Does Your Dog Act Diabolical on a Leash?

Effectively managing leash reactivity requires patience and diligence. Leash reactivity involves dogs lunging, barking, or otherwise responding explosively to passing people, animals, or stimuli while restrained on walks. Tackle leash reactivity with these steps: 

Step One: Create Positive Associations.

Begin counterconditioning your pup’s behavior using high-value treats only given during outings to shift associations with triggers from scary to pleasant. Reward disengagement. 

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Step Two: Change It Up.

Choose alternate walking routes and times to avoid likely triggers when your dog is still easily triggered for quick wins while rigorously training emotional control around milder stimuli. Avoid aggravating triggers, which can set their progress back.

Step Three: Purchase a Better Leash.

Invest in adaptable transitional leashes and head halters that enable you to adjust control while preventing lunging and nibbling. Never drag or choke your dog with their leash, which aggravates bad behaviors and creates negative associations.

Step Four: Refocus Your Dog’s Attention.

Interrupt fixating triggers by changing direction, blocking sightlines, or creating distractions like squeaking a toy. Refocus their attention positively on you rather than allowing fixation on stimuli.

Step Five: Stay Calm.

Model relaxed, tension-free body language. Soothing praise for appropriate check-ins reinforces focusing on you over their environment. Remember, excitable or tense human energy often makes dogs more reactive.

Step Six: Assess Your Dog’s Triggers.

Consider why your dog may dislike restraints — feeling vulnerable, lacking environmental awareness, or associating proximity to you with other “threats” like other people walking their dogs could all contribute. Identify and resolve root causes when feasible. 

What Is Leash Reactivity?

Leash reactivity is when your dog overreacts to a stimulus while they are on a leash. Dogs can be “reactive” towards any kind of trigger they have a negative association with, such as other dogs, cars, or people. The reactivity could look like lunging, barking, or growling. In some dogs, they may show a fearful response or try to run away from the thing that upsets them.

Where does this reactive behavior come from? To understand reactivity, it’s first necessary to understand how a dog communicates (hint: it’s a lot different than how humans communicate). Dogs prefer to give each other space, circle around each other, sniff butts, and then maybe play or, if they decide they don’t like each other, get out of each other’s faces. And what happens when you introduce a leash into the mix? Well, a leash essentially puts a dog in a “cage” — their movements are restricted, largely out of their control, and greetings often occur head-on, face-to-face,  which is not a typical way for dogs to greet each other naturally. There are several reasons why a dog may not like this type of greeting:

It makes them feel protective:

Some dogs get very sensitive or upset when a stranger (human or canine) comes close to their beloved owner.

It frustrates them:

Some dogs get really excited by the prospect of saying hey to another dog — but alas — the leash! The leash gets in the way, and so they get frustrated.

It makes them fearful:

If a dog is fearful of the stimuli in front of them, the leash interrupts their biological “flight” response, and doesn’t fully allow them to escape from the thing that’s upsetting them — which can cause even more stress. This was the case for Korra. As soon as I understood she was reacting from a place of fear, I could move forward with tools to reduce that fear.

How to Train a Leash Reactive Dog 

There are multiple protocols out there, but they all boil down to one basic concept: The goal of leash reactivity training is to keep the dog below their threshold of frustration, so they can see the thing causing the reactivity, without getting upset. You have to change their reaction to the stimuli in front of them, but you can only do that if you start them at a distance away from the trigger where you know they can succeed. If the reactivity is severe and prevents you or your dog from feeling comfortable on a walk it is best to enlist the help of a trainer ASAP.

When I started out on this journey, this meant that the trigger-dog had to be at least on the other side of the street. At this point, Korra could see the dog and be aware of their presence, but she was assured that the dog wasn’t an immediate threat to her. Every time Korra looked at the dog without any signs of stress or reactivity, I would reward her with a treat. As soon as the dog disappeared from sight, the treats would stop. Eventually, the idea is that your dog will associate the sight of another dog with a happy event — getting a treat. And over time, your dog will be able to see another dog and react calmly, because they know that as soon as they do, good things happen.

The ultimate goal is to work towards closer distances with your dog, so eventually they exhibit fewer stress signals as the stimuli gets closer. An important note: Don’t rush. Each dog will go at their own pace. If you see your dog reacting, exhibiting signs of stress or frustration, then you’ve moved too quickly and are expecting more from your dog than they can handle. Back off, and try again at a farther distance.

Korra is still working on lowering her frustration when we’re on walks, but she has shown a world of improvement from the fearful, lunging, reactive dog she used to be. It hasn’t been easy but since we stuck with it, I have my walking buddy back.

P.S. Never use a retractable leash (like in the photo). They offer zero control and often jam, putting your pet (and any others within 20 feet) at risk.