There are lots of reasons for reactivity in dogs, but often a major contributing factor is that the dog feels overwhelmed by the environment. Dogs have incredibly keen senses and our human habit of being constantly on the move when we're outside can cause them to feel overloaded with sensory information. We’ve put together a few exercises to help your dog feel more relaxed outside, so you can start to manage their reactivity.
At Home
Get your dog used to some enrichment games at home. Get them a snuffle mat, licki-mat, kong or other puzzle feeder and let them have it at home and in the garden for a couple of days.
Open the front door a little while your dog is enjoying their treats so they can hear the sounds of traffic, people talking etc. Gradually open the door a little more each time until it’s fully open. NB put your dog on a lead or behind a baby gate for this just in case they try to bolt out of the open door.
At the Park
Choose a nice quiet location away from the path and bring something to sit on if the grass is wet.
Give your dog their favourite enrichment games filled with high value treats and sit quietly while they enjoy it. You can also reward your dog for making eye contact with you, and for being relaxed.
Take a nice slow walk around the park - if there’s a quiet area with bushes or long grass this is perfect as there will be lots of interesting smells. Walk around a small area, retracing your steps so your dog gets used to the new scents and scatter feed treats to encourage them to sniff.
If you have access to a woodland area these are great places for your dog to de-stress. Take a nice slow walk, letting your dog sniff and investigate, and sit down with your dog at intervals to let them absorb all the new information. Bring some high value treats and reward your dog for calm, relaxed behaviours.
Pavement Walking
Try to avoid walking on the pavement as this can be a very stressful environment for reactive dogs. If you can’t avoid pavement walking then take your enrichment games out into your front garden and practise scatter feeding on the front lawn if you have one. Start at quiet times of the day with short intervals and gradually increase the time you’re spending outside.
Once your dog seems happy and relaxed in the front garden, take some time to sit out there with your them - reward them for focussing on you and for being calm.
Start by taking short walks on the pavement and use scatter feeding to help your dog build a positive emotional response to the environment. If your dog seems overwhelmed at any point then bring them straight home.
If You See a Trigger
If you do happen to see another dog, person etc - anything that usually causes your dog to react, don’t panic. If you’re anxious, your dog will be anxious too.
Keep the lead nice and loose and let your dog calmly observe the trigger, if it’s at an appropriate distance. If your dog turns away from the trigger praise them calmly and give them a treat.
If they don’t, try scatter feeding to break their focus and then lead them away with a ‘let’s go’ or ‘this way’.
If the trigger is at a suitable distance and not coming any closer then scatter feed a few times, allowing your dog to look at the trigger and then get reinforced for looking away, before leading them away.