wanted to share a success story! my bf and i hosted mother's day at our apartment which involved having some people my dog has never "met" before and she killed it! she barked when the first people showed up which is expected, but i gave her marrow bone i filled + froze the day before to keep her occupied while everyone arrived and got settled. once she finished the bone, i was able to bring her out and have her on her place cot and gave her treats while she observed everyone and she didn't bark, lunge etc the entire night! i've had her for a year and a half now and she's made so much progress now that i know how to set her up for success in these situations. i hope all the reactive dog moms out there had a great mother's day!
successfully had 8 (!!) people over to our apartment
- Thread starter kasimira
- Start date
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- reactive dogs
@kasimira WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Couldn’t be happier for you. My first big gathering after bringing my boy home was the scariest but most exciting moment, and when I pulled it off I was euphoric. Obviously keep up the good work, never let your guard fully down, but more than anything REVEL IN YOUR SUCCESS. This ROCKS. I could inject posts like this into my VEINS
scottmitchem
New member
i_love_esther
New member
@i_love_esther she takes fluoxetine daily bc of her reactivity so that has been a huge help but as far as training specific to having people over, we trained a place command and she's comfortable in her crate. we use baby gates to keep her separated so that she can hear whats going on and see people in passing and we asked everyone not to stare at/engage with her if they passed by her. i brought her out of the second bedroom on a leash and led her over to her place cot (tethered her as well) and she just hung out there and i gave her treats since she stayed calm the entire time until everyone started getting ready to leave and at that point i put her behind a gate but in full view of everyone and she didnt bark at all. i think a lot of it has to do with teaching her that the people coming over arent a threat so she has no need to react in a way to keep them from approaching her.
angelic_melody987
New member
@linlishan thank you! when we first started tackling her reactivity inside my apartment, her vet gave us a prescription for trazodone but i found that it either just knocked her out and didn't allow us to "train" or didn't have any affect on her temperament at all. she's on fluoxetine now and i'm sure its made some level of difference but i wouldn't say that her improvements are completely due to the medication
i think the things that have proven to be the most helpful were teaching my dog how to not be attached to me in our own home so using a place cot or her crate to have some level of separation while were inside taught her how to be independent of me. also learning how to set her up for success has helped a lot too. prepping some enrichment to keep her occupied while people arrive allows her to self soothe and everyone in my immediate circle knows my dog is ~special~ so they're understanding when we ask them not to address her or make any direct eye contact etc. i'll wait until she's calm to bring her out to "meet" people which just consists of her being leashed + staying on the place cot and watching people and i reward her for being calm. realistically our next step will be to give her a little more freedom (let her roam on leash but muzzled maybe?) but i don't think she's had enough exposure to our friends + family yet to be comfortable doing so.
i think the things that have proven to be the most helpful were teaching my dog how to not be attached to me in our own home so using a place cot or her crate to have some level of separation while were inside taught her how to be independent of me. also learning how to set her up for success has helped a lot too. prepping some enrichment to keep her occupied while people arrive allows her to self soothe and everyone in my immediate circle knows my dog is ~special~ so they're understanding when we ask them not to address her or make any direct eye contact etc. i'll wait until she's calm to bring her out to "meet" people which just consists of her being leashed + staying on the place cot and watching people and i reward her for being calm. realistically our next step will be to give her a little more freedom (let her roam on leash but muzzled maybe?) but i don't think she's had enough exposure to our friends + family yet to be comfortable doing so.