In the past year and half, Danny’s dog reactivity has improved bunches. Often these days, as soon as he hears a dog bark wildly from behind some curtained window, he turns to me first. “Good dog!” I say as enthusiastically as possible while my hand goes to the Treat Pocket. “You are so good! Very calm. What a good dog.” Treat delivered, barky dog passed; Danny is good to go.
But, sometimes, that doesn’t work. And by “sometimes,” I mean “today.” He was wound up all day, biting the cat, whining to go out, following me all over the house. I did give him his flea treatment this morning, which always makes me wonder if he’s going to have some kind of neurological collapse from chemical exposure. Or it could be that the sun was out and the days are noticeably longer.
In any case, by the time Danny and I went for our run this afternoon, he was wound tighter than a top. He lunged at everything and sniffed at everything and crossed in front of me — and back — and in front of me — and back. Annoying.
Then the skateboarder went by. Danny had a freakout. We had to walk, and when Danny was calm, he got a little piece of cheese from the Treat Pocket. Not ten feet later, a dog came barreling from his front porch to bark at Danny from behind the safety of his chain-link fence. Danny had a leash-biting frenzy the likes of which I have not seen for months.
The barking dog was Danny’s last straw; the frenzy was mine. He did not heel, did not sit, did not calm down. I grabbed his collar and said, “I have had about ENOUGH.” We crossed the street, where Danny calmed down. When he was sitting and focusing on me, he got another piece of cheese and we continued our run.
I wish I could say being stern worked magic, but it didn’t, really. When we passed other barking dogs, he turned to me for cheese instead of freaking out, which was nice. But he still pulled and lunged and crossed as we ran. I figured if he had that much energy, we’d just keep running. So we did. About a mile more than we ran yesterday.
We shared carrot sticks and peanut butter when we got back, and he’s now passed out on my office floor. Good dog. Finally.
Kristine said
Sometimes exercise is the answer. But it is really hard to stay calm, especially when your dog has improved so much and then all of a sudden has a bad day. It’s frustrating, to say the least. I think you handled this brilliantly. I am glad he is finally relaxed.
khg said
Thanks for the encouragement, Kristine. It’s a good practice for letting things go — you can’t hold a grudge when your dog makes a mistake. You have to be able to praise and treat when he (or she — Shiva, I’m looking at you) gets it right five minutes later.