Protocol for reactive dogs
Background
Dogs that bark/ lunge/ pull/ freeze and react to other dogs when on walks are trying to communicate their discomfort. The overall emotion is fear. This contributes to escalating anxiety. What a dog is feeling when these behaviours are observed is that they feel extremely unsafe.
When a dog feels unsafe, this causes stress hormones to be released into the blood and after a relatively short time this can causes changes to the brain.
The fear area of the brain becomes very active and begins to anticipate danger.
We are able to see the result of these changes when we are out walking – dogs that feel unsafe when out walking will become hyper alert and begin to scan areas, not only for dogs, but there may be other things in the environment which can trigger memories.
Many dogs that are anxious may start to associate specific areas or conditions with unpleasant experiences – these may include certain weather conditions or even to people wearing specific clothing (for example, people wearing heavy winter clothing can trigger anxiety if the dog pairs it with a bad experience).
Fear cannot be cured by “flooding” or aversives, such as spraying a dog with a water pistol, or making the dog sit as another dog goes by, this is likely to result in learned helplessness and can cause a dog to shut down. The consequences of these actions are never positive and only increase discomfort.
Dogs cannot build confidence or learn if they are punished. Asking a dog to sit when fearful is still a punishment, however, harmless it appears to be – being able to move away from a scary situation is important in order to decrease fear.
Protocol
The following procedures must be implemented and followed. This will help build confidence and more importantly help a fearful dog to feel safe.
Scatter duvet days into your dog’s week, days away from walking provide relief and down time. Duvet days are the perfect opportunity to include enrichment. Enrichment is integral to a newly rescued/fearful dog.
Let your dog relax and rest when he at home. Training is often inappropriate. Dogs should feel safe and comfortable in their home environment. Put some enrichment in place during the day to help build confidence and to reduce stress levels. Ideas for enrichment include filling cardboard boxes with stuff to investigate – include scrunched up paper, loo roll tubes , treats, and smelly stuff like worn clothing – if you can source some old worn clothing from family and friends – even better! Once you have assembled these items they can be left inside the house or outside in the garden on a nice day. Most dogs find them fun and interesting once they realise boxes hold interesting stuff. Visit charity shops and buy a few bags or shoes because they will have a scent history. Dogs LOVE scent.
Outside the home
Freezing is a sign that your dog is feeling threatened, do not force your dog to go further. If when walking your dog likes to, stop in a safe area, let them take in the world around him and process what he is seeing. Encourage his natural curiosity – it is an antidote to fear.
Walk in quiet areas away from other dogs in order to help with relaxation and enjoyment and to help build confidence. Walks should be as calm as possible – sniffing is important! It helps lower stress levels, and lowers the pulse rate. The aim is to provide slow relaxing and calm walks where a dog can pick up information about the environment without being in a state of high alert. This is also hugely helpful for us humans!
If quiet areas are impossible to find in your area, then you need to source off lead fields/ enrichment areas or possibly visit friends who have gardens.
You may find areas beside busy roads are useful, as people are unlikely to walk dogs off lead in these places.
Please do not walk your dog down narrow alleyways. If you have to pass another dog it will cause increasingly fearful reactions. If you have to use a narrow alley enlist a partner, friend or family member to walk down ahead of you and ask them to block if you have to pass any dogs. But it is always best to avoid these situations.
Learn canine body language. This knowledge will help you decide whether any dogs in the area are likely to be a problem. Old dogs (for instance) are generally not interested in meeting other dogs and are normally very respectful.
Younger bouncy dogs are a problem, especially if they are off lead. Owners are unlikely to have any recall, or to be able to stop their dog approaching.
This is exactly the kind of experience you are shielding your dog from. With this in mind, DO NOT walk in busy parks – other dog owners are notoriously unhelpful if they see a fearful dog – many won’t even notice your dog is extremely anxious. They are more likely to think your dog is badly trained or badly socialised and only make a bad situation far worse.
Please do learn about canine communication – recommended and easy reading is “On Talking Terms with Dogs” by Turid Rugaas.
Food or treats are unlikely to be attractive to your dog when you are out, UNLESS there is a certain amount of relaxation is achieved. Treats and food on their own are not a solution. A reactive dog is very unlikely to be interested even in a high resource food. (Would you like to stop and chew on a favourite food if you were running away from a mad axe man? Probably not!) This is part of the fight, flight and freeze reaction. This doesn’t stop you taking treats and food with you and offering them when your dog is calm – but do NOT wait until your dog sees a dog and starts to lunge/ bark or freeze. This can actually make a bad situation worse by setting up negative associations with food.
If you see a dog when walking do use barriers such as cars if you are unable ton turn around or move away. This is a good way of helping your dog to build trust in you
Distance. There will be a specific distance away from another dog/ person where your dog will feel safe. This may vary from a few yards to over a hundred yards or more. Find this distance and stick to it! It doesn’t matter how far away that point is. This is the distance your dog can tolerate and will gradually begin to help reduce anxiety.
Find your dog a canine friend to walk with, BUT this needs to be a dog that your own dog feels comfortable with. The person with the friendly dog HAS to understand what you are trying to achieve, if you ask them to increase distance or leave they need to understand why you are asking and comply.
This short help sheet outlines the steps that you need to take to begin the journey towards your dogs feeling safer in outdoor environments.
Coping strategies help build trust and relaxation. We can’t rush the process and if your dog is continually exposed to dogs you will fail.
Any rehab work needs to progress at a slow pace. You can only go at your dog’s pace – this builds confidence and trust.
I have recently written and published a book called “A Dog For All Seasons” which is easy to read and you may well find helpful – it is available on Amazon.
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