The Question
[High energy, reacting dogs.]
I am bringing high value treats, I have a young 13 month old Goldendoodle. It is very difficult to avoid any Dogs. since I live in San Francisco, a very highly dense, dog friendly city. So I have to walk him out during the night time or early in the mornings [T]hen [I] take him out quickly every 4-6 hours during the day.
When he reacts, I am not quite sure what to do. I bring chicken thighs or breasts, or other high value treats. [I] try to gauge his focus, but there are too many blindspots and tight narrow paths. [I]t’s hard to see when a dog is coming from 10, 20, 50, 100 feet. Should I be walking away? What if there’s another Dog from the opposite side? Should I be standing in front of him? He mainly barks but sometimes will tug on the leash a bit. Anyone have any videos?
I am using a flat collar. He reacts to Dogs on or off leash, when he meets the Dog, he stops barking and sniffs them and wants to play with them. A trainer has told me that he seems to want to play with everyone, which is normal at his age.
What should I do? Should I be taking him to Doggy Daycare if this is true, that he is not reactive in the sense he is fearful or aggressive, but just wants to meet every dog? He has had this issue in the past but I never thought of it as an issue, since he was only like 3-8 months old and we all thought it was just normal puppy behavior.
DOuGTrainer’s Answer
There is no “best thing.”[1] You’re going to get lots of answers—opinions. They’re just opinions.
By the time he reacts, you’ve missed your mark. Here’s the clincher—you need to have made progress with him in the preceding weeks before he reacts to get him to the place where he never reacts in the first place. That’s not impossible. However, it’s a reframing and a retraining of yourself to get you to that mental space. Right now, you’re in the place where—two or three weeks from now when you take him on a walk and he sees and reacts to another dog—you can work on both of you now to get him to be in a better place two or three weeks from now so he doesn’t react.
Here’s another clincher—it’s not the dog that needs to be doing the work, it’s *YOU* who needs to be doing the work. This is a significant difference from what you’re going to be hearing from everyone else, because I don’t train like everyone else.
To Reddit or not to Reddit
I’ll answer here. Be ready to hear different things than you’re used to hearing, because—and this should make sense—if you’re going to hear something that works, it’s going to be different. Because it’s different, it has to sound different. And that sounding different will be the thing that holds the seeds of the solution that you’re *NOT* hearing in the same ol’ things you’ve been hearing in the other forums.[2] It’s just common sense.[3]
It’s Not What We’ve Always Done
This is not what you’re used to hearing, but do work with your dog to get him to submit. Just do work that you need to do to get him to submit in your home. All places, all times, all contexts.
I’m leaving a ton of supportive information out of this, so understand that I do this over a three week period. That’s how long it takes. I’m training you, but through your training, as you act differently with and toward your dog, his behavior changes over time BECAUSE YOU’VE STARTED CHANGING. It looks like your dog has been trained, but it’s that you’ve now begun to say different things to him, and you’ve started asking him different questions. His communication is, after all, behavioral, not voice.
Say Something New About Reacting
It’s so hard yet so easy to grasp that because you’ve now started saying different things and asking different questions of your dog, his responses are different and those different responses *ARE* the things that look like the change in his behavior… which it is and they are. Training that changes the dog’s behavior can be thought of as a process of language, and as a change in you and your dog’s language processes. This is not the way traditional trainers train, not how they talk about training, nor how they get their dogs to change their behaviors. Once again, it sounds different because it is.[2] Fortunately, it works better than the Old School ways.
As you do the work ahead of time, and as you get your dog’s energy level to be in the low range where its brain is present, the higher energy ranges sort of float away for the moment. High energy dogs are the dogs with the problems because of the high energy range being where Nature triggers all the wild-dog behaviors we’re wanting to avoid—the reacting.
Lower the Dog’s Energy, its Reacting Goes Away
His energy lowers. Nature takes the sidelines. The dog’s brain connections take over. Obedience happens—my definition of it. “Being obedient” means the dog’s energy range is low. It’s you keeping his energy range low. Nature never takes over. Nature never triggers any reacting behaviors. His brain pays attention to you. He’s being a relaxed, voluntarily submissive dog. Those dogs *aren’t* reacting to other dogs on walks. They’re not reacting BECAUSE YOU’VE INVESTED THE TIME TO GET HIS ENERGY LOW, WHERE UNWANTED, HIGH ENERGY BEHAVIORS CAN’T HAPPEN.
Reacting Is Always About the Human First
The fix is always in the human. Once you figure out what it is that you can be doing differently, your dog’s behavior immediately changes. Teaching you that is what I do. Learning that requires an open mind, which—although some forums claim to be—they’re unfortunately not open minded.
Respectfully submitted.
Doug Parker
DOuGTrainer.com
7 2 5 – 2 2 2 – 3 6 8 6
[1] There is never a “best thing.” There are only approximations to what seems to be best currently. This is a change from the old way of looking at things. There are no experts—there are only individuals with more expertise. You are your dog’s expert; do not abandon that role. There are no correct answers—there are only preferred answers given our best attention and awareness.
After all, the earth used to be considered the center of the universe. Everything changes
[3] Common sense is itself a topic worthy of its own discussion. Common sense is the place in you which is common to the same place in me, which is common to everyone else’s place, and is also common to Nature. That’s why they call it common sense, that’s why it works, that’s why it feels so… common sensical. Where the current culture is afraid to talk about inside issues and internal factors and characteristics, common sense is its source. It comes from our insides.