# reactive to other dogs?



## asuk (Jan 6, 2017)

Hello

How do i get him not to be reactive to other dogs on our walks? he doesnt bark at them, but he quivers with excitement when he sees another dog. he wants to play, but i want him to ignore. we play the "look at that" game at home, but i find as soon as we leave the house, he forgets everything and goes mental when he sees other dogs. the silly thing is once he greets and plays with them and we pass the other dog again, he isnt so reactive, he is aware but he isnt going mental, kwim. he is 15 months.

any other ideas? thanks


----------



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Have you moved your at home LAT to the front lawn? If not do that and then also take it on the road to local parks where you can sit and watch without moving until you get to a point where your pup looks to acknowledge what is around and then reconnects to you. It sounds like you need to continue what you are doing in ways that do two things: a) generalize to many places and other variables; and 2) reinforce where once the exciting/interesting/worrisome thing has been acknowledged you get reconnected to each other.


----------



## lisasgirl (May 27, 2010)

Yeah, I agree that it sounds like you need to slow down your LAT transition.

Another thing that can help is to keep the dog moving past other dogs. Archie used to completely melt down every time he saw another dog on a walk (he's an excited/over-friendly type), but we couldn't discontinue walks because it was the only way he could go outside. So one thing we worked on was a moving "watch me," which is where he has to make eye contact with me while walking. So if we're in a situation where we have to pass a person or dog he's excited about, I can say "Look" and he looks up at me until we're past them. That's easier for him than sitting and waiting, as that tended to frustrate him. He has an easier time when he can move to expel his energy (so when we do have to sit still in an overstimulating environment, I'll often ask him to do spins to help defuse things).

I also automatically cross the street to avoid other dogs in my neighborhood as too many of them turn out to also be reactive (thus setting off a chain-reaction), which helps a lot. He gets that he can't get to them from across the street so he doesn't even bother.


----------



## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

If you want your dog to ignore other dogs, you have to decide to never let your dog greet on leash. If you let your dog greet on leash sometimes, you're going to make more problems because of random reinforcement. Letting your dog say hi sometimes makes the desire to say hi much stronger. Random reinforcement is what keeps a gambler sitting in front of a slot machine for 10 hours, losing the rent money, in hopes of winning big. 

If the machine never gave any money, the gambler would give up and leave. If the machine sprinkles out money every few tries, the gambler will stay all day long. Your dog is the same. If you never let your dog say hi on leash, he'll eventually give up trying. If you sometimes let your dog say hi, your dog will never give up.

If you're sure you want a default ignore, start with never ever letting your dog say hi. Not on his birthday, not on Christmas, never say hi. Other dogs are on look at that status. Noelle never greets dogs on leash.


----------



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Oh yes, definitely Click. All or none. This is too confusing otherwise. I truly believe dogs don't need to say hello at the drop of a pin and I don't allow any of my dogs to greet others when out and about.


----------



## asuk (Jan 6, 2017)

Thanks! I like that idea of not greeting dog on leash. I am choosing to do that with Milo.


----------



## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

In that case, Milo is probably going to get worse for a little while. Expect frantic barking, leaping, straining, trying to greet other dogs. It might even look like someone put the desire to say hi on steroids. This over the top reaction is called an extinction burst. It's normal. As the new rules settle in, Milo is going to resist strongly for a while, but once he discovers that no matter what he does he will not be saying hello, he'll quit and the behavior will become extinct.

Play look at that with dogs at a distance. If your dog is too excited to take a treat, you're too close to the other dog. Cross the street to avoid contact. If other dog walkers seem offended, tell them your dog gets too excited. That can help smooth over hurt feelings. Good luck. You can do this.


----------

