “Let’s go”. We didn’t try “get it” because with both dogs that could have just caused them to squabble over any treat I threw. I didn’t try “Up up” with him either, simply because I forgot that one!
I also found that I need to work on not just saying his name all the time. That might work for Cricket but it doesn’t for him. Of note also: we were taught in the class to keep things lighthearted and fun. I really have to focus on this, since I’m used to issuing commands in a firm voice, and that’s a hard habit to break!
Overall, I was pleased with how he did once I could get his focus. Taking him out solo at times will mostly likely help as well. Once our weather is better, I’ll have more time for separate walks at times.
I feel very optimistic about what we’ve learned, and that more practice will continue our progress. The truth is, we don’t see a lot when we mostly walk in our own neighborhood or on our land. However, you never know what might be around the next corner and feeling more prepared for that helps me to relax on our walks as well! Luke is not necessarily the only one that’s reactive. 🙂
Want to practice these things with my dog. Nice! thank you so much! Thank you for sharing.
I am glad you found a program that worked for Luke. I took a different approach to training reactive Storm. I would say the difference is more structure if that is the right word. I required strict obedience. As for cheery voice vs. command voice, I think that depends on the dog. If you have a soft dog cheery voice works really well. We had a Golden who was very soft and you could not raise your voice to him or anyone else.
Our golden Moses was like that too. If you so much as raised your voice at him a little bit, he would throw himself on the floor and refuse to move! Luke is more tolerant of it, so it could be that the firm commands do work just fine with him, and maybe I don’t need to worry about that so much.
That ‘touch’ command might come in handy with Elsa since she’s so obsessed with all things squirrel. Love these tips and appreciate your sharing them!
Thank you! I’m so happy to share things we learn. I think these tools could be great for all dogs, whether they’re reactive or not. Even the best dog can get distracted by something fun like a squirrel!
Want to practice these things with my puppy so much~~ Thank you for sharing the post!
“I’m used to issuing commands in a firm voice, and that’s a hard habit to break!”
Me Too!! Lawdy how well I can relate to that statement!! Once I get through my externship and final exam, I hope to be able to dedicate more time to working with Ducky. Your tips – and Janet Finlay’s online course – will be a big help! It’s been 5 years since I got my certification from school as a dog obedience trainer, so I’m a bit “rusty”; but truthfully, I like Janet’s course work better than the “obedience” mentality.
I hope to try Janet’s course someday too. I get her emails and I enjoy them. She seems to have a good approach to things.
It sounds as though you’re doing really well and having fun.
“Not the only one that’s reactive…” – that can be really tricky when you anticipate an issue and dogs really pick up on a biped’s body language. But as Luke improves, you should become more relaxed. 🙂
Exactly! At least we’ll hope that’s how it goes! ????
Luke gives you a lot to work on, but you seem to be meeting his challenges really well. We hope he continues to do well.
Thank you. He certainly does keep me busy, but I’m learning a lot too.
Haha, “Not the only one that’s reactive….” Yep, guilty of that here too. Rita has done really well with Leave It, so I should try incorporating some of these other commands as well. I should probably learn to say “Let’s go” instead of “Uh oh” or “Oh s*%t” when I see something coming our way I know she won’t like. 🙂 I’m pretty sure she now knows “Oh s*%t” means “Get ready! Something’s coming!!”
I am sure dogs pick up on a lot of things we don’t realize. In our house, if we say “hello” they think someone’s here and start barking! It’s always a challenge answering the phone. LOL
I’ve been tempted by that class many times. It sounds very good. Keeping my voice “light-hearted” is something that I’ve been working on by myself. I’ve noticed that Shyla tunes me out when I am serious, and I tend to get serious in stressful situations. It’s a bad cycle!
I’ll be very interested to hear how things go as you try more of those techniques in real life situations.
Luke has done very well with this in the yard when we’ve had contractors working outside. Being able to get him away from the fence barking has been a great step forward, so it gives me hope!
Harley sounds a lot like Bentley. The older he gets the more he changes. Will definitely try to incorporate these commands.
Luke looks great in his new harness. We’re glad to hear he’s making progress…slowly but surely. 🙂
Sounds like a really great class. Ruby is selectively reactive. She will be fine for a few weeks, sometimes even a month, but then something sets her off. I know her triggers, but never quite when they are going to pop up again. She is kind of anxious, and I know many of her issues revolve around that.
Definitely might work on some of these commands.
I hope they work for you and Ruby too!
Bentley has gotten more reactive as he ages. I will work on these tips and let you know how it is working for us. Thanks so much.
I’m so glad to help….I hope this helps Bentley too!
mWay to go Luke, and Cricket, ya done good too!
Some really great tools, thanks for sharing what you learned in class and applying it.
I’m impressed with how much training you got in with both of them together! I’ve finally accepted that evening walks are probably going to have to be solo walks because of Barley’s nemesis–that little pup has gotten her so worked up that now she can’t handle any dogs in cars barking and Rye gets so excited by Barley spazzing out that all we can do is just stop and wait it out, so I think Barley’s going to need to go back to some solo walks when we’re most likely to see joyriders to start working through this one. Can’t wait to hear how Luke does when you get him out on his own, too!
It is very difficult to work on anything when you have two dogs, in my experience, at least in any depth anyway. I am going to try to come up with a schedule so that I can rotate together and alone walks. Now I just need a few more hours in the day. 🙂
Cricket is such a sweetie. Luke is doing really well but being part Labrador he has to have a good sniff first and then see if there is anything to eat.
Glad to hear Luke is making progress! I’m going to check out that reactive dog class to use with our Layla. She is getting better on walks, but she still often ends up barking at another dog, a bunny, a rock … you know, the usual 🙂
leave it is the command we use 87 times per day…. it seems we have a count vaccula on 4 legs…
I will try to work with “touch” your way, that sounds very good!