Accentuate the positive

Some of the comments and messages I have received on the last post have brought this subject to mind. Some commenters have observed that I appear to concentrate on the negative aspects of my walks with my reactive dog. In reality that fact is not true, but I do tend to concentrate on relating them here. In trying to relate to others with fearful dogs that struggle, I am guilty of not detailing all of our successes.

As all of us living with reactive dogs know, it can be incredibly mentally and emotionally draining. Dreading the prospect of the daily walk, being on high alert the entire time for any potential triggers, and that toe-curling, cringing embarrassment that follows 'that' look from other people if your dog reacts towards them will all drag you down if they continue without respite. Fortunately, there are things that you can do to lift your mood very soon after putting any plan to help your fearful dog into action.

Zero steps forward, two steps back?

Two blogs three days apart rarely happens these days, but I want to relate what happened this morning and analyse it a little, to show why setbacks should not be allowed to get you down.

For various health reasons, I have not been able to walk Finn regularly for a while. In fact for the last month, my husband has been responsible for the walking duties, supplemented with enrichment at home with me to help make up for the shortfall. I am much better and so back in the saddle, so to speak, and took him out this morning.

As our regular walks do, we went out a little after 4.30 a.m. while it was still very dark and cold. I was expecting Finn to be keen and maybe forget some of his loose lead walking manners as it had been a while. Yes, we did head out of our gate at home at a fair speed, but he settled down to walk beautifully within seconds, having a lovely time stopping here and there for a sniff and to catch up on what is going on in the local canine community via the 'noticeboard' (lamp post 😄). There was one incident of lunging a few minutes in as a cat ran across the road in the light from one of the street lamps and Finn got a bit excitable and tried to take off, but he was easily distracted by crossing the road in the opposite direction and a few tasty liver treats.

Be kind to yourself

Following the recent theme of focusing on the wellbeing of the reactive dog guardian, given how much information is available to help us help our fearful dog, I want to use a short entry to make an important point.

So much of the literature that focuses on reactive dogs and improving their thresholds etc discusses the biological processes of stress and what it does inside and outside of the dog. There are countless books and websites that tell us about the stress hormones and how they affect dogs on both a short and long term basis, with the associated mental, physical and emotional health risks that come to a dog that is living with long term, constant stress.

What just happened? What do I do now?

It seems my last entry on here struck a chord with a lot of people who are or have been where I have been with Finn. I’ve had messages from people all over telling me that it made them cry as they recognised someone else going through the same thing, or in some cases realised that they aren’t actually alone. It can feel so very lonely at the other end of that lead, I know, and I’m so glad that I have been able to reach people and let them know that it’s ok, there are more of us out here than you realise and, most importantly, there is help and support for your dogs and, every bit as important, for YOU.

Following the response to that last blog, I want to spend a little time just talking about the support available, how to find it and some things to avoid. Where you should turn when you’ve got home from one of those difficult walks and you don’t know what on earth to do. That’s what this blog title relates to – not the reaction to the last entry, but that confused, lost feeling when your dog reacts to something for the first time.

When he looks at me like this, I can forgive everything 😍