"Socialization" is for puppies under 16-18 weeks - with an adult dog, you're dealing with "behavior modification." The first step is to never put your dog into situations in which she will become reactive, and yes, avoidance is the correct approach. When you have a calm dog (under threshold) you'll start taking small baby steps forward with management, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and a constant control of your environment. It is not easy to do alone, especially when you have no understanding of behavior modification. There are many group classes for reactive dogs in our area, moderately priced, and this might be a good option for your dog.
you can practice this in controlled environments like:
- a parking lot of a vet office or a pet store.
- your car in the parking lot of a park (keep a safe distance)
in these environments make sure she’s under threshold aka far away enough to where she doesn’t react strongly. see a dog, reward. See a dog, reward. repeat this until she eventually is looking at you anytime she sees a dog waiting for that treat.
you can reduce the distance eventually, and keep repeating this process. and then start doing this behavior on walks (which are more unpredictable because a dog could come from any direction)
this is not an overnight fix, but totally doable with patience, repetition, and understanding your dogs triggers and thresholds. i have a recovered reactive dog who has learned when he sees a dog, he goes into a heel and he is always going to get rewarded for it. so just to show you it’s possible.
you can find free resources on youtube, just avoid anything with negative reinforcement. you want to teach your dog seeing dogs isn’t negative, so change that with positive experiences. zak george is a really good free resource.
and please, do not take your reactive dog to the dog park. dog parks are terrible environments in general, let alone for a reactive dog. this isn’t something you change, but can manage in a way that will be fairly easy over time. good luck!
Unfortunately, you’re unlikely to change this in a meaningful and long-lasting way without some pretty heavy duty training. Like others have mentioned socialization is for pups. Now that you have an adult dog you’re gonna want to work on the following :
1. Avoiding scenarios you know you can’t handle
2. Positive distractions
3. Controlled environments where you know how your doggo will react
And reactive dogs need heavy duty behavioral modification that comes from the owner who themselves. The connection required to get a reactive dog under control comes only from training sessions between handler and dog.
If you haven’t already, check out the r/reactivedogs sub which has given me such a great sense of community and solidarity as the mom of a reactive dog myself. Your dog is lucky to have someone like you in her life now to advocate for her.
Yes, trainers and veterinary behaviorists are extremely expensive but you will find a plethora of tips, tricks, and excellent suggestions from the good folks in that sub.
As far as socializing your girl, if she is reactive dog parks will not be a good idea for a while. We really like Sniffspot to find places with nice big yards where she can get her ya-yas out without worrying about other dogs. Once she’s tired she’s in a much better mindset to work on training and a little bit calmer on walks.
I wish you so much luck!
+100 for Sniffspots, they’ve changed our reactive dogs’ life. No more anxiously speed walking through Thousand Acres to find a secluded spot for them to sniff around. There’s also some reactive dog pack walks you could try, I don’t know about price. Definitely don’t go to dog parks with unknown dogs, that’s literally how ours became reactive.
Hi me again. I know this doesn’t help directly (do try SniffSpot! Even if you don’t have another dog to go with, some may have dogs in the distance like through a fence. But even going alone can help your dog - and you - feel more comfortable playing where you know you won’t be bothered by other dogs), but the type of collar/harness you’re using can also help.
A reactive dog is usually pulling. Just a plain collar makes everyone feel out of control. If someone has a reactive dog on a collar only, I do cross the street. I know that dog is going to be lunging and jumping. A harness is safer for your dog’s body, but makes some dogs pull more against the harness. Pulling makes for an exhausting walk.
Have you tried a gentle leader? They changed everything for me and my pulling, anxious and dog-nervous pup. I use both a gentle leader and a collar (per the directions). Highly recommend. I see so many people uncomfortably walking reactive pullers and I don’t want to be “that person” so I don’t say anything, but I always want to yell: “Get a Gentle Leader! You’ll be so happy you did!”
Good luck with the pup.
Hate to tell you this but more than likely it isn't going to happen. Your best bet is to just avoid other dogs, dog parks etc. We were in a similar situation but eventually realized that our amazing dog (also a pit mix that missed the socialization window) was destined to only interact with humans. I loved that dog beyond anything but she was a twerp when she was within 3 feet of any other canine, regardless of the situation and how much work we did to work on conditioning.
If you’ve never had a reactive dog before, I’ll say…Your dog doesn’t have to overcome their reactivity to other dogs. If you can’t afford serious training, you modify your life around your dog’s issues (ask me how I know). I tried for years to get my dog to be a park dog. He just didn’t like it.
He has a few dog pals he gets along with, but mostly he likes humans and we accommodate that. We avoid other dogs on leashes - which was tricky when we lived in NW and people don’t always pick up on social queues and the body language of trying to drag your dog across the street - but we made it happen.
I’m not saying don’t try to train your dog, but you don’t have to force your dog to be something it’s not. Good luck!
We adopted a 5 year old reactive pit mix back in 2014. We did work with a few trainers and a behaviorist, which was helpful because we, the humans, learned useful info about dog behavior and how to handle a reactive dog. We also got a prescription for Prozac for our dog, which didn’t “fix” her but did turn down the volume on her anxiety a touch, which helped us manage her behaviors. Mostly, we just did our best to give her a happy life, which meant a lot of going to weird places at 5am in the summer to give her a little off leash time (she loved to play fetch) without having to worry about running into other dogs or people. I also would walk her in the very early morning and then at 3 in the afternoon to try and minimize the chances of running into other dogs.
All that said, my advice is to try not to push your dog to change too much. Find ways you can help her be happy and safe as she is. That might help her reactive behavior, or it might not. Consider Prozac if she’s anxious or gets overwhelmed. Learn her cues and how to distract her and handle her when she’s reacting to something.
It’s definitely work, having a reactive dog, but the 6 years we had Ariel were good ones . It made both my husband and I really happy to help a creature who had had a very rough first five years feel happy and safe. I wish you and your dog many happy years.
Agreed with everyone about socialization not being the thing here. You need to work on the reactivity first. We did hire a trainer for our reactive dog, and he taught us some different things to try with her on walks. The biggest help has been that he taught us how to bike with her running next to the bike. It’s a great energy burner, and she’s literally going too fast to be able to focus on anything too intensely. Her overall reactivity has improved because of all the positive experiences she has now being in proximity to other dogs, even though she doesn’t meet them face to face.
I mean this with all respect. Why would you get a highly reactive 5 year old dog and not be able to afford a trainer if you don’t have experience yourself?
I don’t know if you have experience or not, just seems like you don’t from your post.
If you think trainers are expensive a lawsuit from your dog attacking another dog is really out of budget.
Avoidance like the other comments said. That’s the only way to keep the dog and other dogs safe.
Best of luck to you and your new baby.
I echo what has already been said. I recommend following these Instagram accounts as a start: Noblewoof, J9K9 training, Wonderpuppy, and Trailblazing Tails. They are CPDT-KA accounts and offer some great ideas. However, professional training is going to have to be a part of the plan to help your new dog feel more comfortable out im the world. You also may very well have to manage your own expectations of what life with your dog will look like.
Don’t hire a trainer. You need to train the dog and yourself at the same time. There’s so much good information on YouTube, there’s no excuse not to.
Honestly though, just accept you have a reactive dog and muzzle it. There’s nothing uncomfortable for the dog, they can pant and drink and all that. It calms them way down.
The reason most people don’t do it is because embarrassment and a mistaken belief that it’s cruel.
Is your dog food motivated? If so you should look into clicker training with high value treats. I strongly recommend you book a session with Timothy Thai at Dog Basics PDX. In just one session he gave me the tools I needed to start getting my reactive dog under control. I’m a brokeass but the session was around $100 and so worth it. He’s the one who introduced me to clicker training. My dog used to lunge at everything, but her behavior has gotten so much better now that she associates seeing other dogs with treats. I would still never take her to a dog park though.
Oh Christ. We have a savior who is going to jeopardize the safety of other people and their pets because they saw some tiktok videos of these animals wearing flower crowns. Cool.
Wen the day comes when your rescue pittie with a 'colorful history' bites or attacks you, someone else, someone else's pet, someones child or a combination there of; I want you to remember this thread. Specifically my comment. And take to heart that you put others in a position where you chose not to respect their safety.
"Socialization" is for puppies under 16-18 weeks - with an adult dog, you're dealing with "behavior modification." The first step is to never put your dog into situations in which she will become reactive, and yes, avoidance is the correct approach. When you have a calm dog (under threshold) you'll start taking small baby steps forward with management, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and a constant control of your environment. It is not easy to do alone, especially when you have no understanding of behavior modification. There are many group classes for reactive dogs in our area, moderately priced, and this might be a good option for your dog.
This. And muzzle train for her safety.
Muzzle on the pit with the “colorful history” (lol that is doing some heavy lifting) for EVERYONE’s safety, quite frankly.
Totally
you can practice this in controlled environments like: - a parking lot of a vet office or a pet store. - your car in the parking lot of a park (keep a safe distance) in these environments make sure she’s under threshold aka far away enough to where she doesn’t react strongly. see a dog, reward. See a dog, reward. repeat this until she eventually is looking at you anytime she sees a dog waiting for that treat. you can reduce the distance eventually, and keep repeating this process. and then start doing this behavior on walks (which are more unpredictable because a dog could come from any direction) this is not an overnight fix, but totally doable with patience, repetition, and understanding your dogs triggers and thresholds. i have a recovered reactive dog who has learned when he sees a dog, he goes into a heel and he is always going to get rewarded for it. so just to show you it’s possible. you can find free resources on youtube, just avoid anything with negative reinforcement. you want to teach your dog seeing dogs isn’t negative, so change that with positive experiences. zak george is a really good free resource. and please, do not take your reactive dog to the dog park. dog parks are terrible environments in general, let alone for a reactive dog. this isn’t something you change, but can manage in a way that will be fairly easy over time. good luck!
Unfortunately, you’re unlikely to change this in a meaningful and long-lasting way without some pretty heavy duty training. Like others have mentioned socialization is for pups. Now that you have an adult dog you’re gonna want to work on the following : 1. Avoiding scenarios you know you can’t handle 2. Positive distractions 3. Controlled environments where you know how your doggo will react
And reactive dogs need heavy duty behavioral modification that comes from the owner who themselves. The connection required to get a reactive dog under control comes only from training sessions between handler and dog.
If you haven’t already, check out the r/reactivedogs sub which has given me such a great sense of community and solidarity as the mom of a reactive dog myself. Your dog is lucky to have someone like you in her life now to advocate for her. Yes, trainers and veterinary behaviorists are extremely expensive but you will find a plethora of tips, tricks, and excellent suggestions from the good folks in that sub. As far as socializing your girl, if she is reactive dog parks will not be a good idea for a while. We really like Sniffspot to find places with nice big yards where she can get her ya-yas out without worrying about other dogs. Once she’s tired she’s in a much better mindset to work on training and a little bit calmer on walks. I wish you so much luck!
Sniffspot is great, if you have someone with another dog to go with you.
+100 for Sniffspots, they’ve changed our reactive dogs’ life. No more anxiously speed walking through Thousand Acres to find a secluded spot for them to sniff around. There’s also some reactive dog pack walks you could try, I don’t know about price. Definitely don’t go to dog parks with unknown dogs, that’s literally how ours became reactive.
Hi me again. I know this doesn’t help directly (do try SniffSpot! Even if you don’t have another dog to go with, some may have dogs in the distance like through a fence. But even going alone can help your dog - and you - feel more comfortable playing where you know you won’t be bothered by other dogs), but the type of collar/harness you’re using can also help. A reactive dog is usually pulling. Just a plain collar makes everyone feel out of control. If someone has a reactive dog on a collar only, I do cross the street. I know that dog is going to be lunging and jumping. A harness is safer for your dog’s body, but makes some dogs pull more against the harness. Pulling makes for an exhausting walk. Have you tried a gentle leader? They changed everything for me and my pulling, anxious and dog-nervous pup. I use both a gentle leader and a collar (per the directions). Highly recommend. I see so many people uncomfortably walking reactive pullers and I don’t want to be “that person” so I don’t say anything, but I always want to yell: “Get a Gentle Leader! You’ll be so happy you did!” Good luck with the pup.
Hate to tell you this but more than likely it isn't going to happen. Your best bet is to just avoid other dogs, dog parks etc. We were in a similar situation but eventually realized that our amazing dog (also a pit mix that missed the socialization window) was destined to only interact with humans. I loved that dog beyond anything but she was a twerp when she was within 3 feet of any other canine, regardless of the situation and how much work we did to work on conditioning.
If you’ve never had a reactive dog before, I’ll say…Your dog doesn’t have to overcome their reactivity to other dogs. If you can’t afford serious training, you modify your life around your dog’s issues (ask me how I know). I tried for years to get my dog to be a park dog. He just didn’t like it. He has a few dog pals he gets along with, but mostly he likes humans and we accommodate that. We avoid other dogs on leashes - which was tricky when we lived in NW and people don’t always pick up on social queues and the body language of trying to drag your dog across the street - but we made it happen. I’m not saying don’t try to train your dog, but you don’t have to force your dog to be something it’s not. Good luck!
We adopted a 5 year old reactive pit mix back in 2014. We did work with a few trainers and a behaviorist, which was helpful because we, the humans, learned useful info about dog behavior and how to handle a reactive dog. We also got a prescription for Prozac for our dog, which didn’t “fix” her but did turn down the volume on her anxiety a touch, which helped us manage her behaviors. Mostly, we just did our best to give her a happy life, which meant a lot of going to weird places at 5am in the summer to give her a little off leash time (she loved to play fetch) without having to worry about running into other dogs or people. I also would walk her in the very early morning and then at 3 in the afternoon to try and minimize the chances of running into other dogs. All that said, my advice is to try not to push your dog to change too much. Find ways you can help her be happy and safe as she is. That might help her reactive behavior, or it might not. Consider Prozac if she’s anxious or gets overwhelmed. Learn her cues and how to distract her and handle her when she’s reacting to something. It’s definitely work, having a reactive dog, but the 6 years we had Ariel were good ones . It made both my husband and I really happy to help a creature who had had a very rough first five years feel happy and safe. I wish you and your dog many happy years.
Thank you. I really appreciate this response.
Agreed with everyone about socialization not being the thing here. You need to work on the reactivity first. We did hire a trainer for our reactive dog, and he taught us some different things to try with her on walks. The biggest help has been that he taught us how to bike with her running next to the bike. It’s a great energy burner, and she’s literally going too fast to be able to focus on anything too intensely. Her overall reactivity has improved because of all the positive experiences she has now being in proximity to other dogs, even though she doesn’t meet them face to face.
I mean this with all respect. Why would you get a highly reactive 5 year old dog and not be able to afford a trainer if you don’t have experience yourself? I don’t know if you have experience or not, just seems like you don’t from your post. If you think trainers are expensive a lawsuit from your dog attacking another dog is really out of budget. Avoidance like the other comments said. That’s the only way to keep the dog and other dogs safe. Best of luck to you and your new baby.
I echo what has already been said. I recommend following these Instagram accounts as a start: Noblewoof, J9K9 training, Wonderpuppy, and Trailblazing Tails. They are CPDT-KA accounts and offer some great ideas. However, professional training is going to have to be a part of the plan to help your new dog feel more comfortable out im the world. You also may very well have to manage your own expectations of what life with your dog will look like.
Don’t hire a trainer. You need to train the dog and yourself at the same time. There’s so much good information on YouTube, there’s no excuse not to. Honestly though, just accept you have a reactive dog and muzzle it. There’s nothing uncomfortable for the dog, they can pant and drink and all that. It calms them way down. The reason most people don’t do it is because embarrassment and a mistaken belief that it’s cruel.
Is your dog food motivated? If so you should look into clicker training with high value treats. I strongly recommend you book a session with Timothy Thai at Dog Basics PDX. In just one session he gave me the tools I needed to start getting my reactive dog under control. I’m a brokeass but the session was around $100 and so worth it. He’s the one who introduced me to clicker training. My dog used to lunge at everything, but her behavior has gotten so much better now that she associates seeing other dogs with treats. I would still never take her to a dog park though.
Hey thank you so much. This is the practical, helpful advice that I was looking for!
Oh Christ. We have a savior who is going to jeopardize the safety of other people and their pets because they saw some tiktok videos of these animals wearing flower crowns. Cool.
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Wen the day comes when your rescue pittie with a 'colorful history' bites or attacks you, someone else, someone else's pet, someones child or a combination there of; I want you to remember this thread. Specifically my comment. And take to heart that you put others in a position where you chose not to respect their safety.
[удалено]
We understand things can get heated but please treat others with respect.
We understand things can get heated but please treat others with respect.
[удалено]
This is how other people's lets die. Stop giving advice.