Max Randall argues that reactive dogs are often overwhelmed or frustrated, not just fearful. Two sausage dogs hadn't walked on roads in over a year, but after their owners met their daily needs and reduced stress, they navigated a busy city center. Training alone fails when a dog's emotional state and basic needs are ignored.
Chapters
If your dog is reactive, do not spend another penny fixing the reactivity until you've heard what actually helped these 2 dogs. You think your dog is reacting because they're scared. A lot of the time they're actually just really overwhelmed or they're frustrated or you've got an anxious dog. But okay, let's say your dog is scared. The aim is to work on that fear. But get this, okay? If your dog gets really wound up and overwhelmed by just being outside, You can't even teach that dog how to walk on a lead or recall. So how are we going to make any progress working through fears? You're asking the dog to learn the hardest thing when the dog isn't in a state to really learn anything right now. This week, 2 sausage dogs, Wednesday and Pugsley, appeared in my community page. They'd had no road walks for over a year because of their reactivity. But in this photo, you see them stood in the middle of a city center, and their owner says now their needs are met daily. It's the first visit to a busy place, and they were absolutely glorious. And it was helping the dogs that actually made the biggest difference rather than doubling down on more training. And I find that your journey, watching this now, yes, with your dog can seem really hard and confusing if you have this tunnel vision on what you think is wrong, or you've got this tunnel vision on this one right thing to do, like training, but you're ignoring unknowingly all the other things you could be doing. To make it so much easier. Don't worry, by the way, I didn't know that stuff for years and I was a professional, but that is the power of getting below the surface and it's what this whole series is gonna help you with. So I'll see you Monday.
