What Does a Leash Reactivity Private Lesson Look Like with Venus and Mars K9
Introduction
Because I customize my training to the individual household and their lifestyle, every program is going to look a little different. However, many clients come to me with significantly "leash-reactive" dogs in busy neighbors, and many of those lessons have a lot in common. This article will describe what it typically looks like to do a lesson series with me focusing on reducing or eliminating leash reactivity.
But before we get into it, let's quickly establish some basics of leash reactivity. This is from my comprehensive article that gets into the nitty gritty of my training techniques for leash reactivity:
"Leash reactivity" refers to a range of behaviors that mainly occur when your dog is on a leash. These behaviors might include freezing, pulling, whining, growling, lunging, barking, or snapping. Many things can be going on for a leash reactive dog: play solicitation, demand barking at the dog for attention, frustration, predation, invitation to fight, fear, defensiveness, space seeking, surprise or startling, alarm barking/alerting, guarding territory, guarding handler, and more…
Before the First Private Lesson: Gathering More Information About the Leash Reactivity
Before we meet, I have all of my clients fill out an in-depth behavior history form that allows me to get a better picture of the dog's life, personality, and the exact nature of the problems we're dealing with. We discuss previous training history, how far away the dog has to be from a trigger in order for things to feel manageable, and if the dog is reactive to specific types of dogs or if issues are more global.
Before booking anything, I'm always happy to talk on the phone and answer any questions. I want you to know exactly what you're signing up for!
What About Reactivity Towards Humans and "Stranger Danger"?
If your dog lunges and barks at humans, many of the training techniques we use for reactivity towards dogs will be relevant for your walks. But I have a separate guide about stranger danger coming soon!
For Reactivity Towards Other Dogs: Social History
"Is My Dog Going to Meet Other Dogs?"
If your dog has very limited social history playing/directly interacting with other dogs, we will discuss if it may be appropriate and helpful for your dog to increase their social skills in a playgroup setting. This can be especially helpful for dogs who are young and fearful. Since I do not own a facility, I refer out for this specific service.
For dogs who are potentially dangerous – especially bigger and stronger dogs – even if direct socialization could potentially be helpful, the risk of dealing with dog fights might mean that the juice is not worth the squeeze. Introducing an unpredictable dog to a pack puts helper dogs at risk and can be very stressful, and thus is not always practical. Private lessons focusing on calmly coexisting around other dogs on leash can still be immensely helpful.
Dogs are social creatures and some can benefit from learning how to politely greet other dogs, but it is not imperative to practice greetings in order to make progress with leash reactivity. Some dogs are loners and simply do not like meeting new dogs. Additionally, dogs have perfectly fine play skills and are still leash reactive.
Most of leash reactivity training focuses on "neutrality" towards other dogs. In other words, we want our dog to anticipate ignoring triggers around them as if they were simply distractions. We want our dogs to be okay with not interacting with other dogs while on walks.
Core Principles and Foundation Training
For at least the beginning of the first lesson, we will address any important general concepts – the details of which will depend on your dog's personality. For example, for shy dogs, we will talk about how to boost their confidence. Owners of pushy dogs will learn how to encourage polite manners in general, etc.
If the training dog habitually pulls on leash, that will definitely need to be addressed – because if your dog lunges at a bush to pee on it, how can you expect them to control themselves around other exciting dogs? (Here is my comprehensive guide about loose leash walking.)
We'll also go over the training skills we will use around other dogs. This includes exact verbal cues, handler body language, reinforcement procedures, and leash handling skills.
We will cover what to do when you encounter a trigger on walks, starting immediately.
Helper Dog Set Ups
Why Do We Use Helper Dogs?
For most leash reactivity cases, helper dog set ups are immensely beneficial. Normally in a leash reactivity situation, your dog blows up at a trigger, and then the moment is over pretty quickly. You can't exactly yell out, "Wait, can you come back? I'm trying to train my dog!"
When using helper dogs, we allow the training dog to work completely through an emotion. This has a therapeutic effect.
Additionally, handlers get to feel more calm and confident knowing that the situation is under control. In these training sessions, I teach owners how to know when to ask their dog to do what. The human needs to feel calm enough to learn, too.
Using helper dogs, you have the opportunity to get a lot of reps in. Then as the training continues, you have those good experiences for your dog to look back on as a point of reference for what we're looking for them to do.
Making the Set Up Easier
For dogs who need it, I have the option of making these set ups a lot easier for the training dog by first keeping my helper dog very calm and still. There's something to be said in this situation for my helper dogs acting as a good role model for the dogs in training.
If the owner is feeling scared or having a super hard time handling their dog in this situation, I have the option to start out handling the training dog myself, too. (I do this by tethering my dogs to a tree and/or using a fake, stuffed dog as a distraction. Yes, most dogs think the stuffed dog is real, at least at first.)
Making the Set Up Harder
We practice harder set ups by having the helper dog be more exciting and distracting: they make eye contact with the training dog, walk directly at the training dog, run, jump, play with toys, and/or bark. We can also do "surprise" drills where helper dogs burst out from around corners.
Group Class for Reactive Dogs
Group class, when done right, is like having a group full of helper dogs. It is for this reason that I like to run mixed-level group classes: the more experienced dogs get to act as a role model for newer dogs. Everyone enjoys this.
My class Teamwork on the Town meets outside at different parks, and so the group gets to practice around random dogs in public, too. We frequently meet at parks that have fenced dog parks nearby, and that can also be a fun distraction.
Graduating to Real Life
There comes a time where our training dog is ready to graduate from set ups and focus on real life. It can be very helpful for me to observe owner's behavior when they themselves are also surprised. There is definitely something to be said for me being able to coach you in "real life" and in real time.
At this stage in training, we often want to meet in the evening or on weekends, perhaps even at a park, so that we run into lots of dogs on purpose.
Getting Stuck and Troubleshooting
Throughout the training program, we will continue to check in about the timeline, your dog's general progress, and how to handle any bumps in the road.
How Long Does All of This Take?
How many lessons are needed completely depends on the dogs. Some teams are able to majorly improve their walks in just a lesson or two. But many leash reactivity programs need to meet at least weekly for a couple of months or more in order to make progress. If the dog has a strong habit with a lot of stress and emotion driving their behavior, then training will take more time.
I am usually able to tell within 1-2 lessons with helper dogs what the general vibe of the training timeline will be.
Will My Dog's Leash Reactivity Be Completely Eliminated?
In our lessons, I can guarantee that you will learn techniques to better control your dog and regulate their emotions. Some dogs can indeed completely "recover" from reactivity. With dogs of certain personality types in the city, keeping their cool around other dogs may be a continued work in progress with more gradual improvement. Since we are working with sentient beings and much responsibility ultimately falls on the owner, I never guarantee specific results.
Would a Board and Train Be Better?
Board and train programs can sometimes be helpful, but most board and train's fail to transfer skills to the home environment. That is why I instead offer Intensive Programs in the neighborhood that the dog lives. If you live in Chicago, you can learn more about that program here.
In Conclusion
Leash reactivity can be stressful, and there are frankly a lot of trainers out there that will take your money without helping you. Hopefully this article helps you decide if leash reactivity private lessons are right for you.
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Venus and Mars K9 provides in-home private dog training and group class for basic obedience, puppy socialization, trick training, dog sport foundations, leash reactivity training, and other canine behavior problems. We travel most frequently to neighborhoods such as Humboldt Park, Hermosa, Logan Square, Avondale, West Town, South Loop, Downtown Chicago, Ukrainian Village, Bucktown, Wicker Park, East Garfield Park, Fulton Market, North Center, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Roscoe Village, Irving Park, Portage Park, Oak Park, River Forest, Forest Park, Pilsen, and Bridgeport.
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