Could my reactive dog ever enjoy adventures?
A lot of the messages I’ve received recently have gone a little something like this.
“My dog would love to go out more, but they’re not great out and about and bark at other dogs so it’s really hard to take them anywhere. Would they ever be able to go on adventures?”
Let me let you in on a secret. This is Needle, my youngest dog. Having owned 30ish dogs in my life, Needle is my first personal dog I would consider reactive. From her very first outings as a pup she would blow up at dogs 200 metres away, couldn’t take food in public, and was generally a very stressed wee dog. Add in a few less than ideal experiences in her early life and her intense nature as a dog bred to work all day, to say we have worked through some challenging outings would be an understatement.
Now at 2 years old, she has spent the past couple of weeks on a roadie around the South Island with me and a friend - visiting all sorts of busy spots, staying in campgrounds and meeting lots of other dogs. Beautiful loose lead walking along the busy shores of Lake Wanaka, off lead hikes in busy dog friendly forests and beaches, falling asleep under the table at cafes and staying in campgrounds along the way.
She’s still a work in progress in many ways and we do still have some days that are more challenging than others. But generally she is able to be a dog, enjoy life and even got a few complements along our adventures about how lovely and well behaved she was. If she has a stressy moment (which are less and less frequent), we can recover and get back on track quickly. We actually enjoy ourselves out and about these days knowing that we have built up her resilience and our relationship to handle life.
Having a reactive dog isn’t something to be ashamed of, nor should it stop them from being able to enjoy adventures with you and potentially with others. Put the time in, seek help when you need it and keep pushing forward. It won’t always look pretty and it won’t always be easy, but there are so many adventures waiting for you.
