Frankie

Behind the scenes of mixing a reactive dog. Warning: contains beagle howls!

Frankie was on a farm for the first year of his life and hadn’t met other dogs. Then he was in a house for another year before being brought into us. His owner told us he was unable to mix him, he was too reactive. 

We initially used Paxo - a realistic-looking toy dog - as a gauge, and Frankie showed us he is scared around dogs, which helped us understand where his reactivity was coming from. Next, we were happy to try him with a real dog.

We thought about our choice of dog carefully, as he needed a calm and quiet dog, and Brie was just the ticket (she was in rescue looking for a home at the same time).

We introduced them through the bars first - safer for everyone and less overwhelming for Frankie. You can hear his warning howl and see that he was tense at first meet, then softened for his second hello. A positive start.  

But as soon as the lead went back on, he turned reactive again. It was a setback, not entirely unexpected, and our expert team know how to help him.

Brie was so calm, we worked Frankie through his frustration, calling him back to us to break tension, moving him around, giving him time to adjust. In just half an hour, we achieved amazing results and he had his first ever interaction with a dog.

Both Brie and Frankie have been adopted into loving homes.

» Find out more about reactivity on our Pet Care Advice pages