Every dog related sub seems to be full of posts looking for advice on how to handle reactivity. As fans of the German Shepherd Dog we all know how common reactivity is within our breed.
I'm not going to share how to stop reactivity as that's another post altogether. I'm going to share how I personally prevent it from even starting to begin with. This is how I approach it. Other people might do things differently and that's fine. There's more than one way to skin this cat.
This is going to be helpful for people who are considering a new puppy or who already have a new dog and are wondering how to prevent reactivity from becoming a reality.
First, let's describe "reactivity" as it seems to be a catch-all term to describe lots of different types of problems. For the sake of this post I'm talking about what we usually think of when we talk about reactivity, the dog who blows up at the end of a leash - most commonly (but not always) towards other dogs.
What causes reactivity? Typically there's three emotions that the dog is experiencing when they become reactive: frustration, fear, and/or arousal, or any combination of the three.
The next question is, why is the dog feeling these emotions? That's a two part answer: learned behavior/experience and genetic proclivity. I'm not going to get too deep into the woods on these two points but they're important to understand. Briefly, the dog had an experience or a number of experiences that caused this behavior to develop and there's a genetic predisposition for it.
And another thing to touch on is what are known as "fear periods" in dogs. Again, I don't want to get to deep into the woods on this but in summary as pups grow and develop they experience fear periods where seemingly inconsequential interactions or experiences can imprint negatively on the dog. If you're looking for more info on this google will return numerous results.
Why is reactivity such a common problem?
In my opinion it has to do with how the everyday dog owner approaches "socialization." What does the every day dog owner do with their little puppies? They let every single person and every single dog approach and interact with their puppy.
They believe that the positive (positive from the humans POV) interactions will create a dog that isn't fearful or aggressive with strangers or other dogs. The owners have nothing but good intentions but what they don't know is they are planting the seeds for future reactivity.
Why does this create reactivity?
Three reasons: 1) the puppy is actually fearful of the interaction and you are allowing the pups worst fears to come true. The pup learns that you will not protect him/her from being approached by strangers and strange dogs and they have to protect themselves. 2) OR, the interaction is so rewarding and so satisfying for the pup that there's nothing you can offer that will outcompete the self satisfaction the pup intrinsically receives from the interaction. And 3) what was formerly a positive experience for the pup becomes negative due to a poor experience with the stranger. For example: they get bit by the strange dog or some strange kid roughly handles them.
How do we prevent any of this while getting the puppy appropriately socialized?
I like to refer to puppy socialization as "environmental exposure." The second a new puppy comes home to me I take them out everywhere. Even if it's just a car ride to get gas or a gallon of milk. I can't stress this enough, I work my ass off to make sure the new puppy sees as many different environments as possible. I take the pup out every. single. day. Parks, parking lots, in-town, stores, gas stations, coffee shops, etc. This creates confidence and social neutrality in the dog.
What do we do when we're out getting our environmental exposure? We do two things. I put the puppy on a flexi leash and I let them explore but I constantly call them back to me and reward them with food/praise and second, we play. We play with each other alot. We play, play and play some more. This shows the dog that I'm the most rewarding and important thing regardless of what is in the environment.
My goal is to make sure I'm the most rewarding thing to the dog in any environment. Most importantly, I purposely take the pup into distracting environments and towards distractions and practice recalling the pup and/or playing with the pup. I can't stress how important this is.
How do we handle interactions with people and dogs?
There's two schools of thought on this. 1) Let everyone and everything interact with your dog and 2) don't allow your dog to ever interact with other dogs or strange people - ever.
I take a different approach. I will allow very brief interactions that I can control and that I know are going to be beneficial.
Let's talk about people. I don't allow strangers to walk up and touch my puppy or my dog. I stop them in their tracks and tell them NO. This is very important for the pup to see. This way they know you got their back. Second, I don't allow the puppy to just run up and great people. I want them to understand this is unacceptable behavior.
What I will do is this, if someone stops at a distance and asks to pet the puppy, I'll make some small talk with them, (feel them out) give them some instructions on how to pet my puppy and then I will release the puppy to go towards the person. (If the puppy doesn't go towards the person I don't force it) I never let the person come towards the puppy. I will let the interaction go on for no longer then a few seconds. I will call the puppy off the stranger, reward the dog profusely and immediately walk away. I do this very infrequently. Maybe once a week or less if I'm taking the pup out six or seven days a week.
This teaches the dog that strange people are no big deal to concern themselves with either positively or negatively - they just exist like a tree or a rock.
How do I handle dog interactions?
I never ever allow strange dogs to approach my puppy. And I most certainly never take them to dog parks. One negative interaction can lead to a lifetime of behavioral problems for your dog. But what I do, is introduce them to dogs I know really well who are owned by people I know really well. While the puppy is small I treat the interaction just like I do with people. Brief, positive, infrequent and I always make sure the experience ends with ME being the most rewarding part of it. As the pup matures I'll allow more play time with well known and we'll behaved dogs but again, only occasionally.
I make a deal with the puppy from day one. I won't let strange dogs and strange people bother you and you don't act like a jerk on the end of your leash. Once the dog is about 5 months old or so, I teach loose leash walking and I enforce the rules.
Get comfortable with telling people NO you and your dog cannot harass my dog. But also be ready to tell your dog NO you can't just go and run up on people or dogs either.
Enforce this for life. Use your best judgement when you do allow interactions. Keep it brief and make certain you're the most rewarding part of the interaction.
This is how I do it. I do not have reactive dogs. I do not have behavioral problems related to reactivity and I have dogs who trust me, follow me and who are incredibly social, confident and outgoing.
Some people might do things differently. Some people might disagree with what I do. That is OK. This is how I do it and it's been successful for me.
Good luck!
