Linus & Reactivity
Linus is the husky mutty with big feelings! We were very naive when we adopted Linus, we have kids and a cat, so we plugged into google, cat friendly, dog friendly, kid friendly, and it was almost all puppies that came up.
Linus
He had a rough start as many rescues do and was about 4 months old when we adopted him. He was already crate and potty trained, yay! But his intense fear of dogs was apparent on the 10 minute ride home, he growled and barked at a dog he saw from the car (not anywhere near the car) and then lunged and barked at 2 dogs that were walking past our court when he got out of the car (again nowhere near us). We asked the rescue about this and they gave us the name of a trainer. Before Linus, we had no idea what a “reactive” dog was. Did I have a passing thought about taking him back to the foster? Kind of yes, but also no, I felt like we made a commitment to him.
We met with the trainer they recommended and he immediately put a prong collar on 4 month old Linus, who we only had for a few days, who had maybe been on 2 walks, who didn’t know anything about leash pressure or heal or anything. It was really harsh, I was in tears at how horrible and unfair it felt. I hated the whole thing, but we went along with it because he was a professional and he said if we don’t do this now, Linus will end up back in the shelter in 2 years and will be euthanized. Needless to say after 1 session, we never worked with this trainer again.
A few weeks later we signed Linus up for puppy classes even though he was a little older than most of the puppies. In the puppy class he was snarling, growling, barking at all the cute baby puppies, and the advice was to just keep feeding him peanut butter, no matter his behavior.
I felt like neither of these training styles were a good fit for us so I started doing my own research. We found an amazing local trainer that helped us so much, instead of obedience commands or teaching him tricks it was really about connection and effective communication to guide him through his fears, not with punishment and not with bribing or avoidance. He continues to have reactive moments but we have had so many adventures with him and have formed a very solid relationship. It’s less about worrying will he have a reaction, and more about how will we handle it when he has a reaction and that recovery is where we can reconnect and slow his mind down. Of course that’s the goal, it’s never perfect but we’re making progress!
Things that have helped the most for us, waiting for organic eye contact before moving forward, using the word “yes” like a clicker, yes=food, figure 8 around his nose with the slip leash, physical and mental fulfillment, and lastly structured down time at home. We are not dog trainers, we have learned from amazing trainers and these are the things that have really helped and feel right for us! Some of our favorite treats for “yes work” are Steve’s Real Food gut boosting bites, Vital Essentials freeze dried treats, Primal freeze dried treats, and Open Farm Freeze Dried Raw.
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