Excerpted from Feisty Fido by Patricia McConnell, Ph.D and Karen London, Ph.D
In some ways, your dog’s reaction to other dogs is like a bad habit. Every time she barks and lunges, she’s like a would-be quitter having just one more cigarette. Keeping this in mind, anything you can do to prevent an incident is worth doing. Prevention is not giving up. It’s a way of protecting your dog from situations that may overwhelm or frighten her and act to reinforce those old, bad habits.
You’ve probably already spent a lot of time trying to prevent incidents while walking in the neighborhood, but it always helps to review what you’re doing now to stay out of trouble while you’re working on a treatment plan. Most people with feisty fidos try to walk their dogs at quiet times of day. (We’ve learned to assume any dog out walking at 5:30 AM might be trouble!) When you do encounter another dog, don’t hesitate to cross the street or turn and go the other way. To make this possible, try to walk on streets that have little traffic. Obviously, you are already avoiding streets with dogs running loose, but you also might want to look out for yards with high hedges that may conceal approaching dogs until they are too close. Most importantly, if any situation makes you feel concerned, avoid it. Many of our clients skipped their neighborhood walks during the early stages of training, and found other ways to exercise their dogs. (See Play Together, Stay Together for ideas.) Don’t think you are being a wimp for avoiding trouble. You’re being a wise and thoughtful dog owner with a carefully thought out rehabilitation plan.
For more tips and advice on dealing with a leash-reactive dog, purchase Feisty Fido from Whole Dog Journal.
