August 27, 2025

My 9 month old pup was fine with other dogs until off leash dogs rushed us on a walk. Every since she's terribly reactive, how can I help her?

Full Question:
I have a 9 month old Pointer puppy. I did lots of desensitization with her as she grew, and up until a couple months ago, she was perfectly fine with other dogs and people. When she hit her fear period, everything was scary, but we worked through it for the most part, and she was good up until offleash dogs rushed us on a walk. Ever since then, she's been terribly reactive to dogs, and even, sometimes, people. My goal is to get her back to being neutral with other dogs, but in all honesty, I'm not too sure how to get that done now. I'm used to working with excitement reactive dogs, and I've never had a dog so fearful. She was supposed to be a show dog but freaks out at dogs and unexpected touches now.
Cindy
Cindy Cindy's Answer:
We have a good course on how to work dogs through reactivity. I can't tell you how many young dogs have deep seated fear after being charged by off leash dogs, it makes me so mad!

I've added a link to the course below, there are exercises to work on to help her regain her confidence.

User Response:
Amazing, thank you so much!

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Expert Dog Trainer Cindy Rhodes
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