I see the terms "dog reactive" and "dog aggressive" being used a lot, sometimes interchangably. I'm just wondering what the actual definitions are.

What's the difference between the two? Is there any difference?

I got to wondering about this because yesterday I walked my dog by a bar and an off leash little dog screwed straight out the door right for us. It was a little scary because it happened so fast. Just walking down the street and boom! Little dog right in her face.

My dogs reaction gave a serious fright to the little beast. She growled deeply and lunged, and the small dog spun backward screaming. The lunge didnt seem like a warning at all. Luckily my reaction to restrain my dog and shoo the small dog away with my foot was quick enough that nothing bad came of it.

There was no time to use any obedience, it was a put out the fire kind of moment. I was pretty shaken up after, because it was apparent in that moment that my dog would have probably really hurt the other dog given the opportunity.

Since my dog has never been in a fight and never made an attept to attack another dog I have always thought of her as more reactive than aggressive. Now I'm not so sure.

So what is the difference between the two definitions? Is there any?

Is there any difference in how you would train?

I have had both, and there is a difference.

My aggressive dog would have happily attacked and at least wounded another dog. He did the lunging and barking thing, and was gradually trained out of it, but if given the opportunity to connect, it was a disaster. I ended up walking him in a basket muzzle because I was so worried he would do harm to the next dog some fool allowed to run up to him. I did that and of course did everything I could to prevent other dogs from getting near him.

I have also had an aggressive dog that wasn't leash reactive at all. As long as other dogs stayed out of his face, he was calm, cool and collected.

My current beastie is a "recovering reactive dog". He isn't aggressive at all, but he would put on a hell of a good show. He likes most other dogs, and if he isn't on leash he's all gormy and friendly (see him hangin' with my sister's lab/boxer mix and her Pit in my sig pic. I suspect that working on his on-leash behaviour will be an ongoing thing though.

I wouldn't train the reactive/desensitizing piece any differently, but I would take more safety precautions with an aggressive dog (like the muzzle).

My definitition is similar to Kristel's.

An aggressive dog is one who puts on an aggressive display and is actively seeking to engage the dog (or person).

A reactive dog is one who puts on an aggressive display but is not going to back it up with an aggressive response.

The causes of reactivity are varied, a rather common one is a dog that wants to 'play' and being held back (usually on a tight leash) by the owner - is barking and lunging in frustration.

The two look very similar and can be confused, the only real way to tell which is which - is for the dog to come into contact with the other animal. Obviously this is not an acceptable or advisable course of action but anything else is at best an educated guess.

Re-direction and correction while desensitising would be the same. With a reactive dog you can do other things such as allowing it to interract with known dogs when safe, or draining its energy prior to working with it (this would generally have more effect than with a truly aggressive dog).

I would be hesitant to muzzle her, because she has never actualy done anything and people around here talk. The worst she has done is pull some really dominant little moves.

She's the girl who attempts to mount boys and get on the shoulders of other females, but its always been easily controlled. I never let her play with strange dogs anyway.

Her reactivity is much much better. Its gotten to where there can be a dog across the street and she is fine, if the other dog is staring or puts its tail up she gets a little taller but she doesn't blow up anymore.

Maybe I will need to find someone to work with to test her again. She was tested for dog aggression last summer and she did great, but a lot happens in a dog between 16 and 24 months. Since I do a good job of keeping her away from strange dogs in the first place I'm not really sure what is going on.

I just want to know what I have on my hands. This incident last night was really kinda scary. I'm willing to be careful and responsible, but when people let their eight pound dog run literaly right into the mouth of a large dog there is only so much you can do!

Thanks Tanith. That helps put it in better perspective.

The only reason the difference matters to me is because I rely on public property to exercise her. While I am as careful as a person possibly can be, I need to know for sure if she is safe around other animals.

I have really good basic obedience on her and can control her if there is a dog over there, but I still completly avoid all interactions. If someone shows up with a dog that I'm not 100% sure about, we either leave or I take her into the street hockey court.

Still, crazy things happen.

I'm really sensitive to this issue because my favorite dog ever died as a result of a dog attack. I never want to be on either end of that situation ever again.

It sounds as though you're doing the right things. Owning an aggro. or reactive dog is often more about management than retraining.

Why would you 'test' her again? you got the results some time ago and testing her will put her under undue pressure for little/no gain. Don't you 'test' her when you take her for a walk?

A lot of dogs will respond poorly when they're walking along minding their own business and a little yip dog gets up in their face.

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Still, crazy things happen.

I'm really sensitive to this issue because my favorite dog ever died as a result of a dog attack. I never want to be on either end of that situation ever again.

Unfortunately a lot of people have little / no control over their dogs. Funny thing - you guys in the states have must stricter leash laws than Britain but seem to have a lot more loose dogs wandering around.... weird.

A muzzle will only stop a dog from biting. I had a client (I run aggro. dog courses) whose dog was muzzled and still attacked a smaller dog, the power of the big dog broke several ribs and punctured a lung using the muzzle.

Thanks again, Tanith.

I don't know what I would do if it weren't for the people here. I guess I'm just suffering a little confidence crisis. It'll get better again.

Ugh. Its hard being a person who actualy cares.

Take a deep breath....next time out will be totally different.

Too bad you couldn't just turn your dog loose on the owner of the little one....he's the one at fault here

It's because we care so much about our dogs that we get so upset when things like this happen. We invest so much time and put so much work in to them so that they are well-mannered, well-behaved pups that when someone with total disregard for their dog allows something like this to happen it throws us for a loop.

Give your pup a hug and forget about the incident and move on. Continue with your dog as you have been doing. You're doing a great job - IMHO.

Next time a little yapper runs into her mouth I'm gonna let her eat it!

(Just kidding, of course!)

It just sucks. I got her with hopes of having an active companion and potential agility dog. The dog reactive stuff started so young, when she was a puppy somebody passing us allowed an older dog to lunge at her. That very walk is when it started. Ever since it has been a cycle of working really hard, seeing things get better and then once again having some irresponsible jerk screw it all up.

And because of the constant work on this one issue, I feel like I'm not able to live the way I would like to live with her. There is no more hiking, weekend trips to the parkk are out of the question. I'm not at all comfortable with the idea of bringing her into a dog training club.

It makes me really sad sometimes.

I think it depends on the club; you'd be welcome at mine but it's a bit of a commute.
Ring around and talk to a few of the local ones, see what they do, how they feel about aggressive dogs, how big their hall is, do they do outdoor training? How they feel about your style of training. It's not out of the question.

For example (not advertising) I do 'Bark Classes' outdoors but after they attend at least one (or impress me over the phone) I allow aggro. dogs into my normal indoor training classes - normally evenly spread out over the 3 classes.
I have 2 entrances into the hall, one used as an entrance and one as an exit. Generally aggro. dogs use the exit as an entrance.

There's no reason you can't go hiking, pick slightly less used areas (more pleasant with a dog anyway), you may have to use a longline but once you get used to them they're not too annoying.

You may have to adapt your lifestyle but you won't have to change your life completely. Plenty of people have competed in agility and obedience with an aggressive / reactive dog.
Have faith and stay strong.