As I was typing my post about Shadow getting bitten, and reflecting on how it might affect his attitude to other dogs, I had a little glimmer of realisation. It seems as if his reactivity to dogs is a huge mountain to climb and one we'll never get over. Maybe it is. But, for ages, I was in a dark place about how both of my dogs were reactive to children. I realised that I've not had a single problem with them around children in months. OK, so we still don't have massive numbers of encounters with kids, but they've walked past loads in the streets of town without a flicker of anxiety, and I can see in hindsight that I've managed to relax with it, too, because I'm not constantly scanning for kids anymore, in order to manage the situation. That is a tiny flicker of hope that, one day, I might have dogs that are unfazed by the things that once made them anxious. That's a good feeling
Fiona,you will get there....Dexter was reactive to the security barriers and the security men wearing Hi vis after he got a scare when he was little......there's not a feather out of him now as he passes...I don't know about his lead reactivity....I don't think we will ever 'cure' it but we are are unrecognisable to how we were when it was manifesting badly..He's still reacting but to a much lesser degree ......but I am mangaging him and the situation...he's definately not able to manage himself ,that makes me a bit fatigued sometimes,I wish it wasn't so.I know him now and can read him so much better,plus I've learned so much about it that I haven't got that tummy turnover anymore when we encounter a starey dog/horse/camel/person ......that's been absolutely key to things getting better for us .To the untrained eye we are bouncing along having a great time the reality is ,Dexter is probably under orders !
Yes, it's a good feeling having a reactive-less walk, so you must be very pleased with Willow and Shadow's progress. I sometimes wonder whether Wispa senses that I'm constantly scanning when I'm walking her on her lead, even though I'm being relaxed about it. She's improving but still unpredictable, fazed by nothing one day and then seeing invisible fairies as well as real things the next! She recently barked at an empty tree-clearing vehicle parked on a path (where nothing has ever been parked before as the road is only a few feet away!), but totally ignored the workmen clearing the undergrowth!
I think not. A couple of months ago, I had a session with a behaviourist, and he said a useful thing to me. He said ignore all that stuff about your emotions transmitting down the lead - just think about that for a minute, it's not going to be true - what matters is how you act and what you do, not how you feel. Sure, if you appear like a gibbering wreak to your dog, you might make things worse, but if you just stay calm and work through your plan, all will be well.
Thanks for that, Julie. I suppose logic tells me that, but logic is in short supply when things go a bit pear-shaped!
