What Can You Do?
Firstly, if you don’t like the behaviours your dog is displaying when it sees other dogs, don’t let your dog continually practice them. Unfortunately the more a dog practices a behaviour, the better they get at it! Just as it works when practicing to sit for their dinner and they get really good at it, practicing something unwanted also makes them better at that.
This may mean that initially you need to reduce the walks your dogs has (and replace with mental enrichment), and/or find times of the day or areas you can walk where few to no dogs are around.
Seek Professional Help
We do stress the importance of seeking professional guidance. We can guide you and your dog through the stages of changing this behaviour, for the better!
Building confidence, handling skills and teamwork is the first step. You want your dog to look towards you for help and know they will get it, rather than take the matter into their own hands.
The second step is to use a process of gradual ‘desensitisation and counter conditioning’, which really means: ‘Teaching your dog to be more comfortable and to make better choices’.
Your dog can learn they have choices and that they can influence the situation and will be rewarded handsomely for choosing well.
This is a process that requires learning from both dog and handler, so the time seen to see a change in the behaviour can vary. If you stick with it under the guidance of a qualified positive trainer, you are sure to see improvement.
Note: While we have called this article “Lead Reactivity” we stress the importance of not using labels to describe dog behaviour, as it can be misleading. To quote Susan Friedman, “Behaviour is not who you are - it’s what you do”.
