Having a little “Dog Reactive” sign on my dog’s leash has weirdly made me feel a lot more confident when out with my dog

[focusedonchrist]

I bought this little velcro sign for my leash that says “Dog Reactive” and it’s made me feel way better when my dog has melt downs in public. She’s a little over two years old now, but it’s only in the last few months that we’ve made any headway with her issues. She used to not accept treats outside our house and was a nightmare to try and train even with anxiety meds that work.

Now she has was less meltdowns, but when they do happen, they’re still pretty embarrassing because I feel like the other dog owners are judging me for my incompetence. I bought the little sign as a way to discourage randos from trying to approach me with their dogs, and it’s worked pretty well! Everyone gives us a wide berth when I take her to the dog park (we walk around, not in so she can get used to seeing other dogs), and it helps me by letting people know that I am aware of the situation and working on it.

Leash Sign

 

[williamlhk]

@focusedonchrist I have two sets, one says “caution” in red, and one says “nervous” in yellow. I find they work about the same for keeping people from just reaching down and freaking my girl out, but the yellow nervous tags make people WANT to be on THEIR best behavior to help my dog. It’s been miraculous. Where the red caution tags made people back away and assume my girl was vicious, the yellow has people pitying her and helping her to have a good interaction with strangers. I get a lot of “awww look at her, she’s nervous, bless her little heart. How can I help? Should I be still?” Like I HIGHLY encourage people to use the nervous ones.

 

[milliebraxton]

@williamlhk I'm definitely going to buy the yellow "nervous dog" one! Thanks for your input! I'm glad it seems to have helped with your doggo!

 

[booboo222]

@williamlhk I’ve had almost the exact opposite experience. I used to have a yellow “nervous” harness and people saw it as a personal challenge. Their dogs are so good with other anxious pups so don’t worry (then keeps trying to let their dog meet my panicking pup head on), or they had a family dog who was nervous and they were the only person who could pat them (reaching over my dog and generally being completely overbearing), eyerolls forever. The Ignore My Dog range is amazing. Short, to the point instructions, easy to follow - and doesn’t really lead to any assumptions. If people ask me about it I just say “we’re in training” or “he needs space” and leave it at that

In our apartment building I always use the “oh he’s really nervous” or “he’s such an anxious guy, small dogs terrify him” and people are really lovely about the few times he’s had barky encounters with other dogs - it definitely buys goodwill where I need it. But with other people walking around outside, it’s not strong enough to prevent an encounter that impacts our training.

 

[2dancer2]

@booboo222 I've had the same experience with mine. People suddenly become a dog whisperer and need to show me how they're different, dogs love them, just watch. I feel bad being rude to my neighbors, but please just leave my dog alone haha.