Struggling With Your Reactive Dog? Watch This | LIVE Q&A

Hello everyone, sorry, I think I was having a little bit of technical difficulties there, just saying going live and then I was just not live, I was just on my own here. Um, welcome to the live tonight, let me know where you guys are, uh, hop into the chat, let me know your names, let me know who you are, let me know where you are, um tell me about your dogs. I want to know all about them. Talk to me about where you're at. If you've got questions that you want to ask, this is your time. This is a huge freebie, 1 hour of free advice. So put anything that you want to ask. Oh, hey from London! Hopefully it is not just as hot there as it is here. I hate to be a whinger, but I am sick of summer. I'm ready to— I'm not going to complain about mud this year. I'm just gonna let it rain and I'm gonna remember how hot it was this time this year. I'm not enjoying it. Summer should be over. I'm fed up. Um, let me know who else is here. We've got a few people in there on today, so that's nice. Thanks for joining us. Um, for those of you that haven't been on one of these before, my name's Kelly. I am the owner of South Coast Canine Academy. So much like Yorkshire Canine Academy, we specialize in reactive dogs. So this is what this live is going to be all about today. I'm going to be answering your questions about dog reactivity. Oh, hey USA, nice to see you. Um, oh, that's nice to have some global joiners. Um, yeah, I'm going to talk all about dog reactivity today. So we have had some questions pre-submitted, so I'll get to those. Hi Sharon from Somerset, welcome to the first live. Hope you get something from it. If you've got a dog and you have questions about your dog and sharing, then let me know. Here to help, happy to answer questions. Um, I'll get cracking with the questions that people have already asked today and get those answered. Hello from South Wales. I love Wales. Um, let me let me know what dogs you've got. Talk to me about those. Don't know why I'm here, my dog is fixed. Hi Helena, I hope you had a lovely holiday. Helena came on one of our boot camps with her dog Ziggy. Ziggy? Ozzy? Um, your name always confuses me, Helena. Why is it that, and why is it not Ozzy Ozzy? Um, Helena's just been on a lovely holiday with Ozzy, and that was one of her goals when she came to boot camp, was to be able to take Ozzy there with her. So thrilled to see all the lovely pictures of him running along on the beach, having ice cream, going to cafes and pubs. Ah, okay, cool, that makes sense. All right, I'll hop into some questions, but if you guys have other questions that you want to know, pop them in the chat and I'll try and like blitz through as many of them as I possibly can during the hour that we've got together tonight. Um, okay, cool. So someone asked, is it necessary to punish a behavior in all situations it occurs, or do dogs generalize it? Typically dogs are very, very bad at generalizing things. So that'll be why when you have like, let's say for example, a younger puppy, you teach them, uh, sit, let's say, super easy. Dog gets it in the house, dog gets it in the garden. As soon as you go out of the house, it's like they've never heard that word before in their lives. Dogs are very bad at generalizing, so typically they need to see things in 3 or 4 different situations before they're like, ah, okay, everywhere, I understand. So if you're punishing behavior Yes, you are going to need to punish it in all situations for it to generalize eventually. Let's say, for example, the behavior that you're looking to get rid of is kicking off at dogs. Your dog, one, has a history of rehearsing that behavior, so certain environments are going to be more triggering than others because your dog has had more to assess doing that thing in certain places versus others. So let's say, for example, it's on the street outside your house. You catch it, you punish it effectively once, then tomorrow the dog goes out and does it again because it's a different dog but same street. So you have to catch it again and maybe a few more times for the dog to be like, ah, okay, so no dogs out here I'm allowed to boot off at. Not just that one dog that come by, or that one cockapoo that walked past. Um, same for different environments, especially ones that have history of rehearsal. So if your dog has been practicing doing that for months, years in certain situations, you're going to have to make sure that you catch it every time in order to reduce the frequency, likelihood, intensity of that behavior. Like I said, typically once the dog's seen it in a few different situations, um, in a few environments, then they're like, ah, okay, I get it. So we're just not allowed to do that anymore. But do remember that for certain dogs, or for most dogs even, your dog, whatever the reason they started being reactive, there is some form of pay out there when they're doing it. And eventually you start to get that dog that leaves the house and they're scanning the environment like, what can I kick off at next? Where's the dog going to come from? Where's that person going to come from that I can shout at? They start to enjoy doing the thing. So you need to give that energy somewhere to go, somewhere appropriate. Otherwise you'll end up playing behavioral whack-a-mole where you get rid of it somewhere and then it just crops up somewhere else. So we really like to make sure that we are playing with our dogs properly and giving them an appropriate outlet, somewhere to drive that energy where we want it to be. And play is the best place that we can do that, in conjunction with things like getting the dog off lead, all that good stuff. But that sort of like barky, fighty energy, you want to make sure that you're giving that somewhere to go. Um, my dog struggles to engage with who's leading her, looks to everyone else. She doesn't do treats when you go more than 100 yards from home. She's a King Corso. So there's a couple of different things to unpick there. One, we don't tend to use high-value treats and food. We want to build our dog's motivation to work for their essential food. When you're just using treats, your dog is already getting satiated from getting their essential food from a bowl when they get home. So that would be like me going to work every day and getting paid, but then I go home every night and someone just slips £200 under my door. Like, what's my motivation to go to work next day then if I'm just going to get money for free? Your dog needs their essential food, but we want to build their motivation to work for that food, especially if you're trying to build behavior and you want to be able to pay into that behavior. You want to have something that your dog is motivated to take, and that's why we use essential food, because they have so much of it. Then we have a lot to play with. If you're using treats, one which you've obviously found, you reach that ceiling very quickly. Corsos, arguably sometimes harder to build that food motivation with, like those bigger breeds can sometimes, they'll reach their own ceiling of where you can get to with food motivation, but you absolutely can build it from, from using their essential food to do it. If you're just offering them treats outside the house, then you'll find very quickly that you reach a limit there with what they can take. It started off that it's like, okay, I won't take my food outside the house, but I will take a bit of chicken. And then they're like, nah, I don't like chicken anymore. So then you get out the frankfurters and then you don't like the frankfurters anymore. So now I'm getting Primula cheese out and then that wasn't good enough and now I'm getting steak. And then eventually you reach a ceiling where that's not good enough, and then you have nowhere to go with it because you have nothing to offer your dog that they're motivated to take. So you want to start there with your essential food and then start easy with her in easier environments where it's easy for her to learn. Like, if you're wanting to teach your dog something, you don't just like go out onto the street with everybody in your family and try and teach her the thing that you're trying to convey. Start start easy first. How, like, how old is your, is your dog? Um, and when you say like struggles to engage, what does that look like? Is that like lead pulling? Is that like lunging? Not walking? What's your, your issue? Is it recall? Um, whatever you're trying to teach, you want to start easy first so the dog can actually take in what the message or the, the lesson that I'm trying to give them, and then we build from there. Um, so let me know what, what's going on there with your Corso. Um, mine kicks off at dogs and cats, watching out the window and checking in the garden. It's worse on a walk, wants to chase anything. Cocker Spaniel cross. Okay, firstly, you're going to want to put some management in place in your house. If your dog is just sat at the window watching for the next dog or the next cat that they can boot off at they're finding a very enjoyable hobby there. Sat watching out the window all day, rehearsing the behaviour that you don't like, will feed into the behaviour outside of your house because then they're like, sick, I really enjoy doing that. So now when I'm outside of the house, where's the cats? Where's the dogs? I love booting off of them. It's become very enjoyable for me. So I'm just going to keep doing that outside of the house. So you'll want to put some form of management in place when you can't watch the dog, but also condition a good punishment marker to say to your dog, hey, can't do that no more, that hobby is now off the table. And think about making sure that you're able to get that dog off lead, making sure that you're able to play with them. So like I said before, they've got the energy to do the thing. You just need to channel it into somewhere that is appropriate. Um, when you are unable to watch the dog and catch the behavior, once you have that punishment marker in place, you need to make sure that management is there to stop the rehearsal of the behavior. Because if you catch it sometimes, or you're like, oh, I just was in the kitchen making a cup of tea and then she was sat at the window and now she's barking off at dogs, If you catch it sometimes and then sometimes you don't, and sometimes they get away with it, you'll drive behavior that way because the dog's like, ah, all right, well, if she's here, I won't do it, but if she's not in the room, I can do it. And if I could be quicker to get to the window, I could get a little one in before she can actually catch me. So you need to be prepared to catch behavior if you want to see see it go away, but also being mindful that you are giving that energy somewhere to go. We can't just go around saying, 'Can't do that, don't do this, don't like that, cut that out,' but then I'm not going to do anything with you. Um, Tug question: trying to find a softer ball with string for Tug. He's not a fan of the rag and he gives up easily. Any suggestions? Trying to find a You can get, um, there's a brand called Euro Joe. Uh, have I got one around here? It's actually destroyed. I actually think someone might put it in the bin today. It's Chance's favorite. They're like a jute ball and they're soft, they're stuffed inside, um, and that has a tug rope on it so you can play with it, but it's really nice and soft and quite big. So I would go have a look at Euro Joe. Um, they're like small tug balls that are dupe. They're really good. There's a couple of different websites that sell them. Um, my dog is really stubborn with food but loves play. Can I use this as a reward when out and about? Your dog's not stubborn with food, they just have no motivation to take what you're offering. So again, you want to— gonna want to make sure that you build your dog's food motivation. And the reason that is important is, yes, sometimes you can reward with play outside, but it's not always going— depends what you're trying to do. But like, if you're trying to, let's say, stop reactivity, and the way that you want to reward your dog for doing the correct thing can't be food and it has to be play, it's not very practical to have a game of tug while you're walking down a narrow street, or if you're on a path and there's traffic next to you. It's not practical. Um, it also, for dogs that really, really, really like to play, it can put the blinkers on too much, where once they know that the toy is available and that they could do it, all they can think about is how much they want the toy. So that can mask and give you kind of false positives where the dog can walk past 15 dogs, but it's only because he knows you've got the tug in your pocket. So I would start from scratch and make sure that you're building that food motivation up. Our Behaviour Bible is probably a really good way to start. It's free. Um, I think there'll be a link here for it. Um, if you want to build food motivation. But that is definitely somewhere to start. Ideally you'd have both, but food is like one of the most foundational things that you can build, so I would start there. Um, ah, welcome Elaine from France! Nice to have you here. I love France. I always feel like, uh, when I go there that France is where I should live, even though I can't speak a literal drop of of French. All I can say is petit peu français, which is, I think, a little bit of French, which is actually a lie because all I know is like bonjour. Also, don't come at me for like my butchering of the French language. Corso is 10 months old, but we got her at 5 months old. No training, socialization. It's taken so much time for her to settle and be able to allow learning to happen. She is reactive out of high excitement. So for her, like, you're going to want to make sure that you have— especially now where she's like heading into adolescence— you're going to want to make sure that you have that communication system with her where you're able to clearly tell her in a way that she understands, that was right, I like that, do that more. That was incorrect, don't do that anymore. So you're going to want to have a really, really strong terminal marker or reward marker, and you're going to want to have a really, really strong punishment marker so you're able to like keep her way out of that gray area where she's like, I don't really understand what's going on here, um, but I do like kicking off, so I guess I do that, um. And then you'll be able to get her out more, seeing more things. Obviously with her breed, she is going to be starting to look in the environment, watching what's going on, who's coming, who's going. But you really want to have that communication system there with her to be able to tell her very clearly, that was right, that was wrong. Um, and that's where you really want to start with her. And then just making sure that you're giving her some kind of genetic fulfillment, like through play, making sure you're working to get her off the lead so she can just be out in the world experiencing things. Um, go back to my questions. Can mildly reactive by fear be successfully rehabilitated long term? In a balanced pack. When you say mildly reactive, what does that mean? Is that like that it's like unpredictable, you don't know when or where they're going to react, or is it just like a mild spice korma, like it's a little bit of grumbling or it's a little lunge or a little boof and not like a full-blown meltdown? Reactivity in terms of fearful dogs, it's especially prevalent for those dogs that you are able to condition a clear punishment marker. Because for a dog that reacts through fear, when they have that reaction, in their little mind they're doing it because they're trying to keep themselves safe, right? They're scared of the thing that they're reacting at. So every time they react and that thing moves away, or like, so they create space, the person stops coming towards them, or maybe like the dog was like walking by anyway but they don't know that, they're like, I get this huge sense of relief from having done the thing, and that worked, and I lived. So I'll do that again. And then it drives the behavior to get worse because they're like, well, I keep myself safe from doing that thing, so I'll continue to do the thing. When we are able to clearly say to the dog, hey, you can't do that anymore, off the table, we're not hoofing off at dogs and people, we're not lunging, snapping, barking, any of that stuff, it's all gone, we leave a window open for prediction error. Where that fearful dog is able to see, oh, I didn't do anything and I'm still alive. Maybe I was wrong. And that's where, like, growth and confidence can be built, because then we can say, hey, see, like, world's not out to get you. Nothing bad happened. Want to do something with me instead? We can play, we can go to new areas. They can explore new things, they can become curious about certain things and like build confidence around stuff where before they were like, "Nah, scared of that thing, might die, gonna hoof off, gotta keep it away from me." And then their world gets smaller and smaller and smaller. When we're able to take that behavior off the table and then the dog has that learning moment where they're like, "Oh, perhaps I was actually wrong about that thing." That sounded well posh, didn't it? Perhaps I was wrong. 'Maybe I was wrong, maybe I got it wrong, uh, maybe the world's not out to get me.' That's where you can build confidence in a fearful dog and you can start to make like loads and loads of growth. So as much as it is, yes, about telling the dog when they got it right and building positivity around things and doing things like counter conditioning, it's also really, really important that you have a way to tell them that they cannot do that thing anymore. Um, so yeah, they can absolutely be rehabilitated. And yes, there is an element that dogs get confidence from being in a pack of dogs, but it's not the whole picture. You're not always going to be walking around in a big group of dogs, and that can become contextual for the dog, like, oh, okay, well, when I'm in this big group of dogs, I'm safe and nothing happens, so I don't need to hoof off because I've got my pals with me. You're not going to be able to walk around with that group all of the time. So they're like, when they're not here, still got to do the thing because could still die. So it's really important that you build that foundational relationship with them there. Um, can you explain what punishment looks like? There is another question up here actually that said Uh, how to teach punishment marker. Please do it slowly, step by step. So there is a reason why you won't find content of us teaching punishment on the internet, and it is because people will go away from that video, and it's— timing is very key. There's a lot of nuance depending on the dog themselves in terms of like exactly what we would do there. And the reason why we don't post it is because people will go away and half-ass it or get it wrong. The timing will be off, their intensity will be off, and if you get it wrong, you can make behavior worse. It's a one-way street to potentially getting bitten by a dog, especially if they're a dog that redirects in the heat of the moment. Um, if you want to learn what punishment looks like, I would recommend booking on to one of our 5-day boot camps if you're struggling with your dog. It's one of the foundational things that we cover over the course of Monday and Tuesday, so we give you that tool set that carries you off-site Wednesday, Thursday, Friday when we start heading back out into the real world and working around all of the things that your dog has previously struggled with. But I can't, no, explain exactly what that punishment looks like because it would be very— not unethical, like, it's dangerous for us to put that out on the internet because with the wrong dog it could go very, very wrong without professional help. So if you want to do it, you need and do it properly, you'll need professional help to do it. Yeah, exactly, too risky. To make sure that you're getting your timing right and making sure that you're doing things in the right order, there's a lot that can go wrong. We do like a whole 45-minute talk on it on a Tuesday morning, and there'll be a trainer out with the dogs one-to-one watching your every single move and making sure that you're getting it right. It's part of the whole picture of building clarity for the dog, so it's really important that you do get it right. Um, in terms of like the type of punishment we use, we rely heavily on the social system. So although it sounds manipulative, if you have that relationship there with your dog, you can leverage that to say, hey, I don't like it when you do that. Like, um, the, the way we've explained it before is— and a lot of people fall into the trap of using just loads of physical corrections with the dog, using tools to put the dog off but doing the thing. But in the moment, those things interrupt the dog. They stop doing them in that moment potentially, but If the same picture presented itself again, would the dog do it again? Probably yes. Therefore, that was not punishment. That was an interruption for the dog in the moment. Punishment by definition is to reduce the likelihood, frequency, or intensity of behaviour, and the way we teach it is very specific and relies heavily on the social system. Say hey to the dog. Like, you want to be friends with me? I don't like it when you do that. Don't do that thing anymore. I'm very disappointed that you've done that. It's like getting the disappointment speech from your parents. Like, there were many times when I was a kid where I got a smack bum, and like, yeah, it sucked in the moment and I didn't like it, but I couldn't tell you what any of the things were, what it was for. Maybe I probably still did the thing again. Like, if I was given the opportunity, would I still do it? Probably. I actually was quite a good child, but Like, my sister was a little shit, so if she— when she got a smack bum— we're still old, we're old enough to have got smack bums. It wouldn't have stopped us. But there are like 3 times my entire life where I got the 'I am so disappointed in you that you have done that. Go to your room. I don't even want to talk to you. Just stay away from me.' I can tell you exactly what they were for. I can tell you when it was, where it was. And I never ever did those things again because I had that— that relationship was there. And when we're, when we're teaching punishment with our dogs, we're trying to hit them here in the feelings and not just using a bunch of like physical corrections to interrupt them in the moment, because it doesn't work. And it might stop the behavior for a while, but eventually what happens is usually that behavior comes back harder, faster, stronger. I punish my dog by making him do what I call sit press-ups. He has to do sit, paw, lay down 5 times, then he'll get the ball again. Wonder if I'm doing the thing right. Sit press-ups, um, I don't know. Your dog finds that punishing because it's only punishment if the dog doesn't do the thing again. So what, what thing is it that your dog is getting punished for? Are you trying to use it in play, or is it like outside of play and you're rewarding with the ball? Let me know what exactly that is for. Using things like obedience will just make your, like, sit, paw down, lay 5 times, like that's just a sequence of obedience events. Like, that's just going to strengthen your obedience and make it stronger and more snappy if the dog gets it right to do the reward again, to do the reward, to get the ball reward, to come back. I'm after first-time commands. You're— so if the dog doesn't do what you ask them to do the first time, you make them do that sequence of events get the reward. Let me know exactly what it is that you're trying to punish. Um, the reason why we— what is it that you're trying to punish, Shadow the Rescue Dog? Um, the reason why we don't use loads of obedience in our training is because the way— what we're trying to achieve is a dog that is able to live as free a life as they can possibly live, because you can trust them to go out there and have the agency to make choices on their own, because they know exactly what is and isn't allowed. And there are only a handful of things really that aren't allowed in life. Because they're socially unacceptable. Biting people, chasing children, gobbing off other dogs, eating stuff off of the floor. Um, there's only a few things that, that are off the table. So it's much easier for me to say to my dog, hey, you can't do that stuff, go pick anything else. If you're trying to just obedience your way through things like getting them to do sit, paw, lay down 5 times in a row, you're one, creating a really fit dog. You're increasing how— trying to achieve 100% in any obedience command. I would say it would probably be easier to just say to your dog, hey, that was incorrect, and show them exactly what it is that you want in obedience. Like, if you're trying to punish them getting it wrong in obedience. I would say they don't know what that— what it is that you're asking. Say the thing and make it happen, and then your dog will understand that led to that. Otherwise, if you're like, okay, I'm trying to get my dog— I'm just gonna pick it, pick something— I'm trying to get my dog to do a spin and every time he gets it wrong, I make him do sit, paw, lay down 5 times, and then he gets a ball. He just learned to do sit, paw, lay down 5 times and then got rewarded for it. Just pick your word, whatever, whatever it is you're trying to do. So let's say we're still trying to do a spin. I want my dog to do spin. I will say it, I will show them I'll make it happen. Maybe I'll use your luring, maybe I'll use, uh, like lead pressure, whatever. Make it happen and then reward when it's done so the dog learns that word leads to this. Um, that's just gonna confuse your dog and it's just gonna make those behaviors better. Um, One of my dogs, 5 to 6-year-old terrier corgi mix, probably is more reactive to other dogs when he's with his friends, human and canine, because he's trying to protect them unnecessarily. Any ideas? Uh, without seeing the behavior, it's hard to say exactly what it is. It's unlikely that your dog is trying to protect them, more like he is trying to resource guard them. They are of value to him. Um, the people and the other dogs have become valuable to that dog, and he is trying to guard those things from other dogs, other people. What is he— oh, he's reactive to other dogs. No, no. What? Um, It's— he's not trying to protect them in like a secret— oh, sorry, Miss Lines. No worries. Um, he's not trying to protect them in a way like— that dog is not a guard dog. That dog has not been trained in protection. They're trying to keep a resource theirs. So you need to again have a punishment marker that says to your dog, hey, 'Can't do that, don't do it.' And if he is truly trying to guard you, losing access to you because of a behavior is a way to make him be like, 'Oh no, I want to stay with you. I will stop doing that thing.' But if it is resource guarding, make sure that you're getting professional help with that. Just don't try and like go at it alone, especially don't try and teach punishment alone. You'll want to teach it outside of, of the, the high-ticket thing for the dog. So like when we teach punishment, we'll do it around novel things first. So we might do it around like eating stuff off the floor or jumping up, like fairly low-ticket items to the dog. So that when they're in the face of the thing they actually care about, they're like— it reduces the likelihood that the dog will be like, ah, it was— I hated that thing being near me when I'm with my pals, my humans and my dogs, and now I got punished in front of it too. Now I double hate that thing. If we've rehearsed it beforehand outside of the situation that they find high value, high ticket, then the dog is able to see, ah, it's actually nothing. I've seen this before, we've been here before, it's not the thing, it's not got anything to do with the thing, it's what I did that got me that, so I just won't do that thing anymore. I hope that makes sense. Um, what to do with a dog that is reactive, seems to be frustration-based, correcting them seems to make it even worse. When you say correcting them, is that like using a lead or some form of pressure? I expect it's more likely that the reason the correction seems to make the reaction worse is because you're One, using, uh, correction and not punishment. So your interrupt leads, slip lead, or e-collar— okay, be very careful with using those things until you have seen a trainer, because what's happening there is that you're thinking you're giving a correction to the dog, but actually that's just acting as an activator. So as soon as your dog feels that pressure from your lead, your slip, or your e-collar, they're like, ah, when I feel that thing, it's go time, and then I go harder at the thing. It spurs them on into the behavior because the timing has been off there. Um, you— I'm guessing you don't have a punishment marker that goes with it that's already preloaded. So your physical interrupter there, or your physical correction, is sending them further into the behavior, and it's becoming an activator for the dog, um, especially if it's coming from frustration. Because what's probably likely happen is that your dog like lunges forward and feels pressure on the lead before anything else happens, and then you are maybe creating opposition reflex where you're trying to pull the dog back, or you're using your e-collar to try and put pressure over to get the dog to come back to you. But in that moment, all it's doing is sending them further into the reaction. So you need to step away from the things that your dog is reactive to. Um, I'm guessing that's, that's other dogs, but it could be people. Step away from that stuff and rehearse an effective punishment marker away, like I said, from the high-ticket thing, which is dogs or people. Um, make sure that that word, that marker, means something before you put the dog in front of whatever sends them into a reaction, whatever they find— I hate that word, the trigger, but the trigger. Um, also making sure that if it's frustration, they want to get to the dog, they want to get to the person. It's hard, I can't say without having seen it where that behavior comes from, but making sure, like I said earlier in, in this live, that you are giving your dog somewhere to put that energy through play with you. So there is a lot of value in you, and you are giving the dog a nice avenue in which to channel all of that behavior and all of that drive that they have to do something. Because where frustration-based reactivity becomes a real problem is because your dog has a lot of energy to do something and they're looking for somewhere to put it. They see that they could— or they have before played with other dogs or got a lot of affection from other people when they're outside of the house. They see a lot of value in filling their cup up there, so they're like, no, I need to get to the thing because I need to do this, and that is my only way for me to get rid of this energy. So we want to make sure that we are, one, getting that dog off lead, off lead freedom, so that they have a way to like move their body, get out, use their nose, dispel their energy that way. But also like any drivey behavior that they have, they have an avenue to put that in, and they're finding value in doing the thing with you. So you're able to say to the dog with your punishment marker, hey dude, can't do that anymore, but you want to do something with me? I can give you somewhere to put that energy, and we build our game together, and we do something together, rather than them looking outwards all the time to be like, I have all this energy and I need to put it somewhere. I know my dog loves it. He's a show-off, to be honest. He's the local celeb in the parks we go to. Ah, really sweet. I mean, um, We're not obedience trainers, so maybe I'm not the right person to be asking. Like, obviously we specialize in, in reactive dogs, um, our primary concern is making sure that people have that foundational communication system with their dog so they can just go out, live life, be a dog, have agency to do things on their own without micromanagement from us. And get as much off-lead freedom as we can possibly get that dog. So the dog is just living as free a life as possible. Um, we don't use any obedience in training, um, so I'm probably not the best person to talk to about strengthening obedience commands. But my main takeaway from what you've said would just be making sure that you have your cue and then you make it mean something. So you don't keep repeating it, or you try and use other obedience to strengthen obedience, if that makes sense. I really enjoy making the little one do burpees down to jump. I mean, it's a nice way to get rid of energy, and also it'll be good for like strengthening and conditioning your dog's like muscles, getting them moving. Um, But I'm not the person to talk to about obedience things. Um, good, thanks. I'm glad I made— sometimes I just feel like I ramble, so if you feel like I'm rambling, just tell me to shut up and move on to the next question. Um, how to re— Advice for managing reactive dogs in tight spaces like hallways. I guess that's because you live in like an apartment complex or somewhere where you have to move through those spaces a lot. Let me know, um, let me know like the exact situation in which that happens a lot with your dog. There is an element in reactivity training, or there is a place for— correct, apartment complex with many dogs and lifts. Um, so there is a, a space for management in training when we've got reactive dogs. Obviously, when you're working on it, you want to make sure that your dog is limited, as limited as you can possibly get them to rehearsing any more of that behavior until you have an effective way tell your dog that they can't do that anymore, and an effective way to reward them for doing the correct things. Um, my primary advice for you would be to seek out, uh, training. Get in touch with us. We have a chat with us, like half an hour free chat. We'll talk about what's going on with your dog and maybe see if you're suitable for one of our boot camps if you're struggling with your dog's reactivity. Obviously, yes, like I said, there is an element to managing it, but you managing it won't make it go away on its own. It will just help you navigate life a bit better for the interim. Um, so firstly, I would say, but try and book on a call with one of our team, have a chat with us. Like, we can help you kind of see where you're at and see if you would be suitable for one of our 5-day boot camps so that we can get you to the end of that reactivity. Um, but in terms of managing it, like if your dog has a good heel or some formal cue like that where you can put them into a behavior to get past stuff, then yeah, that is an element of managing it, like putting them into behavior so that they are doing something so that they're not practicing doing the wrong thing. But really, really, you're going to want to, like, try and make headway into taking that behavior off the table so you're able to start living your life and moving through your apartment or wherever you live, um, without your dog feeling the need to do that anymore. Um, he knows his punishment marker very well until he sees a trigger. We went to a professional, but it seems like we need even more corrections. We try and correct when the fixation starts before the reaction. Okay, if he knows his punishment marker very well, then until he sees a trigger, then, um, I don't want to be offensive, but he doesn't know the punishment marker. Because if your punishment marker is effective, you should be able to use that marker to mark the exact moment for your dog that they got it incorrect and then once you're able to represent that situation again, your dog should understand, okay, I know what I got wrong, I'll pick something else. And you should start to be able to make headway towards getting over the, the trigger. Um, it— but it does sound like you're using a lot of interruption versus actually having a punishment marker. It— your corrections are just physical interruptions in the moment, and it might subdue the behaviour, it might stop— snap them out of it mid-doing it, but given the opportunity again, like you say, it hasn't stopped it. So therefore it is not punishment. Whatever you're doing currently is not punishment. Also, correcting fixation before the reaction is running very tricky territory, because I don't even know if that's the right word, tricky territory. You kind of guess what I mean. Um, you can't punish a dog for thinking about doing something. The goal is initially to get the dog back to neutral wherever they sat on the spectrum of being— it being from them being undersocial and fearful, or them being like super hypersocial and wanting to get to the thing. Um, you want to get them back to a level of neutral. So you should be aiming to get to a point where your dog can see the thing and choose to disengage on their own. They should be able to look at the dog. The goal is not to get the dog to not even want to look at the thing anymore. They should be able to take it in and think, whatever, just move on, disengage on my own. Um, but correcting them for just looking at the thing is not something that you want to do. You never want to take your dog's ability to communicate with you off of the table. So just looking at something is not a crime. When they go forward and lunge or they let that first bark out, yeah, those things are crimes and something that we would punish. But just looking at the other dog, yes, you can see there's a tell. So like, I can see my dog's starting to stiffen up, they're staring at the thing, they're hyperfixated on the thing. But they haven't yet committed the crime. So I can use that to be like, right, I know they're probably going to do something in a minute, so I'm ready to use my punishment marker in order to catch the moment they actually commit the crime. But you can't punish that because they didn't actually do anything. Um, @ian, is that reactivity or excitement thinking? It's going out or something happening. Yeah, I mean, obviously, like I say, without seeing it actually happen, it's hard to say where the reactivity stems from, whether the dog's just like pulling on the end of the lead to get out of the house when they go down tight hallways, or because they are scared of the thing that they're barking at, um, scared of the dogs that they're barking at, or they're hyper excited to see the dogs that they're barking at. Um, but wherever the— whatever the reason for the reactivity, you still want to make sure that you have that communication system there, because without that, you're, you're gonna always leave your dog in a gray area. So you, you're only ever giving them half the picture. We're only ever either— without both of those things, you're only able to say to the dog 'That was right, I like that, do that more,' but they don't know exactly what it is that they were getting wrong. Or you're just punishing everything and never rewarding and paying into behaviour you like to make that happen more instead. So you need to make sure that you have both. Um, my dog whines when we walk past other dogs. Can I punish that or not? No, because whining isn't a crime. Whining may lead to something. So if you know that your dog does that whinging right before they're about to lunge or right before they're about to bark, pay attention to that so you're able, like I said, to catch it when the actual crime happens. But no, I wouldn't punish whining if whining is what's left over from reactivity, or that's all it ever is, then you can use play to help put an end to that. So when you're playing with your dog, you want to have— present to them a window of opportunity in which they can play. So you'll have a word that begins your game that says to your dog, hey, window's open, we can play now. And you also want to have a word that ends your game so your dog is able to understand 'Hey, that thing that we were doing, we're no longer doing that. Game's over. Go and pick something else.' Once your end of play cue is very strong— so for my dogs, I say 'enough' when we're done playing— once I know my dog knows what enough means, and I have shown them through play, through something they actually enjoy doing, you're able then to transfer that onto other things. Punishment is, when done properly, is extremely powerful, and so it's reserved for crimes only. So things like barking, lunging, snapping, putting teeth on things— those things are crimes. Whinging and whining is not a crime. But I can have a way to say to my dog, hey, cut that out now. So once my end of play cue is really good, I'm able to use that for other things like whining when they're walking past other dogs. I can say, hey, enough, that thing you're doing now, I get it, you're excited or you've, you've got feelings, but cut out doing that now. Barking at the door when the doorbell rings. I understand that dogs will be dogs. Personally, I don't really care when my dogs bark at the door, but when I say enough— don't dogs bark for a reason? Yes, they are barking for a reason, but that is unacceptable if it's at people, at dogs, at cars. That behavior is unacceptable. Unfortunately, we live in a society where that's going to eventually make your world smaller because that barking might eventually lead to something else. That barking is antisocial, so I can't take you places. I can't take you to the bar— the park if you're barking off and gobbling off other dogs all of the time. I can understand where it comes from, 100%. I can understand it comes from a place of frustration because maybe I haven't given you somewhere to put your energy. So I need to play with you more. I can understand it comes from a place of fear because you're scared, you think that thing's going to come over here and kill you. But like I was saying at the beginning, if you were here for the beginning of this live, and especially for, for fearful dogs, if that barking is for the reason that they are scared, that they don't want that thing to come into their space, I want to take the barking off the table so that my dog has a space and a window of real learning to happen where they can get prediction error. The thing that you thought was going to happen didn't happen, and hey, look at that, you're still alive. So when— yes, I understand they're barking for a reason because they're scared, because they're frustrated, but that behavior has to go in order for me to teach my dog something else, or for them to grow in confidence because they can see, oh, I didn't need to do that. The thing was fine. Nothing actually happened when I didn't do that thing. I'm still alive. Maybe it's not so bad. Maybe I can be curious. Maybe I can go in and investigate now. Like, maybe the world isn't such a bad and scary place. Um, but that is a reason why we wouldn't take growling off of the table, because if the dog has no way to communicate to you at all, like, I'm starting to become uncomfortable here, I will have no way to know that I need to maybe help my dog out a little bit. Maybe I've pushed the— maybe I've taken the barking off of the table They'll bark, bark, bark, bark, bark at people. So they thought people were going to come over and come closer. They don't want them in their space. But I want to start using some counter conditioning to get them closer to those people so they can see it's fine. I have to take that behavior away first so I'm able to make headway to counter condition and get closer to that thing. So my dog's able to see, oh, it was fine. And actually it was pretty good because like I did my thing with you and I got paid for doing the right thing. Not too bad. Shadow barks when the doorbell rings or as he's just entering the park, which is stopped as soon as he has to do his press-ups, then gets what he wants, the ball. So all you've done there is cue when the doorbell rings, he does his barking to get to the ball. So eventually The doorbell rings. Ah, that's become a cue for me to do this whole other sequence of events. I bark, you make me do my sit-down press-ups, and then I get the ball and we play. So that's just the sequence of events they go to in order to get the ball. Um, you haven't actually stopped the thing you want to stop. Barking, demand barking to enter the park, he does get there eventually. You haven't stopped it from happening. All you've done is like add some bits in for him to eventually get what he wants. Um, but barking when the doorbell rings is something that I would use end of play for. So like, I understand you're like, dogs bark at the door, fine, but when I say enough Quit doing that thing now. Um, mine barks at the postman. Barks when the postman rings the door, Sharon, or barks when you open the door? Um, because barking when you open the door and the postman is there is unacceptable. You can't bark at people if the door Barking when the doorbell rings, I would use end of play cue for. When you open the door, if the dog barks at the dog, you'll want to condition a punishment marker to say, hey, you don't need to do that, and you can't do that, it's unacceptable behaviour. Depending where it's coming from, I'll— we were outside, yeah, 100%, you need to condition a punishment marker there to tell them that they're that's off the table. You can't be barking at the postman, you know. He might even be a really nice guy or woman. You can't bark at people. Not allowed. Um, hi hun, missed the beginning. Coco stitches are out. Ah, that's really good. Send us pics of you out and about. You better hope people aren't watching this. Um, Coco came on one of our boot camps and she recently had to go in to have a little surgery, so she's getting her stitches out. She'll be back out in the world, so I'll look forward to seeing all the things that Coco is getting up to. Hopefully it'll be much cooler so she'll actually be able to get outside and enjoy herself and do some things. That's something that we've all been struggling with. I can't wait to be able to eventually just leave work and walk my dogs at like 6 PM instead of leaving work and having to walk my dogs at like 9 PM. Um, 10 months from an aggressive, non-reco, and always caged. I honestly think we're doing great. Ah, really good, really nice, especially if he's a local Salabé. So Good for you guys, well done. Um, is the postman is very tolerant, you mean? Or your dog is very tolerant? Because if your dog is barking, it doesn't sound like he's very tolerant, but your postman sounds like he is. Um, is placeboard work a good place to start for getting punishment markers in and then slowly adding distractions and hi to all? You mean like punishing your dog for not going on to the place when they know the cue? Um, I would usually punish— use my punishment marker and condition it around like a novel behavior that I don't want the dog to do anymore. So that's why we tend to use something like setting it up with like food on the floor. Like, I don't want my dog to pick up stuff off the floor unless I've specifically told them to get it, because one day that could something that could put them in the vets, right? Um, so we use something like that, or we'll use like another like low-ticket behavior like jumping up or something that you want the dog to stop. It doesn't really mean like a great deal to the dog. Um, and then I— once your dog is solid and they know it there, then you can start moving it to more high-ticket things. Reese, check him out, he has his own channel. Oh cute, yeah, I definitely will. I love a secondhand dog. Both my dogs are secondhand, so always keen to see what other people are up to with their dogs. Um, he sounds like he knows how to do way more things than my dogs know how to do. My dogs probably know how to do a handful of things. Jacob Morgan always chastises me, but Roo's really good at middle. Um, all right guys, well, we are coming to the end of this hour. That's actually been really fun and it actually went really, really quickly. Um, really nice to chat with you all. We've got a tiny little bit of time left, so any more for any more, get them into the chat and I will try and get through any of them in this last little bit of time that we've got tonight. Um, thanks to everyone for letting me waffle on for an hour. Um, when can I get another dog? We're talking, Elena. What— let me know, text me, let me know what other dog it is that you want to get. She in for a penny, in for a pound, this one. Just barely like out of boot camp, 2 months, and now she's like, yeah, cool, I want another dog. I guess that's just like every trainer at YCA though. Once we get, uh, we just end up being dog collectors. Once you start with one and you get one to a really good place, then you just want another one, start the cycle again. Hey, Helena. Um, all right guys, well, I am— oh, you want a little rescue dog? Pippa's story is really cool. If anyone— I think it's on YouTube, maybe it's like a YouTube Short. Um, but go and check it out. It's a really nice story. A dog called Pippa who we worked with from a really— I think Pippa was from Canine Rescue— Canine Welfare Fund. Really, really good, uh, charity that we, um, we are lucky enough to get involved with lots of their dogs and find them nice homes. Uh, Sam, who also works here, has a dog from Canine Welfare Fund. Called Mud. He's a great dog. Follow along on our Instagram and YouTube. I'm sure you'll catch him there, or if you're ever working with us on a bootcamp, you'll get to meet Mud. He's a great dog. All right, guys. Well, thank you so much for joining on tonight. It always makes me feel weird saying that like I'm an influencer. Like, rate, share, subscribe. Is that what they say? Do those. Do your part, leave a heart. I had that on a podcast once. I think she has a YouTube. All right, well, speak to you guys soon. Thanks so much for coming on and enjoy the rest of your week. Bye!