Loading.......

I use the term ‘loading’ when talking about what happens before a dog becomes reactive. Loading is that time between a dog noticing the trigger (dog/person/car/etc.) and the actual reactive behaviour (barking/lunging/growling/etc.). Loading can take minutes for some dogs or mere seconds for other dogs... it just depends on how much time they need to build the intention and intensity before they explode.

Kind of like a person who is always looking for problems and is quick to anger at every little annoyance. It’s during this loading period that we have the ideal opportunity to interrupt and correct reactivity before the dog follows through on his intentions and if our timing is good enough and our read on our dog is sharp enough then a simple ‘no’ and a low level tap on the remote collar may be all that’s needed to de escalate an otherwise reactive dog.