Things I wish I'd known before having a reactive dog

Those that have read this blog before are familiar with Finn. He is the younger of my two blue merle border collie boys, and is just coming up on two years old (when this article was first written - he is now 4). Due to a number of factors, both those I could control and those I could not, he is a reactive dog.

He's so beautiful though, inside and out 😍

I will start out by telling you one simple fact that applies to everyone I have ever spoken to that has a reactive dog in their lives - they wish they did not. We love our dogs, despite their issues. We work very hard to make their lives as comfortable and relaxed as we can possibly manage. Some of them have horrific pasts, and their guardians are trying to show them what a happy life can be. Sharing your life with a reactive, fearful dog is HARD. I have written on the subject of how it affects people before - 'The Emotional Toll of Reactivity.' It is emotionally turbulent, from the massive highs when you make steps towards them having a 'normal' life, and enormous lows when, through no fault of the handler or the dog, something happens that results in a reactive episode and so much hard work on the dog's resilience and confidence is lost. What I will say about having a reactive dog after so many years of easy, 'friendly' dogs is that he has taught me more about dogs than all of the others put together. To be able to manage and work on his issues, I have had to learn about the psychology of dogs in a way that the majority of dog owners do not. Hours of study have been put in on learning how to read body language, what is going on in the dog's brain and body when he is happy or scared, and how dogs learn to be able to work on improving his relationship with the world outside of his front door.

There are often assumptions made about reactive dogs and assigning blame. There are many factors involved in whether or not a dog becomes reactive. These include genetics set at the moment of conception, and whether the mum was anxious during the pregnancy as stress hormones can pass through to the puppy in utero, producing a puppy born prepared to live in a stressful world. A common reason can be a lack of socialisation at critical ages in puppyhood for a variety of reasons. These can range from trying but doing it poorly, not doing enough or in some cases illnesses that restrict how much a puppy can be out in public. At any point in life dogs could be bitten by another dog, which can obviously cause issues. Some male dogs can become reactive after neutering, as the testosterone level drops. Some can have a scary experience that leaves them nervous and reluctant to encounter a particular thing again. Some may have come out of a puppy farm environment, and have no clue about the safety or not of the outside world and other dogs or people. The list is long and varied, and any dog may have a combination of a couple or more factors they have encountered in life. Equally, it can take just one occurrence for reactivity to begin, known as single event learning.

Reactivity in dogs seems to cause a schism among dog guardians. There does not seem to be a middle ground most of the time. Part of the problem is that the people, fortunate as they are, that have never had a reactive dog in their lives cannot understand. I know I had no clue before Finn, after over thirty years of experience with dogs, and this breed in particular. In the years before, I had a number of friendly, easy dogs that caused me no trouble at all. One thing I am proud to say is that my easy dogs have all been trained with good recalls. They have been, with the exception of the last couple, working sheepdogs, so need to be biddable and obedient. I have never allowed my dogs to go running up to strange dogs without checking with the person with the other dog. My old boy is quite deaf now and opinionated. He will insist on trying to head towards any unknown dog to say hi. For this reason, unless we are somewhere that there are no other dogs in sight, he stays on the lead. This is made easier due to the fact he is elderly and does not need so much of a run these days, but even if he had more energy to burn, he would not be allowed to approach without invitation.

When I see people with the ‘normal, friendly’ dogs responding to comments telling the reactive dog guardians to just walk away, it does remind me how much I have had to learn since Finn joined our family. We really wish we could just walk away from an encounter with an over friendly or rude dog, but the reality of reactivity means that is not possible. It is not reactive dog guardians being awkward or precious, it is not their dog being untrained or just difficult, it is biochemistry.

Reactive dogs behave the way that they do due to fear. For them, the dog running towards them is terrifying for some reason. The actual reason at this point does not matter – to the poor dog, the fear is very real and that is all that matters. To the dog, this becomes a survival situation, kicking into action the famous fight or flight reaction. Fear causes certain reactions in the bodies of mammals. Yes, all mammals. Including humans. In an attempt to illustrate just how terrifying this can be for a fearful dog, we can imagine a scenario. You are out for a nice drive in the countryside. It is a lovely day, you are just happily making your way along a quiet road and enjoying the relaxing atmosphere. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, there is a car thundering towards you head on. You slam on the brakes, and manage to miss colliding. Regardless of the fact that nothing bad actually happened, your heart races, your hands shake and you might feel sick. The very worst of the reaction may dissipate in a few minutes, as you reason that you have survived and can carry on your journey. For the rest of the trip, and maybe a day or two after, you find you are a little jumpy at the idea of cars coming towards you.

All of these reactions are due to the actions of stress chemicals in the body, released as part of an unconscious physiological process that starts as soon as something scary comes into sight. The dog is no more in control of his reaction to try and drive the scary trigger away than the driver in our scenario above is to stop their terror at the prospect of the other car crashing into them. Dogs cannot reason in that same way described in the previous paragraph to be able to calm their physiological reactions faster. The average dog has an intelligence level equivalent to a human toddler, but for some reason human children do not seem to be expected to get on with things in the same way dogs are.

Essentially, a 'friendly' dog that goes bouncing up to a scared dog despite being given ‘go away’ signals such as growling, barking, and a whole range of other canine body language that is much more subtle before getting anywhere near the barking and lunging fury that is the stereotype of the classically reactive dog is not friendly. It is rude. No matter whether the intention is to play or not, dogs need to learn to respect the fact that not all other dogs want to have a game. Even the ones that will tolerantly say hello to the bouncy dog might not want to have a play session, and will have to tell the rude dog to back off. To continue our comparison with the toddler of similar age, this is the equivalent of heading towards being the playground bully. ‘I want to play, so you WILL play with me.’ Not all children want to play with all other children. Not all adults want to socialise with every person that they meet. So why are dogs expected to?

The reason that it is so difficult for reactive dogs and their guardians to just walk away after an encounter is rooted in the physiological reaction mentioned before. The chemicals related to the fear reaction are produced without a conscious action from the dog. Cortisol and adrenaline help to prepare the dog for fight or flight, creating a raft of changes in the dog’s body to allow them to run away or fight for survival. While this may seem extreme to the non-reactive dog guardian, it must be remembered that fear is heavily linked with the primal areas of the brain. It is a basic survival mechanism, and deeply rooted in the purely instinctive part of the dog’s mind. Pupils dilate, blood pressure increases, glucose is released into the bloodstream from the liver to provide an extra burst of energy. While the thing that has triggered the fear might go away quickly, these chemical and physiological changes do not. For this reason, the reactive dog might be upset and on edge for hours or even days after an encounter.

Some people will counter this by saying that the reactive dogs should not be out in public until they are ‘fixed’. To begin with, I (and I am sure the vast majority with reactive, fearful dogs) would love to be enlightened as to what this magic ‘fix’ is. The truth is that there is no quick fix. Yes, there are ways to improve how a reactive dog sees and can interact with the wider world, but it is a long, slow process that can be upset in a number of ways that are not the fault of the reactive dog or their guardian. Most typically this comes in the form of another dog running up to them without being recalled, or paying attention to the signals from the scared dog requesting space. This process requires the fearful dog to be out where they can see the other dogs, but far enough away that they do not feel that they have to protect themselves by reacting. Gradually, as they learn to look to their handler for their reward on being able to be in the presence of the trigger without reacting, the distance can be reduced. This is not a step that can be rushed, it has to go at the pace the dog can cope with. Any sudden confrontation before the scared dog is ready for them will without doubt put the process back, maybe by a number of days, maybe a number of weeks of progress can be lost due to one dog that gets too close.

Something else I frequently see is that reactive dogs should wear muzzles if they are going to react to others. To be honest, I cannot think of anything worse for the mental health of any being to be forced into a situation that scares them while having their means to defend themselves removed. A dog that is forced into a situation where they bite another dog that has approached them is not aggressive, they have been forced to resort to the very last measure they have as the approaching dog would not listen to anything lower down on the scale. A dog in the same situation but muzzled is going to go home traumatised and will probably be worse the next time out.

It is not just reactive dogs that do not want other dogs to come racing up to them either. My old dog that stays on lead is getting quite unsteady on his legs at times now. He can trot and canter along comfortably when we are walking but it takes very little contact for him to be bowled over. He stays on lead when there are other dogs around because he can no longer hear me calling him, and because I want as much as possible to protect him from other dogs. Even then, he gets knocked down sometimes because people either will not or cannot recall their dogs when requested. Let me make this clear – I have no problem at all with other people having their dogs running loose, or other dogs playing together. All I am asking is that we are given a little consideration as we hover in the far corner of the field, trying not to draw attention or cause any trouble, either for us or anyone else in the area. I try to leave it as long as possible before calling to ask that dogs are recalled or put on lead because I do not want to interfere with you and your dog having a good time. I am just trying to work on getting my dog to relax as much as possible in the only way that we can do it, by letting him watch and rewarding him so that he learns good things happen. He cannot learn that lesson if other dogs try and crowd him before he is ready to meet them. Equally he cannot learn that lesson without being able to see other dogs. Those of us with reactive dogs are really not trying to dictate anyone else's time with their dogs. We just want and need to be left alone.

My much missed golden oldie, who enriched my life for over fourteen years

We are not setting out to ruin anyone’s walk. Really, we are not. We are just trying to make our dogs’ lives better. All we want is to be left in peace to walk with our dogs. If your dogs have a solid recall that means they will come back to you quickly when you call. If they don’t, then I would contend it is not just my dog that needs work on some areas of his training. If you then continue by telling me that I need to get my dog ‘under control’ when my dog is securely on a lead and yours is running around buzzing every dog and other creature in the vicinity, I will conclude that it is not just the dog that needs to get a clue. If you think that someone saying you should ensure that your dog has a really sound recall so that they will come back to you when called means you are being inconvenienced, I'm not entirely sure you should have a dog. A solid recall is an essential part of being a responsible dog guardian, and should be established before your dog is regularly let off lead in public. In cases where recall is a work in progress, for the sake of your own dog's safety (not just from reactive dogs but a whole range of potential issues) use a longline. If, on the other hand, you call your dog away if you see mine becoming upset, you will have made a friend for life (at a distance, obviously!)

As a personal note regarding that final sentence: to the dog walkers that I have encountered in my local area, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. The vast majority of you are wonderful at recalling your dogs or putting them on leads when asked, or even as soon as you see me scanning for potential escape routes. I always try to thank people in the moment, but am sometimes forced to concentrate fully on my dog and the lovely dog people have gone by the time I look up again. The chances of any of you reading this are remote, but I want to say it anyway. I truly do appreciate the people that do their best to leave me and my fearful dog to our counter conditioning work in peace.

If you want to learn more about reactive behaviour in dogs, I have written two books on the topic. 'Fight or Fright? A Reactive Dog Guardian's Handbook' is an empathetic guide through a guardian's first realisations that their dog is struggling. 'Understanding Reactive Dogs: Why Dogs React & How to Help' is an in depth look at the causes of reactivity, the neuro-chemical and physical processes underlying it, and the methods we can use to help the dog improve their relationship with the world.

I also highly recommend the Canine Reactive Behaviour course from Canine Principles. If you're looking for something less in depth and technical but that will help you and your dog, have a look at their Easy Walks for Reactive Dogs course. I have worked through both, and they are great for explaining how we can help our dogs, and why the recommended techniques work.