Get A Handle on Reactivity

00:00 — Kati introduces her dog-training podcast and frames reactivity as a common behavior-modification challenge.

Welcome to Off Leash and Unfiltered Trigger Warning. I'm Kati Peppe, delivering the Truth in Dog Training.

Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Off Leash and Unfiltered. I am Kati peppy, owner of Diamond Canine Dog training in Biddeford, Maine. We specialize in eco training for off-leash obedience, behavior modification. We do lots of state of mind stuff. Um, and so that's really our bread and butter, that's what we do the most of. That's what we're the best at. We also do puppy stuff, puppy raising, puppy manners, um, and things of that nature. So that's who we are, that's what we do. And, uh, I do this podcast so I can try to reach more people, um, with information that I know is hard to find.

So there's lots of information out there. Most of it is wrong. Um, not saying my way is the only way, but in a lot of cases there are a lot of things that are black and white and there's just, there's a lot of lies out there.

Um, and it leaves a lot of people really stuck and really frustrated, and I hate that. Um, and so I'm really, really passionate about spreading the truth, which nowadays the truth is, is 100% demonized. Um, and so I think it's important for people who do know to stand up and, and get that message out there. So that's what I'm doing. Um, but a couple episodes ago I said, you know, on my next episode we'll talk about reactivity. Um, and on the next episode, I didn't talk about reactivity because I already had another episode queued up <laugh> to upload.

So it had already been recorded. Um, but so I wanna take the opportunity today to cover the reactivity topic. And, uh, it's a loaded subject,

It's a loaded subject, and I could go on about it all day. Um, but I like to try to keep these episodes somewhat brief and packed with useful information. So I'm going to try to, um, kinda limit the scope of what we're talking about with reactivity today. But it's such a common, common, common issue, um, that this was a, a huge one I thought we needed to cover. So if your dog deals with reactivity, your dog struggles with reactivity. Now, reactivity, people try to discern between reactivity and aggression. Don't bother because it really just doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter. Like if you put your dog on a leash or behind a window or a gate or whatever the case may be, and they react to another dog or a person or whatever the case may be, then you have this problem, okay? If your dog reacts in an excited way, because, you know, people will say, my dog wants to go say hi.

Of course, a lot of people say that <laugh>, when maybe that's not the case. But even if that is the case, it's still reactivity, right? It can look a lot of different ways. You don't need to know what the dog's intent is. You don't need to speculate about what the dog's intent is. It doesn't matter. So right off the bat, I wanna get one thing straight right now. Don't waste your time worrying about what kind of reactivity is it aggression? Do they just wanna go say hi? Do they wanna do harm? Are they hostile? Are they just exci?

It doesn't matter.

So hopefully that clarifies a lot for you right there, <laugh>. Okay? So I have the whole range, the whole spectrum of reactive dogs coming through here, everywhere from gently pulling on the leash, wagging softly, wanting to go say hi to everybody, to like up on their hind legs, pulling, lunging, barking, snarling, growling. You know, they wanna go kill the other dog. So we, we see it all, they're both reactive. And guess what? The solution's basically the same for both <laugh>. Okay? So hopefully that makes it a lot easier for you. You don't have to figure all that stuff out.

04:00 — Reactive dogs may pull gently toward people or lunge, bark, growl, and snarl at…

It does not matter. Okay? So that's the first piece. Number two. The second piece is the way you live with your dog. <laugh>, everybody knows I love that subject. Um, structure, structure, structure. So there's the, um, overused cliche, dirty word, okay? So if you're not using a lot of structure in your household right now, start doing that.

Um, the way you live with your dog just changes kind of the way they go through the world, their level of arousal, how they view you. Um, and it's going to change your walk. So start using some structure, okay? Meaning tell your dog where to be, what to be doing. Use their kennel when you're not home. Use their kennel overnight when they're sleeping. Use their kennel sometimes during the day when you are home and you are awake, um, when they're not in their kennel, do some place time. Teach them to go to place to stay on a bed.

If your dog doesn't have that command, now it's easy to teach. Um, and I also, I offer an online course for that. It's $99. Um, and that course is called 10 Days to a Great Place. You can find it on my website, Diamond Canine, that's C-A-N-I-N e.com.

10 days to a great place. It teaches you how to get started with the e-collar, start tying it into all of your dog's commands, but it teaches you a place command from start to finish where your dog will be able to stay there for hours. Highly, highly, highly recommend. Um, but teach your dog a place command, okay? However you choose to do it, get it done. Use that place command in the house a lot, right? So people get all bent outta shape and they're worried about their dog being pent up and being mean, and they feel guilty and their dog needs exercise.

It's like, yeah, of course I need exercise. I'm not telling you not to exercise your dog, but just roaming around your house isn't exercise. So I always tell people like, if you view your dog walking around the house as exercise, that's the thing.

You should feel guilty about <laugh>, okay? Because that's not exercise, all right? Uh, take your dog out for a nice long walk, a jog, a swim, chase the ball around, whatever gets on their exercise, go in the house, place or kennel, okay? And start practicing more of that. So start taking the decisions away from your dog. I know I talk about this a ton, so I'm not gonna go on about this much longer, but if you're not familiar with me, if you haven't listened to my other stuff, you have to start taking away that autonomy, right?

Because right now your dog is fully autonomous and that's why they're reactive. They say, I make the decisions and I decide what state of mind I'm in. So when you start taking over and saying, Hey, I don't want you in this state of mind, that state of mind, I want you calm, I want you here, I want you doing this, and I want you to be calm.

I want you to be able to cope with being inconvenienced. I want you to shut off arousal and be calm. Like even if I'm over here, you know, wrestling with my daughter or the other dog, um, or something else that's gonna get him going, you know, maybe my daughter's doing some gymnastics. Like, I want you to stay there. I want you to be calm, right? So all of a sudden you have a say, you have a vote over their state of mind, and that's important. And teaching your dog impulse control and how to deal with being inconvenience and all those things, that's gonna bleed over to your walk.

08:00 — A place command can help owners influence their dog’s state of mind around stimulating…

So utilize that structure, right? That puts you in more of a leadership role and it puts them in more of a follower role. And you gotta have that on your walk, guys. 'cause only one end of the leash can really be making the decisions <laugh>. It's gotta be you. So utilize that structure. Okay, third piece, D the big ugly word, punishment, right? So that's big. If you don't like the word punishment, oh, well, <laugh>.

So punishment from a be behavioral perspective, right? The behavioral definition, um, scientifically speaking, you know, is nothing more than reducing and eliminating a behavior. So anything you do that reduces a behavior is a punishment. It's nothing more than that. It's nothing less than that. And it is absolutely unequivocally necessary for every single dog that exists. And I very, very rarely globalize like that. You will not often hear me say always or never, or everything or nothing. I just don't do it. I, I am very precise in my speech, or at least I, I try to be, I really make an effort to be.

Um, but this is one case that is just a hundred percent no question. Punishment is necessary for every single dog if you want to create reliable behavior. So I don't care how good your dog is, if you want anything that that dog knows to become truly reliable, you will have to use punishment to make that.

So otherwise, you're just in a tug of war with the environment. And even if you usually win over the environment, something will come along where you don't. Okay? So punishment is necessary, but especially there shouldn't even be any question if we're talking about a reactive dog. So if you have a reactive dog, that reactivity will absolutely need to be punished. And guess what? I'm gonna tell you how to do that. I'm gonna tell you how to do that. So I'm gonna recommend two pieces of equipment that I recommend all the time and that we use on 99% of the dogs that come through here.

I'm gonna recommend a prong collar, okay? I have videos on this on my YouTube channel. Go to Diamond Canine dog training, just the letter K, the number nine in that case. Uh, and I, I think you can also just Google my name, Kati Peppe, P-E-P-P-E, um, and it will come up. But we've got videos showing you how to select a prong collar size, a prong collar, get it fitted to your dog properly and how to use it. So watch these videos and there's lots of other great videos out there from other trainers as well, okay?

But I recommend the herm springer prong collar most of the time. And uh, they sell some really big ones guys. So don't go out and get like a four millimeter prong collar. I mean, these things are huge. They're for like silver back gorillas or something. I always say like, they're just giant.

So I like to actually use the smallest one I can get away with. And the smallest one that we usually use is a 2.25. So if you even just go on Amazon and you look at the prong collars, look for Herm Springer, and you're gonna see the 2.25, which is a fairly small prong collar. Um, it's a thinner gauge of metal. And I would use that probably on dogs that are like 40 ish pounds or less. Now, some dogs bigger than that can use them. If you have like a, a taller slender dog with a slender neck, they might get away with using a smaller one.

12:00 — She recommends selecting the smallest suitable Herm Springer prong collar, commonly the 2.25-millimeter model.

And I will do that when I can. So I have like some like female dobermans that are pretty big dogs, but they're, they're very s felt and that thin collar does just fine on them. But most of the time we're using that on dogs that are like 40 pounds or less.

And then if you have a larger breed dog, get a three millimeter, okay? They also sell a 3.2. It's okay, it's not my preference. Again, I like them to be as small as possible. So a three millimeter, and that's what we're using on most of the large breed dogs and extra, extra large breed dogs. I almost never use anything bigger than a 3.0. Okay? And then you have to size it properly. So it shouldn't be loose, it shouldn't be hanging down. It shouldn't be a necklace. It should be nice and snug. It should be up at the top of the neck.

And then you gotta learn how to handle your leash. Watch some videos. Leash handling with a prong collar is critical. Not because you're gonna screw up your dog, okay? Not because you're gonna do anything terrible to them. You're not. The collar's very safe.

The tips are blunt, they're not sharp. It doesn't do half the crap that everyone out there says it does. Um, you're not gonna hurt your dog on it. You'd have to fling them to the moon, <laugh>, I mean seriously. Um, but it does put like a little microphone on the end of your leash so your dog can actually hear what you're saying with your leash. Now, and that's so important guys, but you gotta know how to handle your leash, otherwise your language is still gonna be inefficient with your dog, okay? Your physical language. So you need to learn how to use leash pressure and leash pops to influence behavior.

And when you're not doing one of those two things, if you're not using pressure and you're not using pops, then your leash needs to be loose, right? Because that's the whole point in the prong collar.

If you have a tight leash, the prong collar is engaged and so then it becomes meaningless, right? We need that collar to be disengaged most of the time. And then when you wanna say something to your dog, it becomes engaged. So it becomes a really effective communication tool and a great way, way to influence behavior. Um, both increase and decrease behaviors depending on how you're using it. Okay? So get a prong collar, get an eco. So some reactive dogs, if your dog is at the softer end of the spectrum where they're more mild, you might not need the E for this.

You might be able to get away with using a good leash pop. You gotta learn how to do it right? So put it on a stuffed dog <laugh> or something and practice, watch some videos. And the second your dog sees another dog and their little ears perk up, I want you to say no firmly spot, okay?

You can adjust your intensity based on what your dog says they care about, right? So if you have a super, super sensitive dog, maybe you just need a little wrist flick. But that's pretty uncommon with reactivity. Even the mild, mildly reactive dogs. Um, they get so excited when they see another dog that you usually will have to be a little firmer. And for some dogs you're gonna have to be very, very firm. Okay? So I don't know you, I don't know your dog, so you get a navigate some of this yourself of, but again, don't be afraid of it.

16:00 — When a dog notices a trigger, she says to mark the moment with “no”…

You're not gonna hurt your dog giving him a leash pop, okay? But your goal in that moment is to say no. When they look at the dog that way, you cannot let them stare at that dog. You especially cannot let them stare at that dog with their ears up, their forehead wrinkled and their eyes getting big.

They cannot look at dogs with excitement. So you have to understand that because if you wait until your dog starts reacting, you are missing the boat, okay? You're missing the boat and then it gets a lot harder. So this is all way easier if you catch it super, super early and you tell them right when they start looking at that dog or person with the excitement, no, that's when you say no, you follow that no with a correction, which if you just have a prong collar will be a firm leash pop, okay? And you might have to do that more than once.

You're not gonna just do it once and then your dog walks by with no problem. I mean, maybe they will, that'd be great. Good for you. But most dogs won't. They're gonna keep trying to go back to staring and getting excited and you're gonna have to tell them no again and pop it a little firmer. Okay? So your job is to not give up, right? Because that's what people do. They give up, they tell their dog once, and then they're like, oh, well I can't stop him. Oh, well he went back to staring. I guess it didn't work.

It's like, oh, well it didn't work because you gave up.

Okay? So don't be a weenie <laugh>, tell your dog no. Like you make the decision you're driving the bus. So lots of times I get dogs in where people are afraid to take their dog places and do things with them, right? And <laugh>, sometimes that's warranted. But like, here's the difference between me and I don't even think about it. I put the dog on a leash and we go and I'm not worried about it. I just expect them to do well. I expect them to be fine, right? But if they're not, I'm going to fix that, right?

So you have to make up your mind that when you go after something that you're going to succeed. Now you're not a dog trainer. Maybe you haven't done this before and so maybe you're not gonna succeed the first day, but once you get the hang of it, you'll build some confidence. And then you gotta get into the mindset that if my dog reacts to another dog, I'm going to tell him no, I'm going to stop it. I'm going to control it. I have a new tool in my toolbox and I make this decision. That is not how we react to other dogs.

That is not how we walk by other dogs.

So I'm gonna be confident I'm gonna put my dog on a prong collar and a leash. I'm gonna have the leash loose and we're just gonna go for a walk and things are gonna be great. And you know what? If they start to look at another dog, I'm gonna correct it as firmly and as many times as I need to to make sure that they change that behavior, okay? And with dogs that are at the softer end of the spectrum, you're probably gonna be fine with just that. Just that, okay? Now, if your dog is a little more of a serious customer, um, their excitement is a little more over the top or they tend to be more aggressive in nature.

Um, just more severe, more intense, right? Um, they tend to be the ones that are like up on the hind legs and it's hard to like peel them away and, and move on. Um, they tend to be more vocal, right? So those dogs, you might not be able to do this with just a prong caller, but just wanna remind you, if you can get in there and nip it with a prong caller, it's your best chance is going to be super, super early. You have to get them when they start staring guys. So most people let their dogs stare way too long.

20:00 — Dogs that rear up and vocalize intensely may require more than a prong collar…

You only have a second, like literally a second, okay? Five seconds in your toast. It is too fricking late. So I mean it, you gotta be fast, okay? Say no first, follow it with a correction. Adjust your intensity up. If it doesn't work, be firm. Okay? The other dogs, you're gonna do the same exact thing. But use an eco, get an eco from eco technologies. I don't recommend other ecos. It's not that they won't work. Um, this is just the one that I use. Any of their models are great. Now in this case, we're just using it for punishment.

So you could probably get away with, with any eco. Um, but I would recommend a good quality one. You know, Garmin sport, dog, dog, tr, those are all fine too. Um, some of those models, they don't have the low level stuff that I like to do for obedience.

But we're not talking about obedience here. However, if you think you're gonna wanna use your eco for obedience stuff too, then invest in the good model. Get the, get a model from Eco technologies. We usually use the mini educator and that's got a really wide spectrum of intensities. Um, so you can use it really, really gently when you're doing obedience training. Wicked, wicked, cool tool, okay? But as far as the reactivity goes, your dog starts to stare, right? The second they look at that other dog and those ears come up, boom. It has to be right then guys, no.

Whip up your e-collar. Hold the button down for a second, right? I say that because if you do a quick tap, it hardly registers. Like they might not even notice it. So make sure you hold that button down for a second, right? And you gotta gauge their reaction really fast because if it doesn't work, you need to go up significantly, okay?

So you need to be prepared to do that. Get used to the tool, play with it before you put it on the dog and go out because you'll miss your chance. And what can happen and what you hear about sometimes is you'll hear people say that ecos, you know, or any of these tools make dogs aggressive and they don't, it's not true. Um, if your dog's aggressive, it's because it's aggressive, it's not because of the tool, right? But what can happen is you can drive dogs up if your timing isn't great, right? Or if their intensity is just so high and you're a little low.

So if you're a little too slow with your eco or a little too low with your eco, you can sometimes just piss your dog off more <laugh> is what happens. Okay? Um, so it's not that the eco is making them aggressive, um, but you can sort of, if you're too afraid of it, you underwhelm the dog, you might drive them up, annoy them, make them more excited, more hostile, whatever the case may be, whatever they've got going on. And then depending on your dog and the, you know, the type of dog they are and how intense they are, some and how much they respect you.

24:00 — She warns that highly frustrated dogs may redirect onto their handlers and suggests using…

'cause this is a choice, they may turn around and unleash all that frustration on you.

So if you think your dog is so intense and disrespectful that they might just try that, put a muzzle on 'em, okay? At least the first time you go out 'cause you don't know. So we want everyone to be safe. Um, you know, and I don't want anyone to be afraid of it. Um, because this is where success lies for so many people. Like this is your, your key guys. Like this is the way out of your walks being hell. I can guarantee you that. Okay? So a lot of people are gonna tell you too, that you have to do all kinds of pre-work with the e-collar and condition your dog and teach them what it means.

Bullshit. Yeah. For obedience you do, right? So if I tell a dog to lay down and they don't lay down and I just zap 'em with the e-collar at something uncomfortable or even not uncomfortable, it doesn't matter. They're not gonna know what that means, right? So if you want your dog to do something like an obedience command, then yes you have to do some pre-work, right? But in this case, you gotta understand the difference. We're not asking your dog to do anything, we're just punishing a behavior that is different. There is a difference between I want you to do something, I want you to carry out an action that takes training

Or don't do that. So don't do that is actually much, much easier. It's much, much simpler. It's only one step of training, which is tying an intolerable consequence to that behavior that they do. So to be crystal clear, you make it really unpleasant to look at dogs like that. You make it really unpleasant to react dogs, you make it really unpleasant to look at dogs with arousal and excitement. You make it really unpleasant to stare at dogs if you can do that. So look at it that way, right? Really break it down and make it simple for yourself.

Like that is your goal. If you have a highly reactive dog, make it really, really uncomfortable for them them to stare at another dog. And don't just give up because you did it once and they look back,

Right? If it isn't working, you are probably too low, okay? And you can hold the button down at least on this model. And you have to understand how your buttons work because you can change the functionality of your buttons. Okay? So I'm not gonna go through all that today. You have to do that piece, hold the button down while they are looking at the other dog, right? 'cause then you can make a really crystal clear pattern for them. It's like, hey, when you're looking at that dog, it sucks. But the second you look away, you get relief.

So if you can do that, then you can get there. You can teach your dog. Hey, why don't you walk by other dogs without staring at them? It's so important guys. You cannot let your dog stare at other dogs. You have to make it uncomfortable if they're a reactive dog,

Not that any dog should really be staring 'cause that can't go anywhere good, right? And I don't care how far away the dog is, they could be a football field away if your dog is looking at them and their ears are perking up, oh you're losing them. So you better get in there and pull their attention away. Okay? So now that I've gone over the really the most important pieces, I'm gonna give you some little tips with this eco correction piece. Number one, always say no before you push the button. And even with the prong caller, if you're just doing leash pops always say no before the leash pop.

28:00 — She emphasizes saying “no” before pressing the e-collar button and interrupting the dog’s attention.

Not during guys, before you should say no first. Okay? Second piece. Ideally you can teach your dog what no means before you go out on the walk. Now people are gonna think this is mean and cruel and awful, but it's not. There is a reason we do it. And it's effective and it will help you and it will help your dog

In the peace and quiet of your living room. When your dog's being as good as gold, say no. And then go correct them and do that at least a couple times. Okay? Two or three times you can correct them any way you want. Could be a leash pop on the prong collar. It could be a bonk with a rolled up cotton towel. It could be a higher level eco correction. Any of these are fine as long as they are very unpleasant, okay? You don't need to put your eco on a hundred. We don't need your dog to hit the ceiling.

You don't need to light them up like the 4th of July. But you wanna attach something meaningful to your word. No. Like very meaningful. Okay? So if you understand how dogs learn and how they learn patterns, how everybody does really <laugh>, you say the word no, right? So that's the first piece. And then you follow it with what you want them to attach to it. So you follow it with an unpleasant correction. Now guess what's gonna happen if you do that? You're gonna go out in the world on your walk. Your dog's gonna see another dog or person or whatever they react to.

And their little ears are gonna come up and their eyes are gonna start to get big. And you're gonna go, no.

And hopefully if you did it correctly and you did it meaningfully, they're gonna go, uh oh. Right? And so in that moment, when they go uhoh, their arousal comes down. Now that doesn't mean you don't have to correct them. Yes you do. Once you say no, you have to correct them. So let me be clear about that.

But now correction's going to work. Okay? So a lot of people go out and their dog's so reactive and they can't get ahead of it. Their corrections are too low, they're too slow, their dog's too intense. But if you teach a good no when there's nothing going on, then when you're out in the world and your dog starts their reactive process, you now can throw that word at them and that will take the arousal down. So now you have an opportunity to get in there and correct them. And it works. It's magic. But most people can't do that guys because they suck at punishment.

Like, I'm sorry, I'm just gonna tell you how it is. Like people suck at punishment. It is absolutely what they're the worst at. Which is why I talk so much about it. It's not because I like it, right? But I see the good that comes out of it and I see how desperately people need it and I see how terrible they are at it. So it's what I wanna help people with because it's life changing for them and their dog. And frankly it's life saving. Okay? I have a dog right now in private sessions who slipped his collar and attacked a dog, um, bit the dog and the person.

Um, and she's being sued.

And I'll tell you what, after one session where I showed her to do this, he'll walk by another dog and he won't even glance at the other dog. Wouldn't even dream of it. Totally focused on his handler. Such a good boy, good boy, right? He gave someone stitches not that long ago. So it's life changing

32:00 — She shares a case where one session helped a dog pass another dog without…

And you need this <laugh>, okay? You need this. So listen to it, it again, take notes and go out and do it. Um, you know, lots of good videos out there, but there's also lots of crap out there. So just, you know, be mindful when you're watching someone who's going on and on about how other trainers and are heavy handed and too, you know, militant. And you know, some people say punishment based air quotes here. 'cause there's no such thing as punishment based training. Um, there's just effective training which will involve both reward and punishment and neutral consequences as well.

Um, you know, people going on and on about how much better that they are than other trainers and how much more humane they are and how everyone else is giving ecos a bad rep and a bad name 'cause they're not using 'em, right? Like, those probably aren't people you wanna watch, number one, because they're more interested in just making themselves look good than anything else.

And there are some really big name famous trainers out there that are, they make a living off from talking about how they're better with the eco than anybody else. How they're more humane and how everyone else is so crappy, right? Those aren't people you wanna watch. They're not gonna <laugh>, they're not gonna, I'm not to say they have anything of value, they probably do, but you're gonna have trouble finding success, dealing with unwanted behaviors, listening to that kind of a person because they don't wanna just tell you like it is, which is you need to punish those bad behaviors.

Okay? So listen to the people that are being honest about that. Watch their stuff and they're showing those people are showing their results,

Right? So that's been my experience, um, is the people that go on and on and on about doing things the right way and humanely and all this conditioning you need to do and how, you know, everyone's too heavy handed, right? They're not showing any results because they don't, they're not fucking getting them <laugh>. Like that's just a fact. Like they're just, they're not getting results. So they're not showing them. Uh, and if you wanna listen to that, great. Um, but I, I couldn't do it <laugh>, and it's not gonna help. It's not gonna help. So find some good trainers that show their work, watch their videos, watch my videos, um, and try some stuff.

So don't be terrified of it. You're not gonna screw up your dog even if you do mess something up. It's fixable guys, okay? Don't, don't worry. Don't worry so much. I'm here to tell you not to worry so much, right? Staying stuck is not a better idea than trying something that you're a little worried about. Staying stuck sucks. The worst case scenario is you go out and you try something and it doesn't work,

Right? Or let's just say you did create a new problem. So what, it's not gonna be any worse than what you have now. And it's not permanent. Nothing's really permanent unless you make it that way because you give up. Okay? So at this point we've eco trained hundreds and hundreds of dogs, right? And I've just, I've never had one. And it's, we're not perfect either. We screw things up and the dogs are fine guys. Even we make mistakes. The owners go home after private sessions, they make mistakes, sometimes they make big mistakes and things are fine.

36:00 — She reassures owners that mistakes during training do not necessarily cause lasting problems and…

So if you needed to hear that, you've heard it <laugh>, okay? So stop sitting on your butt and um, go nip that reactivity in the bud. And there are some dogs out there that are a lot harder, right? And we've had some of those for sure. We've had dogs that really struggle with reactivity. Um, and no matter what we do, they still kind of struggle with it. They still need to be kind of managed. Um, but they're pretty rare. Those dogs are pretty rare. Chances are, even if you have a highly reactive dog, you don't have one of those dogs, okay?

You might, but you probably don't, but you probably don't.

All right, so what else? I think that's it. I don't wanna, I don't wanna make this episode too long. The only other thing I'll say is, you know, the obedience piece is great. So if you can, if you can do that and teach your dog the obedience piece and leverage that, that's wonderful. But that is more of a time investment. Um, but having the accountability for the obedience, um, it does change the relationship. It does change the way your dog views you. It does change the way they go through the world. It does help them grow impulse control.

Um, and so that's a great help when it comes to dealing with reactivity. But even without that, use the structure guys that we talked about earlier and learn how to punish the beginning of the reactivity sequence right before the explosion. Catch your dog starting to climb the ladder and punish that. So it looks to the outside world, like you're punishing a dog that didn't do anything wrong. And if somebody sees you do that, it might even be a friend or a family member, it could be a stranger. They might ask you what the hell you're doing?

Punishing a dog that didn't do anything. What are you doing to your dog? Because they don't know, okay? They don't know, they don't get it. And guess what? It's not their fucking business.

So, you know, you know what your dog is about to do and you have to have faith in that. You are the one that knows best for your dog. So historically, your dog has told you, I start with this and then I climb that ladder and I go right off the cliff, right? And so if you catch that at the beginning, you're not being abusive, you're not being mean, you're not being evil. You just know how to eliminate a behavior. You know how to make your dog better. You know how to help your dog make a different decision.

39:00 — She recommends neutral praise during successful walks instead of exciting the dog with an…

And that's the way you do it.

So be prepared for that because it does, it does look to other people like the dog didn't do anything wrong because they're just starting the sequence, right? So if everybody around you can tell why you did it, then you probably were way too late <laugh>, to be honest, okay? It's gotta be early. But hopefully once you do that piece, then you can start, you know, rewarding your dog for better choices. But I do wanna say be careful there because arousal breeds reactivity. And if you reward your dog and you get excited or you give him food, you're probably going to increase the likelihood of another outburst.

So you might be beaming with pride inside when your dog does well, but I'm gonna tell you right now, guys, it's not helpful. It's not helpful. Have the party on the inside <laugh> and just give your dog a very neutral good, right? And you can have a party after the walk. But if you just passed a dog and you're fine, your dog finally did well, don't have a party. Keep it low key. You can tell 'em they're good. Keep it calm, okay? Not high pitch, not excited. Good, good boy, good girl.

And that's it. Keep walking, <laugh>. Okay? Have the party later. Um, you know, and then maybe, maybe you can advance to more lively praise, but it isn't necessary. Your dog knows what it means. Um, and your dog can tell, your dog can tell how you're feeling. Your dog can tell what your energy is and what you're thinking your dog knows when you're proud of your dog, your dog knows. So don't worry about that.

Save the party for afterwards. Alright guys, that's it. I hope this, uh, helps you clarify, um, what kind of path you should take to deal with reactivity. So the more you can do, the better. Um, but if you can't do the obedience piece, if you don't have that right now, you can still do the structure piece, the punishment piece, get that reactivity under control and make your your walk, uh, light years better than it is now. Uh, which is so important. 'cause I hate it when people hate their walk. I feel like it's one of the, the most primal ways we can really bond with our dogs is the walking together.

42:00 — She presents walking calmly together as a central way to bond while preventing stressful…

Um, and you should be walking together. It shouldn't be, you know, you're on your own walk or just hanging on for dear life while your dog is out there reacting at people and dogs and embarrassing you and stressing you out. And, uh, that's no good fun for anybody. So if you can do the hard work and do the dirty work and, and get it behind you and move on to better stuff, man, it, it's gonna do a lot. It's gonna do a lot for you and your dog. It's gonna do a lot for your relationship.

So good luck guys. Nip that reactivity in the bud. Thanks for joining me today, and I look forward to the next one.