Canine reactivity, often misunderstood as generalized aggression, is an umbrella term for a dog’s excessive emotional response to stimuli like other dogs, people, or objects. While aggression involves intent to harm, reactivity stems from fear/anxiety, excitement, or frustration and does not include intent to harm (but can easily turn into outright aggression!).
Sources of Reactivity:
Fear based reactivity: This is the most common type, often (not always!) stemming from negative experiences or lack of socialization. Signs include barking, lunging, growling, and cowering around triggers like other dogs, people, or loud noises.
Frustration based reactivity: This arises when a dog’s desires are prevented from coming to fruition. Barrier/leash reactivity, for example, can look like a dog barking, lunging, growling, chewing, etc when they can’t get past the barrier to get to what they want. (Specifically leash reactivity is covered in more detail here)
Excitement based reactivity: This can manifest as jumping, barking, and excessive pulling on the leash due to overstimulation from exciting triggers like playtime or walks. This, along with hyperarousal in general, can lead to a whole other host of issues, like a dog fight breaking out during play
There are, of course, other things that can cause a dog to have big outward emotions, but they’re not necessarily reactivity (aggression is often referred to as reactivity, for example, but the two terms are not interchangeable)
What Won’t Help:
Compulsion training that uses fear or punishment can exacerbate anxieties and damage the bond with their handler. Punishing a dog for their reaction may suppress the outward behaviors, but does not positively change the dog’s emotions. Studies show that it can actually increase aggression and reactivity, not decrease it. This can be simply explained by, “when [stimuli] appears, bad things happen to me. GO AWAY [stimuli]”
“Flooding” the dog by forcing them to face the trigger in a very overwhelming way is often viewed as a “quick fix”, but is often the opposite. It’s a very old school way and outdated of thinking, both for humans and animals, and has been proven to make things worse. All it does is increase the fear and stress, and often make the dog shut down which looks like fixing it to the untrained eye. In reality, the dog is generally more upset than it started, making it harder to fix later.
Some Things That Will Help:
Positive reinforcement training builds trust and allows you to teach the dog alternative behaviors to cope with triggers.
A strong bond built on mutual trust and understanding is crucial for managing reactivity. The handler acts as the dog’s advocate, providing support and guidance during training and stressful situations.
Keeping them under threshold is imperative to managing reactivity. A dog cannot learn in any meaningful way while over threshold.
Systematic desensitization and counterconditioning, gradually expose the dog to triggers in a controlled way while pairing them with positive experiences. (More about this process here)
A cheery “let’s go!” And quickly turning and walking away from the trigger when the dog is clearly approaching their limit can quickly de-escalate things.
Important Considerations:
Some breeds are predisposed to certain types of reactivity (looking at you, herding breeds LOL), but individual temperament and early experiences play a bigger role.
The same trigger can elicit different reactions depending on the context (on leash vs. off leash, on property vs neutral grounds, etc).
A dog’s natural instincts and working drive can influence their reactivity.
Remember, reactivity is a complex issue and requires patience, dedication, hard consistent work, and often, the help of qualified professionals. By understanding the root cause, using positive methods, and building a strong bond, you can help your dog overcome their challenges and live a happier, more fulfilling life.
