When dogs plateau, it’s usually because owners are pushing too hard. If your dog is still lunging at other dogs, perhaps a break from agility is in order. Maybe pulling back a bit and focusing strictly on the reactivity might be beneficial.

Often, when we’re working with reactive dogs, it can get discouraging over time. We wonder if our dogs will ever be “normal”. When you get to this point, it’s best to seek out support. If you can’t find a Control Unleashed class, I would recommend the DVDs that Leslie put out. They’re a fantastic way to get you to the next level.

Thanks for reading Behind the Behavior and telling us about your experience with Katy. Good luck!

Kay and I took basic obedience when she was about one, a few months after I took her in. She was uncomfortable and timid, but managed through okay and learned the basics with little obvious reactivity. Although she didn’t seem to enjoy herself, there were no specific scary incidents.

For the next year, I regret to say that I didn’t socialize her very well. Then, when she was three, I enrolled her in another basic obedience class. She was a holy terror the first day, lunging, growling and barking forcefully at whichever dog was nearby. It was an ugly eye-opener for me.

In that year, which has been the past 12 months, I have been extremely committed to her training and socialization. She has gained confidence through clicker work, and rally and agility training.

Her reactivity has also improved through use of Control Unleashed games, attention work, and plenty of structured socialization several times a week, but to my dismay, even when she is acting happy, confident, and full of herself, she is still very reactive around unfamiliar dogs. Her reactivity threshold to unfamiliar dogs is about 10 feet. She can be very close to the other dogs in our classes because she knows them.

I would like to be able to walk Kay around in a pet store without her actively seeking out another dog to lunge at. I would like to be able to walk her past an unfamiliar dog without her lunging and barking, hackles and tail up. I would like for her to be able to greet an unfamiliar dog calmly. By the way, she is worse when I am with her than when I am not.

I have heard several times that a reactive dog will always be reactive; that it is incurable. I am beginning to question whether Kay will ever become normal, no matter what I do.

My questions are: Do you think Kay could learn to exhibit normal behavior around unfamiliar dogs? If it is possible, what on earth can I do to teach her? If I am unwittingly contributing to her reactivity, I am committed to change.

Thank you for reading all this and any advice you are willing to offer.

We have taken Luke to the dog park four times. Two of the visits were great with no issues. Luke played well with all of the other dogs, large and small, even some of the more aggressive dogs. A perfect little gentleman. The other two visits had to be cut short. In each instance, Luke was playing fine with the other dogs until a very submissive female dog arrived. It was a different dog in each case, but both were females, still puppies, smaller than Luke, and very submissive. As soon as these dogs came into the park, Luke went to each one and was very aggressive. Barking, hackles up, acting like a lunatic. He rarely even barks at another dog. He would not listen to myself or my wife and even when led away from the dogs would immediately run back to them and continue the aggressive behavior if we let him go. In both cases we left the park since he would not calm down and leave these two dogs alone.

He has been around smaller dogs exhibiting submissive behavior in one on one encounters and at obedience classes and has not exhibited this behavior. Our neighbors have a 6 month old female Puggle that Luke has been around without issues and his favorite doggie friend at obedience class is a much smaller male dog that is also submissive. Any ideas on why this would trigger the aggressive behavior in Luke?

Congratulations on the furry addition to your family! It sounds like Shelley is what I call a “Woo Hooer” which means that she likes other dogs and when she sees one, barrier frustration kicks in and she barks and lunges because she can’t get to the other dog for a butt sniff. You can click and treat Shelley for staying calm around the other dog and and turn and walk the other direction if she reacts badly. This takes time to train, but it can be done if you work slowly and at a great enough distance from other dogs. Patricia McConnell just updated her book titled “Feisty Fido” which I highly recommend. This book can be purchased for $9.95 at: http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/product/the-feisty-fido

Please write back and let us know how your work with Shelley progresses. Good luck!