Later this month I’ll be holding a seminar on reactive dogs at The Potter League for Animals in Middletown, RI.
I don’t like the term “reactive dog” because it is not very accurate. A better term would be: “aggressive, lunging, out of control, barking, impossible to control on leash dog.”
I got an email from Sarah, the Behavior Services Manager at Potters yesterday. In her email she stated:
“I hope you are doing well. I wanted to reach out because Anastacia let us know that you are presenting on Reactive Dogs for the Potter Pet U in May. This is probably the number one behavior that I work on in my consultations and on the Behavior Helpline so it is sure to be a hit.”
You can attend if you’d like. Send me an email and I’ll give you all the details. I’ll even get you in for free. That’s the kind of pull I have.
Anyway.
What you may not know is that reactive dogs have become a big deal in the dog training world. As Sarah said in her email, reactive dogs have become a big problem and she spends a lot of the time at the shelter helping people that have dogs with this problem.
There are many different methods and techniques for dealing with reactive dogs. You have BAT, CAT, LAT, Click to Calm, Abandonment training and a few more.
It almost sounds like the beginning to a Dr. Seuss book.
So if you have a reactive dog, I want to help point you in the right direction.
First, as you are investigating the different methods to help your dog you need to start with the “Theory of Reality.” In his classic book, “To Be Or Not Be Intimidated,” Robert Ringer states:
“Reality is neither the way you wish things to be, but the way they actually are. Either you acknowledge reality and use it to your benefit, or it will automatically work against you.”
The problem with too many dog trainers today is that they WISH every dog problem could be solved with positive reinforcement.
Think I’m kidding? Some of the methods I listed above recommend using fake dogs, be at least a football field away from other dogs or anything that will make your dog reactive, that it may take MONTHS for you to get results and best of all…
…if the training does not work, IT’S YOUR FAULT!
I can hear Mr. Miyagi’s famous quote from “The Karate Kid” “No such thing as bad student, only bad teacher. Teacher say, student do.”
Maybe they didn’t like Ralph Macchio. Maybe they disagree with the wisdom of Mr. Miyagi, I don’t know. What I do know is that if you have a dog that is lunging, barking, acting aggressive to other dogs, you can’t be fooling around with fake dogs.
You can’t keep the other dogs (or fake dogs) a football field away. You need to be able to control your dog when another dog gets close and is all up in your dog’s grill.
We are talking about real world stuff here and have to look at they way things really are.
We don’t have months and most of all you need…
…RESULTS!
So if you have a reactive dog that is barking, lunging and aggressive on leash, head on over to The Dog Training Inner Circle where we deal in reality and focus on results.
Best part is that it is just $1.00 to join.
See you inside.
Dog Training Inner Circle
Best,
Eric