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Places near dublin to walk reactive dog

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  • 13-09-2020 4:17pm
    #1
    zedhead
    Registered Users Posts: 601 ✭✭✭


    I got some great advice here about helping my dog settle at night and am back looking for other advice.

    We have quite severe leash reactivity with our dog. We got a trainer and while we saw some improvements initially using the techniques he seems to have done a complete 360 in the past week. Its incredibly stressful and he has even started reacting to some people, not just dogs which is even worse. There does not seem to be a threshold for him to where we can catch him before he reacts, if he isn't reacting then he hasn't seen the dog. He has also snapped at my partner a couple of times in the house for seemingly no reason which is not helping the situation.

    So I have a couple of questions. Has anyone dealt with this before and is there light at the end of the tunnel? It feels completely hopeless now to be honest and it has set off sever anxiety in both myself and my partner.

    Does anywhere know of any nice walks in dublin that would not be busy with other dogs. Particularly ones that would have some open areas, that if we encountered another dog we would be able to make some space and distance quickly rather than being blocked on the path. Everywhere we think to try seems to be dogwalker hot spot.


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    #2
    coddlesangers
    Registered Users Posts: 211 ✭✭coddlesangers


    I may be reiterating things you already know . When your dog snaps, he is being taken over his stress threshold. If you can't identify where that threshold is, you should muzzle him in public. You say you cannot catch him before he reacts - at what distance does he generally react? Our dog was very leash reactive and dog and human aggressive when he was between 18 months and 3 years old, it took a long time to sort out. For us the "breakthrough" was distance, or more accurately, us identifying where his threshold was, and it was a lot further away than you may think. At the first sign that he is paying attention to something, anything, human, dog, cyclist whatever, you should retreat till he is no longer paying much attention, ask him for a look and then reward him for paying attention to you. I'd use pretty high reward treats for this, chicken skin and the like, not compressed carboard commerical treats ;-) . Work on this for a while and eventually he will start looking for the treat as soon as you back away from the cue for his reaction. Over time you can start to move closer to the cue and if you do this correctly, he'll continue to pay attention to you rather than the dog/cat/cyclist/child. Leash reactivity and dog reactivity are often just signs of a nervous or stressed dog, not an aggressive one. If you make a positive association between stranger danger and a treat, eventually you'll get there, but it takes a LOT of work. You really have to be super aware of other people and dogs during this phase, its really unfair on the dog to meet people or dogs until you've sorted it out, as every encounter that goes badly will somewhat reinforce his reaction. This obviously makes walks difficult, hence my suggestion to muzzle until you have the problem sorted, and at all costs AVOID the stressed reaction. Best of luck.


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    #3
    Dubl07
    Registered Users Posts: 1,801 ✭✭✭Dubl07


    If he can burn off some steam by running off-lead for an hour, Wonderpaws in Enniskerry have a private, secure, 2-acre area for €15, you could then try taking him for a short walk on-lead in one of the many local woods. Just make sure his tick treatment is up to date as there are deer in the area.

    Then remember that if you do meet another dog, 3 seconds is the max for any close encounter with new dogs. Greet and move on.


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    #4
    zedhead
    Registered Users Posts: 601 ✭✭✭zedhead


    Dubl07 wrote: »
    If he can burn off some steam by running off-lead for an hour, Wonderpaws in Enniskerry have a private, secure, 2-acre area for €15, you could then try taking him for a short walk on-lead in one of the many local woods. Just make sure his tick treatment is up to date as there are deer in the area.

    Then remember that if you do meet another dog, 3 seconds is the max for any close encounter with new dogs. Greet and move on.

    Might check that place out. Good for weekends but not practical mid week.

    Def can't get close enough to another dog for a greet. He's growling, barking lunging at a rugby pitch distance. We had him up at the back of Marley yesterday when it was quiet and apart from the fact he lost all his lead manners we had a couple of positive interaction where he sat and took the treats i was scattering after seeing 2 different dogs at a distance he would usually be reacting.


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