Reactive Dogs

I (Sarah) first met Heidi the St. Bernard last year. Her owner was having surgery and needed somewhere to board her dog-reactive dog. Under the supervision of her trainer, we introduced Heidi to my dogs on opposite sides of a fence. They all calmly ignored each other and the trainer said that with work, they would be able to get along. We began taking pack walks in a neutral location together to give them the opportunity to get to know each other in a safe environment. At the first walk, Heidi lunged and snapped at my dogs when she saw them. On the second walk, she lunged and snapped when they sniffed a plant she wanted to sniff. We continued our walks, working up to having the dogs walk between us instead of on far sides from each other; then to me walking all the dogs together, on the same side of me. Heidi ended up boarding with us and she did well with my dogs, though she was supervised closely. However, when other guest dogs came over, she would lunge at them which meant she had to be leashed and supervised at all times and separated in a different room when unsupervised.

Heidi seemed to want to be around other dogs and enjoyed certain ones but she didn’t quite know how to behave appropriately in social situations. She needed help to learn the rules. For a single-dog home, how is a dog-reactive dog to learn these social rules? They need practice being around other dogs and someone to show them what to do. Working with Heidi and seeing her grow in her social ability made me want to find ways to safely work with dog-reactive dogs.

NoogaSitters sometimes receives requests to board dogs that don’t get along well with other dogs. We have to turn these bookings away and it always makes me sad that these dogs can’t experience the joy of playing with other dogs. An owner with a dog-reactive dog has very limited options when it comes to boarding their dog, and few of the options will help their dog grow in their social skills to help them overcome their reactivity. Working with Heidi and turning away dogs are some reasons that I decided to add a kennel aspect to my in-home boarding. I am able to take care of dogs like Heidi that need guidance and extra supervision. When they need a break or I am unable to supervise them, I have a safe place for them to go to rest. They can still be with the rest of the pack, but have a safe space for themselves and to keep the rest of the dogs safe.

Now that I have completed my dog training certification, I am excited to focus my attention on training dogs to be well-rounded dogs as well as learning how to help support dogs who need extra training and growth in their social skills. Heidi came for a visit today; it’s been two months since the last time she came. Check out these videos of her growth; I’m so proud of her!!!