I’m writing this because, this morning, I saw a dog who is clearly extremely ill at ease in his life and has been for the past 3 plus years in which I’ve encountered him. His guardian says he’s ‘leash reactive’ and that’s the end of the conversation. Yes, I tried talking to him and explaining that his dog didn’t have to be that way, however, that conversation was a couple of years back, or maybe longer.
From at least 50 yards away the dog is strongly out front on a taut lead and starts a very loud growl upon spotting another dog. This is followed by barking, assuming you’re not getting any closer. In a more confined space the dog is writhing violently at the end of his lead, growling and barking…..quite an explosion of energy.
When this dog is in his garden and spots a dog, even at a distance, he rushes the fence whilst barking.
He always exhibits a lot of negative energy which could easily be perceived as anger.
Isn’t all reactivity aggression? There are some cases where the reaction in question needs to be stopped due to a ‘danger to life’ situation. However that doesn’t mean all reactivity is aggression. The term itself holds a negative conotation. There are many factors involved in 'reactivity' and, for many reasons, people miss some significant aspects.
One dog howls and bucks when he spots another dog but this only happens within a specific context….it’s street related. You can see his fear. This reaction doesn’t happen in an open space. As he’s a rescue there’s no history upon which to hang this however it suggests that he may have undergone a negative street experience that was never resolved. Even if his history were known, you have to work with what the dog is presenting.
Yet another dog throws herself at incoming people and dogs, growling and barking…you’d think she and the first dog had the ‘same problem’ however her energy holds a different quality, even though she too, is trying to manage her environment.
A foreign rescue shouts her confusion and wariness because she simply doesn't know what else to do.
Whatever the cause, the dog is doing what it thinks is going to produce the best result for him/her and usually that involves ‘safety’ or a manageable environment. For the dog, the behaviour is appropriate. For the human, it's inappropriate.
We all react to everything in our lives however, for the most part, our reactions fall within an acceptable spectrum. Negative reactions falling outwith that spectrum usually generate consequences that result in punishment….because that’s how people modify behaviour.
This doesn’t work well with dogs.
If a dog is trying to create ‘safety’ that’s because they believe themselves to be in an unsafe environment. Can we get inside the mind of that particular dog and understand what it perceives as ‘safe’? No, because we are not that particular dog. It’s fairly ‘straight line’ thinking that punishment is not going to create any sense of safety. Yet dogs are routinely admonished/punished for ‘behaving badly’ when all they're trying to do is be safe.
Behaviour is an external expression of an internal state.
If that internal state is worried, anxious, fearful, nervous, agitated and lacking trust, then it’s hardly surprising that the external expression is full of negative energy.
If you feel worried, anxious, fearful, nervous, agitated and lacking trust, your performance in the world is unlikely to be stellar.
Sometimes this ‘unsafe belief’ goes unnoticed because it doesn’t happen very often and the dog, generally, seems ‘happy enough’.
It may be that the dog is close to ‘threshold’ on a regular basis and it’s only when that threshold is broken that ‘an negative event’ is generated.
The easiest way to describe ‘threshold’ is using a scale.
Let’s say 1 is very low and 10 is very high. You could expect a 'normal' dog to experience waking emotions in the range of 3 - 7. If the dog generally experiences roughly 3 - 5 then you have a pretty chilled dog. If the dog is regularly experiencing 5 - 7 then you have a dog nearer to threshold on a daily basis. In the event of ‘going over threshold’, it can take 72 hours for that dog to ‘come back down’.
Let’s say that he/she has had a mildly negative experience; a startle; and that produces a 6. It may be that another similar startle occurs very soon thereafter and this dog has a 5. Then, in another few days, another 5 or 6 occurs. The dog may then move into a more vigilant state on a daily basis and become closer to ‘going over threshold’ on a more frequent basis. Outwardly, you may not notice much change as it’s not a full blown reaction. What could be an indicator is that this dog seems more watchful and a bit more wary of uncertain things.
Let's say he/she has ‘gone over’, is coming back down but not there yet and another negative event occurs. Not too hard to imagine that days and days can go by with this particular dog running emotions at 7 plus. He/she would become hypervigilant and this could become a way of life.
Dogs exhibiting increased vigilance; those probably in the 5 - 7 bracket, spend less time in a normal or relaxed state.
While this seems obvious, what people don’t take on board is that the time afforded to you to resolve the situation, is less. Often MUCH less.
If this dog has only 15 minutes in any day wherein he/she is in an appropriate learning state, then you have to capitalise on those 15 minutes.
It’s very difficult to work with any being that is significantly stressed for much of the time.
Another reason why punishment doesn’t ft the bill.
This dog needs to learn and learning is best achieved in a relaxed and happy way.
This needs to be in a positive environment. You can't do effectively when the reaction is already in place. Your dog needs to, have resources, be resilient and these strategies need to be created as a 'primary response'.
This dog’s positive perception about safety and security can only be outwardly expressed when the internal state is appropriately positive.
The learning required takes time and consistent effort. It takes awareness and patience. It takes application.
All beings ‘react’ to their environment and for your dog, you create the major part of his/her environment. This is why you need to learn how and when to work with your dog in order to create your dog’s perception of a ‘safe’ environment.
This is a big subject and not one for here and now. There are different pathways to resolving this; at the end of the day it's down to you. One simple strategy might be to do 'The Reactivity Recipe' or another, more involved process could be to undertake 'The Bubble'.
From at least 50 yards away the dog is strongly out front on a taut lead and starts a very loud growl upon spotting another dog. This is followed by barking, assuming you’re not getting any closer. In a more confined space the dog is writhing violently at the end of his lead, growling and barking…..quite an explosion of energy.
When this dog is in his garden and spots a dog, even at a distance, he rushes the fence whilst barking.
He always exhibits a lot of negative energy which could easily be perceived as anger.
Isn’t all reactivity aggression? There are some cases where the reaction in question needs to be stopped due to a ‘danger to life’ situation. However that doesn’t mean all reactivity is aggression. The term itself holds a negative conotation. There are many factors involved in 'reactivity' and, for many reasons, people miss some significant aspects.
One dog howls and bucks when he spots another dog but this only happens within a specific context….it’s street related. You can see his fear. This reaction doesn’t happen in an open space. As he’s a rescue there’s no history upon which to hang this however it suggests that he may have undergone a negative street experience that was never resolved. Even if his history were known, you have to work with what the dog is presenting.
Yet another dog throws herself at incoming people and dogs, growling and barking…you’d think she and the first dog had the ‘same problem’ however her energy holds a different quality, even though she too, is trying to manage her environment.
A foreign rescue shouts her confusion and wariness because she simply doesn't know what else to do.
Whatever the cause, the dog is doing what it thinks is going to produce the best result for him/her and usually that involves ‘safety’ or a manageable environment. For the dog, the behaviour is appropriate. For the human, it's inappropriate.
We all react to everything in our lives however, for the most part, our reactions fall within an acceptable spectrum. Negative reactions falling outwith that spectrum usually generate consequences that result in punishment….because that’s how people modify behaviour.
This doesn’t work well with dogs.
If a dog is trying to create ‘safety’ that’s because they believe themselves to be in an unsafe environment. Can we get inside the mind of that particular dog and understand what it perceives as ‘safe’? No, because we are not that particular dog. It’s fairly ‘straight line’ thinking that punishment is not going to create any sense of safety. Yet dogs are routinely admonished/punished for ‘behaving badly’ when all they're trying to do is be safe.
Behaviour is an external expression of an internal state.
If that internal state is worried, anxious, fearful, nervous, agitated and lacking trust, then it’s hardly surprising that the external expression is full of negative energy.
If you feel worried, anxious, fearful, nervous, agitated and lacking trust, your performance in the world is unlikely to be stellar.
Sometimes this ‘unsafe belief’ goes unnoticed because it doesn’t happen very often and the dog, generally, seems ‘happy enough’.
It may be that the dog is close to ‘threshold’ on a regular basis and it’s only when that threshold is broken that ‘an negative event’ is generated.
The easiest way to describe ‘threshold’ is using a scale.
Let’s say 1 is very low and 10 is very high. You could expect a 'normal' dog to experience waking emotions in the range of 3 - 7. If the dog generally experiences roughly 3 - 5 then you have a pretty chilled dog. If the dog is regularly experiencing 5 - 7 then you have a dog nearer to threshold on a daily basis. In the event of ‘going over threshold’, it can take 72 hours for that dog to ‘come back down’.
Let’s say that he/she has had a mildly negative experience; a startle; and that produces a 6. It may be that another similar startle occurs very soon thereafter and this dog has a 5. Then, in another few days, another 5 or 6 occurs. The dog may then move into a more vigilant state on a daily basis and become closer to ‘going over threshold’ on a more frequent basis. Outwardly, you may not notice much change as it’s not a full blown reaction. What could be an indicator is that this dog seems more watchful and a bit more wary of uncertain things.
Let's say he/she has ‘gone over’, is coming back down but not there yet and another negative event occurs. Not too hard to imagine that days and days can go by with this particular dog running emotions at 7 plus. He/she would become hypervigilant and this could become a way of life.
Dogs exhibiting increased vigilance; those probably in the 5 - 7 bracket, spend less time in a normal or relaxed state.
While this seems obvious, what people don’t take on board is that the time afforded to you to resolve the situation, is less. Often MUCH less.
If this dog has only 15 minutes in any day wherein he/she is in an appropriate learning state, then you have to capitalise on those 15 minutes.
It’s very difficult to work with any being that is significantly stressed for much of the time.
Another reason why punishment doesn’t ft the bill.
This dog needs to learn and learning is best achieved in a relaxed and happy way.
This needs to be in a positive environment. You can't do effectively when the reaction is already in place. Your dog needs to, have resources, be resilient and these strategies need to be created as a 'primary response'.
This dog’s positive perception about safety and security can only be outwardly expressed when the internal state is appropriately positive.
The learning required takes time and consistent effort. It takes awareness and patience. It takes application.
All beings ‘react’ to their environment and for your dog, you create the major part of his/her environment. This is why you need to learn how and when to work with your dog in order to create your dog’s perception of a ‘safe’ environment.
This is a big subject and not one for here and now. There are different pathways to resolving this; at the end of the day it's down to you. One simple strategy might be to do 'The Reactivity Recipe' or another, more involved process could be to undertake 'The Bubble'.
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