So what do we do?

How do we change our dogs’ emotional response?

Step 1 - Classical Counter Conditioning to build a new association with a trigger 

Other dogs = something good from you

The key is that we aren’t asking our dogs to *do* anything. Just that each time they notice a dog, something good happens. By working with a low intensity trigger (a calm dog far away) and a high intensity reward (food, movement and praise) we’ll help them shift their initial emotional response to other dogs. 

Emotions happen first - then behaviors. 

By calming that initial surprise, we can help calm their reactions to the emotions that are showing as barking, lunging, etc. 

Step 2 - Help your dog learn how to look away

We *do* want them to see other dogs, communicate through body language, and take in information, but then know that they can look away and things will feel good and safe! Hard staring often leads to overwhelm and a reaction. Looking away can only happen when they are calm enough to listen to cues they know well (their name, come, this way, etc)

Step 3 - Let your dog make the choice to look away on their own 

When they are able to think, and we’ve rewarded repetitions of looking away over and over when we ask, they will start to make a new association. At this phase, other dogs actually become a cue to check in with you. Just like a cue for ‘sit’ can be the word sit, or a hand signal or a cue for an alert behavior in a search dog can be finding a scent, anything a dog can see, smell or hear can become a cue to do skill. 

This is a huge shift for a reactive dog! Instead of another dog causing overarousal, other dogs become a cue to check in with you. Most anxiety is not knowing what comes next. Knowing instead what to do when they see something overwhelming builds massive confidence in a dog - and a key part is that they are doing it with you as a team. You are there to support them and have fun, instead of being an anchor at the end of the leash. 

Step 4 is to spend time around other dogs in a calm way, where everyone can be ‘neutral’ to each other. 

We’ll need to log lots of boring ‘hang out’ sessions with other dogs minding their own business to help tip the scales from the bulk of the time our reactive dog has spent feeling over aroused around dogs so far in their life. 

This can be time spent knowing other dogs are there, but calmly sniffing, exploring just being a dog, practicing tricks or obedience skills, working on a chew project off to the side, or just getting a calm massage and pets from you while hanging out.