Reactive On walks?

Walking a reactive dog using remote collar communication

When walking a dog who struggles with reactivity, I give them lots of help through remote collar communication so that she can focus on her task (heeling with me) while I help her ignore distractions by correcting her mindset every time she starts to stare at or ‘load’ on a trigger. This staring at triggers is a loading process in which intensity and frustration is building within the dog (just like pressure building up within a volcano before it erupts) until the dog explodes with reactivity. We want to help the dog as early as possible, by correcting her mindset for her when she can’t do this for herself and looooong before she ever becomes reactive. We want to teach our dogs that their triggers are actually none of their business and that they should ignore them rather than becoming obsessed and reactive with them because they can now trust that we handlers will advocate for our dogs so that they don’t have to worry about a thing!

The walk is a team effort between dog and handler meaning that they both have jobs to do if the walk is to go smoothly! The dog’s job is to hold command the entire time (calm heel when in motion and auto sit when the handler stops walking) and follow his handler’s guidance while the handlers job is to make sure the dog is in a calm mindset, holding command, and also advocating for the dog at all times. When both of us are doing our jobs to the best of our abilities, the walk is a wonderful and important daily ritual of leadership building and connection