Full disclosure: my dog was not the reactive one in this story but I do have a formerly reactive dog at home whom I love dearly that inspired me to help/not judge.
I’m a college student and our campus only allows service dogs and ESAs (I have a service dog, this is not the dog that was formerly reactive.) Most of the ESAs are dog reactive so get a bad rap from some people who feel they need to speak for me. Last year I lived in a building with one of these dogs, who I’ll call E. She’s a beautifully dog but sadly we never spent too much time together. I had some classes with her owner and we talked about our dogs and stuff.
This year, they put a dog park behind that dorm! They hosted a grand opening and I went with my dog, who I’ll call S. While there, E and her owner, who I’ll call O, show up. O asks if it’s ok if they come in and properly introduce the dogs. I think E had a muzzle on but I can’t remember. I say YES because not only do I want S to have dog friends, but I think about my other dog and how similar she and E were. So I tell S to sit and stay and O and E come in. They walk around him some (leashed) and E quickly builds a lot of confidence.
O and I agree to let E off leash at this point. I reinforce S’s stay so he stays super still while E walks up to him, sniffs, jumps back, barks, sees nothing happens, goes back up to him, repeat. I don’t know exactly when or why but E eventually decides S must be alright and walks off wagging her tail. We didn’t really expect that. I let S get up and E starts playing with him! O gets a toy and I put out water and no one resource-guarded or anything!
E now loves S and can freely come into the dog park when we’re there (we can come freely too) and the only reaction is play and joy. I think E actually likes S more than S does lol.
Just thought I’d share a story of two dogs who previously couldn’t even see each other and now give each other kisses. Keep working hard! You’ve got this!
I’m a college student and our campus only allows service dogs and ESAs (I have a service dog, this is not the dog that was formerly reactive.) Most of the ESAs are dog reactive so get a bad rap from some people who feel they need to speak for me. Last year I lived in a building with one of these dogs, who I’ll call E. She’s a beautifully dog but sadly we never spent too much time together. I had some classes with her owner and we talked about our dogs and stuff.
This year, they put a dog park behind that dorm! They hosted a grand opening and I went with my dog, who I’ll call S. While there, E and her owner, who I’ll call O, show up. O asks if it’s ok if they come in and properly introduce the dogs. I think E had a muzzle on but I can’t remember. I say YES because not only do I want S to have dog friends, but I think about my other dog and how similar she and E were. So I tell S to sit and stay and O and E come in. They walk around him some (leashed) and E quickly builds a lot of confidence.
O and I agree to let E off leash at this point. I reinforce S’s stay so he stays super still while E walks up to him, sniffs, jumps back, barks, sees nothing happens, goes back up to him, repeat. I don’t know exactly when or why but E eventually decides S must be alright and walks off wagging her tail. We didn’t really expect that. I let S get up and E starts playing with him! O gets a toy and I put out water and no one resource-guarded or anything!
E now loves S and can freely come into the dog park when we’re there (we can come freely too) and the only reaction is play and joy. I think E actually likes S more than S does lol.
Just thought I’d share a story of two dogs who previously couldn’t even see each other and now give each other kisses. Keep working hard! You’ve got this!