Reactivity Recovery

Living with a reactive dog--a dog who 'overreacts' to the world around them by barking, lunging, or biting--is hard.

Dinner and drinks at dog-friendly patios are off the table.

Pet store and park trips become tactical trials that test your vigilance to the max.

Instead of the relaxing strolls you envisioned, walks become a dreaded exercise in exasperation and embarrassment.

This is not what you signed up for. 

But, I have good news.

This is not your fault--or your dog's. 

Cortisol Response is the root of reactivity. Cortisol is the secret ingredient that combines with genetics, lived experience, and health status to shape our dog's response to the world around them...sometimes with explosive results! 

Cortisol is a stress hormone, and is released when a dog (or any mammal!) is exposed to stimulus. The amount of cortisol released depends on the novelty, speed and predictability of movement, duration of exposure, and distance from the dog.

Every mammal has a unique cortisol threshold above which they revert from learned behaviours to one of four instinctual defensive behaviours. This response is commonly known as 'fight or flight', but we now know there are additional panic responses including fawn and freeze. 

When a dog's nervous system is overwhelmed with cortisol, they make a subconscious snap decision to preserve their safety. The dog will either attempt to Flee the most direct threat, Fawn in an attempt to de-escalate the situation, Freeze in hopes the threat passes, or posture and threaten to Fight the most direct threat. 

Given agency, most dogs will freeze, fawn, or flee before they choose a 'fight' response. Unfortunately, pet dogs are not allowed much agency.  When dogs do not feel they have the option to flee, their last resort is a 'fight' response in a desperate bid for space from their triggers. The result is the aggressive behaviour that brought you to my page today!

Humans and other dogs generally give space to an aggressive dog, and so the 'fight' response becomes 'self-reinforcing', or more likely to repeat. 

Frustrated, embarrassed owners become tense on walks or even apply punishment when reactive behaviour occurs. Unfortunately, these responses contribute to the dog's cortisol load, and dogs begin to associate 'corrections' with their triggers--leading to more fear!  Owners and dogs fall into a vicious cycle, damaging their relationship and diminishing everyone's quality of life.

We can make this better. 

There are three steps we will take to addressing your dog's reactivity:
- Develop their optimism and resilience, increasing their cortisol threshold and decreasing their baseline stress level.
- Use counter-conditioning techniques to reduce your dog's cortisol response to their unique set of triggers.
- Carefully assess your dog for signs that underlying health conditions may be contributing to their cortisol load.

With a recommended three weekly sessions, you'll be well on your way to a more harmonious life with your dog!

Let's get started--you aren't in this alone!

When I begin working with the guardians of a reactive dog, they all have the same question: How long?

How long until my dog can have playdates at the park?

How long until I stop getting the stink-eye from other dog walkers?

How long until we can sleep in without a hysterically yapping alarm clock?

Basically, How long until we can do all the normal 'dog things' that reactive dogs are not able to do?

The good news is, our very first session will give you management techniques to transform your walks from struggling to strutting.

 But finding and addressing the root of an individual dog's reactivity, and making real, lasting behaviour change, take time.

In reactivity recovery, we are asking the dog to rewire deeply entrenched neural pathways and build new ones. That's hard work for anyone, but particularly for an instinct-driven, fast-learning animal like a dog! The dog's genetics, lived experiences, and even their health status will all play a part in in how tricky their reactivity is to tackle.

The good news is, YOU (not I!) have a great degree of control over how quickly your dog progresses.

The more time you are willing to dedicate, the more diligent you are about sticking to the program and the more proactive you are about putting in the work, the faster you will see improvements.

Instead of working on a calendar timeline, I work in 'phases' and determine when to progress based on the dog's behaviour and the client's handling skills!