Small Steps

Fearful, reactive dogs don't become dog park divas overnight.

When living with a fearful or reactive dog, training is all about small steps. You have to pay attention to and celebrate the minor successes. There aren’t likely to be any major accomplishments at first. In fact, the only way you may see a major accomplishment is to step back and look at the last few years together!

I’m going to take some time today and point out some of Risa’s most recent successes. For her, these are big breakthroughs and they deserve to be celebrated!

* They put out vending machines at the park where we walk the other day. At first, Risa gave them a wide berth but, with some minor encouragement, she went up to and investigated all of them.

* At class the other night, she only woofed softly and immediately whipped her head around to give me eye contact when she saw another dog running past.

* Risa investigated a construction sign blowing in the wind and my mom’s coat that was hanging in the hallway after initially startling at them.

* While hanging around at rally class, Risa tried to initiate a face-to-face greeting with another, friendly dog. The only reason it wasn’t successful is because I called her away. (I didn’t have permission from the other dog’s handler and, since I wasn’t 100% certain it would go well, I didn’t want to let Risa continue. It probably would have gone fine; both dogs were being very appropriate.)

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. --Lao Tzu

* She exhibited no reactive signs despite being around a ton of dogs at the rally trial.

* On one of our recent walks, we passed an excited young dog who wanted to make friends. Risa took a treat from my hand as she passed and didn’t try and eat my fingers! (Dogs suffering from stress often exhibit a ‘hard mouth.’ This means that even a dog who generally takes treats nicely will utilize more pressure than normal when they’re upset. So Risa wasn’t too stressed out by this dog!)

* Some utility workers came to the door the other day. While people at the door generally send Risa into a barking frenzy, this time she only barked once or twice and then sniffed them from afar.