Behaviour never occurs without reason, and reactivity is no different. Whenever we start working with a behaviour problem, it’s important to consider the dog’s physical health and how this is affecting them – you can read more about this here. Excluding the effects of pain and discomfort on behaviour, we then need to break down the emotional components that can affect reactivity.
Fear is one of the biggest motivators behind reactive behaviour. It’s often assumed that fear arises due to a negative experience and this can sometimes be the case – a dog may have been rushed by an off-lead dog or even have been attacked. However, an extreme experience is not required to create fear. Some dogs are genetically predisposed to be more fearful, and lack of careful, appropriate exposure to dogs during their critical socialisation periods can result in fear reactivity arising. Once the behaviour has begun, dogs are quick to learn that fear reactions are an effective way of getting other dogs to move away from them and so begins a well-reinforced cycle that instantly makes the fearful dog feel safer.
Dog 1 approaches → Dog 2 reacts by barking and lunging → Dog 1 moves away
When we are working with fearful dogs, our main aim is to encourage feelings of safety – building new habits around other dogs as we go along. This requires careful management on the part of the handler to ensure the dog is shielded from situations that will worsen their fear, while utilising appropriate situations to develop their confidence.
Frustration is another key motivator behind reactivity. Frustration is the emotion that occurs when an animal is thwarted from doing something they want to do – we see this in dogs who are desperate to greet other dogs but are prevented due to being on lead. The answer for these dogs is not to let them off-lead and allow them to greet everyone!
Dogs who have been allowed to greet everyone on walks as a puppy, or who have attended daycare or off-lead play sessions without the appropriate work on calm, on-lead behaviour, can easily tip over into frustration reactivity, particularly during adolescence. When we think about how this behaviour is reinforced, we can see that other dogs moving away from them on walks is not rewarding this response in the way it does with fear reactivity. However, the act of reacting (by barking, growling, or lunging) provides an outlet for the frustration and thus carries internal rewards for the dog – making it tricky to resolve.
In cases of frustration reactivity, the emphasis is on providing appropriate outlets for general frustration, as well as teaching suitable alternative behaviours from a distance initially. As the dog learns that these alternative behaviours are rewarding, we can close the distance and practice them around their triggers. Where appropriate, we can also use interaction with other dogs as a reward for calm behaviour on lead.
Sometimes we can find ourselves with a dog who is conflicted – they experience both fear and frustration, which makes their behaviour harder to manage. Gaining a clear understanding of the individual triggers for these responses is essential: for example, a dog might display frustration when they see another dog calmly sniffing along on their walk, but if that dog glances up and makes direct eye contact with them, they might become fearful. If we can break the behaviour down into its individual components, we can target each of these through behaviour modification, often using stooge dogs to create a controlled environment in which to begin.
Do you think your dog is fearful or frustrated? Understanding the drivers behind their behaviour is the first step to resolving it. Get in touch if you’d like help understanding your dog.