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When we say a dog is ‘reactive’, we mean that they bark, whine, pull towards or away from something which is scary or exciting. Common things that dogs react to are other dogs, noisy traffic, children on scooters, strangers coming close and wildlife (oh, those squirrels!).
These are called these ‘triggers’, and every dog has them. Sometimes they can cope with one trigger, but when you have a few in quick succession – someone is beeping a horn, there’s a pram coming past and you’ve just seen another dog – this is called ‘trigger stacking’. It all bubbles over and you find yourself standing in a street with your dog wound up like a spinning top – and you are not far behind!
We understand owning a reactive dog can be stressful, embarrassing even, but it is very common.
It takes a long time to improve so be consistent, but also don't berate yourself if you didn't quite get through it as smoothly as you wanted – both you and your dog are learning with this one.
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