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Reactive Behaviors in Dogs
By Mark McCabe
Everyone tells me my dog needs more socialization,
but she just keeps getting worse!
Sound familiar? One of the most
common reasons for calls to a trainer and one of
the two most likely to go unresolved, along with
separation anxiety, is what trainers and behaviorist
call reactive behavior. Dogs who intensely bark
and carry on at other dogs, people, passing cars
or bikes, the vacuum.....almost anything can be a
focus of this kind of seriously difficult and, often,
embarrassing and sometimes dangerous behavior.
Reactive behavior can start in very young
puppies or later in life, but very commonly in the
first year of life. Reactivity is a hugely common
reason for dogs to be given up by a family. It is
not only common by normal for this behavior to
exist in dogs who are not only friendly in many
circumstances but may be intensely loving and fun
with the family and other dogs in the household,
they may go to doggie daycare and may even be
the most engaged and playful dog there. They may
love the family cat which seeming to be on a mission
from God to kill every other furry little thing
on the planet.
Once given up these dogs are sometimes rather
quiet dogs in shelters, not necessarily showing their
problem behavior. If they end up in rescue it is
common for rescues to either not see the problem
behavior or undersell it or even completely not
mention it in their promotion of the dog. In general,
rescued dogs are often rather quiet in the first
few weeks they are in a new home and don’t show
signs of their worst behaviors. All of this often leads
to the family having just enough time to truly fall
in love with their new friend before the behavior
that likely put the dog into the rescue/shelter sys-
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