Hopefully someone can help me understand this behavior. I took Amber on the beach a few days ago and initially thought it was dog free at the time, turns out it wasn't a Jack Russell was lying in wait behind its owner (unleashed) of course it started running up to Ambi barking, it really happened too quick, but very interestingly Ambi did not bark, pull or do anything else except stand there and when it came up to her face clicked her teeth at it. I was on the other side of her. I've been wondering since that because this happened so quick for me to get tense or react if I've been somehow giving her signals to have a bigger response. Does anyone think this is the case, and how should I go about making sure I'm not contributing???

Another member just told me (in a pm about my training), "Nerves travel down the leash".

I was having trouble desensitizing my dog at our SchH club. Even though she loved it and looked forward to going, she was still being very reactive there. Some members told me that they thought she looked stressed. Since she is not usually a worrier, I had to look in the mirror, and I realized I was the one bringing the tension into the situation, pbly because I expected her to react. I took measures to correct what i was doing, and it made all the difference in the world.

Even though my dog may always be a little dog reactive (partly because of frustration of not being allowed access to them), she is now much more relaxed at the club, she's having fun just like she expects to, and she is able to focus during training. I've even found that, at heel, she's ignoring the other dogs. I can now sit her or down her in a group of people and dogs, and she is able to relax. Unless I walk away; then all bets are off.

Sounds like a normal reaction without over reacting to a dog that is being pushy and got in her face.
I think a particular event has to be pretty intense for most dogs to have a "single event learning" issue.
To avoid contributing just stay calm. You dog has you. She doesn't need a canine playmate.

What did you do to change what you were doing? I think I've conditioned myself, and anticpate her reactive episodes but I'm not really sure how to change my body language and the message I'm sending.

I was trying to "desensitize her" by putting her in a down while tied and standing nearby. I would tell her "Good" and give her treats, and add distance, but she would still get nervous and break her down if another dog caught her attention, or if I got distracted. I would then compound the mistake by verbally correcting her.

When I realized I was feeding her reactivity despite doing what I thought was the right thing, I backed up. I removed much of the distractions by arriving at the field thirty minutes earlier on club night. This gave her a chance to sniff around and check out her surroundings before the other dogs arrived. Thus, by the time the heavy distractions came into the picture, she was comfortable with the physical environment. I even let her sniff the puppies through their gate as long as she was being nice. When other members would arrive, I would walk her over to them and sit her while I greeted. She was not allowed to greet, and if she got nervous, I retreated. I tried to make her feel like part of the group instead of just being tied off on the side.

NOTE: Our director has us sit or down dogs when we are in a group. He believes that dogs that are standing in a loose group are more likely to posture and give off body language to the other dogs.

I also taught her the obstacles, which I thought she would love as she considers herself pretty athletic, and tried to give her fun stuff to do so she wouldn't lose her enthusiasm about going there.

The most helpful thing I did was to not worry about her reactivity, but rather to actively comfort her so she felt safe. When it was time to tie her out again, I brought a lawn chair and sat right next to her. It meant that I had to isolate myself from the group, but after all I was there for MY dog. When a dog was working, I redirected her to me with baby talk and food treats. If she asked me to rub her belly, I did. Eventually (several weeks), I started getting up from the chair and walking over to the group for just a few minutes. If she got up, I didn't fuss, but went back to her and reassured her. After a few weeks, she felt a lot more secure and I was able to go back to adding distance. She will now hold a long down off-leash with another dog working nearby.

Sorry Jodi...I know that this is specific and doesn't necessarily apply to your situation. I guess the most important tips here are to make sure your dog feels secure, and remove the distractions if your dog is not ready for them. It sounds like your dog can handle some at this point, and you need to reassure yourself that you are in control and your dog is safe with you. Stay calm, as Bob said, and you can do that by knowing you have prepared for any eventuality. If you have, then watch the body language of your dog and other dogs and you should be in control and able to head off trouble (as you said, you have conditioned yourself for this).

Don't treat Amber as if you expect trouble.

Hey Jodi, when you read Duane's post, one thing thats not specific to Duane and Sadie is, he's working on this with a club in a controlled setting. Trying to fix these kind of things never works when you are trying to anticipate something coming. You have to know whats going to take place so you can stay calm.

If you are spending all your time with her studying her every posture and expression, worrying about her body language, you're gonna be tense. Maybe not if you were just doing it for curiosity, but when you're trying to watch how her tail wags because it can tell you if she's going to react, I think you're just feeding her anxieties.

Staying calm, relaxing with your dog, to me that comes from having the confidence of knowing that when I tell him leave it, he leaves it. When I tell him settle, he settles. Its all obedience.

"Its all obedience."


Me too. In a nutshell.

Every thread about desensitizing, underneath all the focus work and the determining of the reactive zone and the setups with reliably calm dog "distractions" and everything else .... under it all is the big point: bullet-proof obedience.

How to get there is what all those desensitizing details are about. And what they boil down to is proofing for the biggest distraction to a dog-reactive dog: dogs.

So no matter how it's set up, desensitizing work is actually basic ob proofed like crazy.

For me, marker training works best, and for me, lots of upbeat focus work is best. But these are really just the m.o. I choose for what is always the goal: reliable basic ob (made reliable through a ton of proofing).

BTW, a controlled setting is indeed where I start, because it's obedience and that's where obedience training always starts. Distraction proofing starts very gradually, and only after compliance without any distraction is great.

JMO!

Great point, Steve. I didn't realize I was feeding the problem by over-preparing for it. Something else for me to work on.

Thanks.

Over-preparing? I'm not sure what you mean Duane.

" ... how should I go about making sure I'm not contributing???"

"Staying calm, relaxing with your dog, to me that comes from having the confidence of knowing that when I tell him leave it, he leaves it. When I tell him settle, he settles. Its all obedience."


Sounds simple, doesn't it? LOL

Actually, it IS simple ..... a lot of simple and consistent work (that is so worth it!).