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Guy at the park yesterday made me rethink how I handle my dog's reactivity
I was at Riverside Dog Park on Tuesday and this older dude with a lab mix just sat on a bench the whole time ignoring his dog. Meanwhile I'm over there micromanaging my reactive shepherd every second. He finally said "your dog is feeding off your tension, not the other dogs." And honestly it hit me hard because my dog actually calmed down when I sat down and stopped hovering. Has anyone else just stopped trying so hard and seen their dog suddenly chill out?
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victorcoleman1mo ago
@evanr79 that's basically exactly what happened with me lol. I was running around like a maniac trying to control everything and my dog just got more wound up. Soon as I sat down and stared at my phone she just... stopped. Now I bring a book and just let her sniff whatever she wants. Works way better than me hovering like a helicopter parent.
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evanr791mo ago
Took my reactive GSD to a training class and the instructor basically made me sit on my hands for the first fifteen minutes. Not allowed to say a word, just had to stand there like a statue while my dog freaked out. After about ten minutes she stopped barking and looked at me like "okay what now." Realized I was making everything worse by constantly correcting her. Now I just find a bench, sit down, and let her figure it out. Takes way less out of me and she's actually better off for it.
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