Hello, I have a 11 month old labrador (turning 1 in 5 days ) who is extremely reactive to people and dogs. At first we thought it was just her being angsty coming back from her de-sex operation (which was roughly 7 months ago) but the barking and lunging continued until now. There was a point where she would bark even if the dog/person was nowhere near her reach but it has now improved to being able to walk within a roads distance between the person and her. The thing I struggle with the most is that when she sees a dog no matter how close or far they are, she lies down and puts her deadweight on her body. Meaning, I am unable to even lift her up myself as she just doesn’t care enough to stand up. Because of this, she gets the opportunity to become reactive to the dog or person because I definitely don’t want to drag her across the concrete. Does anyone have an idea why she does this? At first I thought this was her way of inviting the dog to play but it always ends with her lunging and barking at the trigger. I can’t even turn her around to walk in another direction. I’d hate for this to continue because I really want to take her to more beaches and dog parks because when she is comfortable with the dogs she has a lot of fun. Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you
Hi Mia, welcome to the forum Happy birthday to your puppy! This article on our main site has information about managing reactive and aggressive behavior. If you can afford it, meeting an experienced force-free behaviorist in person can also be invaluable for dealing with complex unwanted behaviors. Best of luck!
