Moving with a Reactive Dog

It's generally accepted that reactive dogs like routine. When they can predict what is going to happen, they relax a bit, knowing they don't need to be on alert for Scary Things Happening. As a result, many reactive dogs seem to have trouble with change. Even something as simple as rearranging the furniture can throw them into barking and growling fits. So when it became clear that Maisy and I were going to move, I was pretty apprehensive. Yes, she had been doing great, but I was concerned about behavioral regression.

When I first started looking for advice on moving with reactive dogs, I couldn't find much. There wasn't even much out there on moving with dogs, period! So today, I'm going to share a little bit about what it was like for Maisy and I. Hopefully this will be useful to someone!

Finding the Right Place

For most of her life, Maisy lived in a single family home in a relatively quiet neighborhood with a fenced yard. That all changed last summer when my ex-husband and I separated. Moving from two incomes to one (and with that one being a social worker's salary) meant that we were going to have to move to some kind of shared housing situation.

After thinking about Maisy's triggers, I knew that the hardest part for her would be the noises coming from other people's homes. She's always found random banging and pounding noises unsettling, and back before she was on medication, she would even react to car doors slamming outside. After consulting with her veterinary behaviorist, I ruled out traditional apartment settings and began looking for a duplex.

I wanted an upper level duplex, figuring that would minimize the noise. In retrospect, I think this was a good choice; we don't hear footsteps or things dropping above us. However, we do still hear noise. The people downstairs have several children, including a girl with autism who has occasional screaming fits. Surprisingly, this doesn't bother Maisy, and the great thing is that our neighbors will never complain if Maisy barks because they're so worried about me being bothered my their daughter.

I also knew that if I couldn't find a place with a private fenced yard, it would need to be in a safe neighborhood because there would be late-night potty walks happening. As it turns out, while we have a large yard in our new place, it's not fenced, and we have to share it with the kids downstairs, so I can't tie her out and leave her to do her business. Walking three times a day isn't bad most of the time, but on those sub-zero days, it's brutal. If I could do it all again, I would definitely have worked on teaching her to eliminate on cue!

Before We Moved

In addition to talking to Maisy's vet behaviorist, I also talked to the trainer we used to work with. Since she had moved from Minnesota to Boston with three dogs, including a reactive one, I figured she'd have some great advice. Once I found the right place, things moved fast, so I couldn't implement all of her suggestions, but I'll share them anyway.

Once you know where you'll be moving, introduce the new routine, or at least as much as you can predict what life will be like. Maisy isn't crated regularly when I'm gone but I knew I would want to use her crate more in the early days, so I needed to refresh her crate training. She was used to eliminating off-leash in a yard, so she needed to get used to all potty needs happening on walks while closely supervised.

I couldn't take Maisy to see the new place in advance, but I did take her over to the new neighborhood. I showed her the new house and yard, and we walked around nearby. I'm not sure it mattered, but I was hoping that she'd feel a little more comfortable with her surroundings if she'd seen them before.

Maisy already had an as-needed, short-acting anxiety drug that I knew worked for her, and I made sure I had plenty on hand. I also discussed the weaning protocol with her vet behaviorist in case we needed to use it regularly for awhile. If you don't have one, I highly recommend discussing it with your vet and doing a trial run. Maisy had previously had a pretty bad reaction to a different as-needed med, and it would suck if that had happened during our move. We did end up using medication fairly regularly for the first week, and then intermittently for about a month after that.

One final word of wisdom: Know where your dog's stuff is packed. Leashes, poop bags, food, toys, and any comfort items your dog might need/want will be needed right away. It took me forever to find her Kongs the day we moved. She eats out of them almost exclusively, it was important to me that I kept her routine as normal as possible for awhile after we moved.

The Big Day

If at all possible, have your dog out of the house while you pack and move. Trust me on this. I am fortunate enough to have a boarding kennel that I trust and that Maisy loves, but I didn't think of sending her there until after we'd already moved. Even staying with a friend would have been better.

Despite having lots of friends help me move, it still took two trips. I gave her an anti-anxiety med, and then Maisy stayed in the old place during the first trip. She drove over with me on the second trip, but stayed in the car until things were settled. This took awhile, but thankfully she's comfortable in her car crate. Once things were as settled as they were going to get, I brought her up to see the new place. She seemed confused, but explored. (My cat, on the other hand, hid for the first three days. Poor Nicky.)

The First Days

My main goal was to keep things as normal as possible during this time. Meal times were the same. Potty times were the same, even if they were on leash now. We played and trained and hiked and did as many of our old activities as possible.

I did two things to help Maisy adjust to the new noises of shared living. First, I used white noise to help block out what I could. I found that a box fan on high near the front door went a long way for this. And second, I set up her Manners Minder (remote-controlled treat dispenser), and dispensed a piece of kibble every time I heard a noise, regardless of whether or not she alerted to it.

And Beyond

Maisy adjusted pretty quickly. She started running for our door when we got out of the car. She learned to reorient through doorways and wait for me before we left the apartment instead of just running out the door like she did in the old place. We began meeting neighbors- canine and human alike.

Although the initial transition was difficult, Maisy has since adapted well to her new home. Better yet, she really seems to have blossomed. Her veterinary behaviorist is amazed at how well she's doing these days. Life is harder in ways now- I don't have anyone to let her out if I'm running late from work- but I am happier, too. I think that's part of her great improvement.

If you're moving soon- good luck! I hope something here is helpful. If you have moved with a reactive dog, what worked for you? Please share your ideas so others can benefit from your experience!

What to Do After a Stressful Event

Maisy rests in her daddy's lap after a stressful day.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the effects of stress this week. I guess this is to be expected, because last Thursday, Maisy and I had another run-in with a loose dog. Long time readers will remember that this is not the first time this has happened to us, but I learned from that experience, and now carry citronella spray on all our walks. I’m glad I do, too, because this was not a friendly dog. (As a side note, it is not actually comforting to have an owner yell, “She doesn’t bite!” as their dog is rushing at yours full speed, growling and snarling.)

Although the incident was very scary, it had the best possible outcome. I was able to get the citronella spray out quickly, which was effective in driving the other dog off; it never got closer than five feet from Maisy. I was pleased with Maisy’s response, too- instead of rushing forward toward the dog, as she has in the past, she hid behind me. Perhaps I’m being anthropomorphic, but I like to think she did that because she trusts that I’ll protect her.

Even so, there’s no denying that stressful events like this really affect her. A certain amount of this is to be expected, and I’ve even written before about the effects of stress hormones on the body. As a result, I’ve been thinking a lot about what we should do for our dogs after a stressful experience.

My initial response seems to make a big difference in Maisy’s response. My goal is to help her through the immediate crisis by acting calmly and taking control of the situation as much as possible. Maisy is incredibly sensitive to my moods, so even though I felt incredibly panicky and like crying hysterically afterwards, I had to keep it together for her sake. I made a deliberate effort to breathe normally, to walk loosely, and to talk to her in as normal of a voice as possible.

Part of this is possible because I prepare for the worst. In this case, I had practiced using the citronella spray, which allowed me to remain calm and act quickly. I had also done some desensitization and counter-conditioning with the it (thanks to Sara for the idea) so that it didn’t add to Maisy’s stress. I also carry treats with me every time I take Maisy somewhere. As we were walking away, I fed Maisy a continuous stream of treats. This allowed me to both assess her mental state (not too bad, actually) as well as do “damage control.” I’m quite sure there are no amounts of treats that can overcome the emotions that come from an experience like that, but it offers a certain amount of normalcy.

Because subsequent stress can retrigger a new wave of stress hormones in the body, I’ve found that it’s incredibly important to keep the first 24 to 48 hours low-key. I’ve seen a number of references that suggest that the most important factor in recovering from stress is rest. As a result, the first day or two should be as boring as possible.

For Maisy, this means we don’t leave the house except to go potty. Even time in the yard needs to be minimized as you never know who might walk by your yard. No demands should be made on her during this time, and this includes training. If she initiates play, that’s fine, but it should be kept short and sweet. For the most part, she should be sleeping.

After the initial 48 hours, I gradually add activities back in to her routine. Easy training activities (nothing new!), extended play time in the yard, and very short walks in the neighborhood (longer ones are okay only if I know we won’t encounter scary stuff) are incorporated back into our lives as I see less edginess and her startle response decreases.

It might seem excessive, but I try not to return to "normal" for about a week; this site says it can take up to six days for the stress hormones to return to normal, and I believe it. Maisy is definitely edgier for several days after a stressful experiment. On Monday- four full days after the incident- Maisy growled over things that normally wouldn’t provoke a response: kids on skateboards a block away, a person sitting under a tree, a motorcycle parked in a driveway.

Despite the reduced amount of activity, I try to keep things as normal as possible. I must admit, this is hard because things like our daily walks or evening training sessions are a huge part of our routine. Still, I feed her the same things on the same schedule, play with her if she asks, and allow her free range in the house, even if that does mean she doesn’t rest as much as she might otherwise.

This is what seems to work for us. I suspect that some version of the same things would work for most dogs, although the timeline will likely vary a bit dog to dog. Similarly, some dogs may be able to tolerate more or less activity at different times than Maisy can. I think the real key is watching our dogs’ body language and adjusting our expectations as needed.

CU Seminar: Reorienting

This dog does a great job of reorienting to Alexa.
Photo by Robin Sallie.

One of the first exercises we worked on at the Control Unleashed seminar was reorienting. Although Leslie talks about reorienting in the book, I’ve never really thought about it as a CU exercise, mostly because it is deceptively simple. Simply put, reorienting means that any time your dog passes through a boundary- a door way, coming out of his crate, walking into the obedience ring- he should turn to sit in front of you, all while making eye contact.

There are lots of benefits to teaching a dog to reorient. It creates a routine for the dog, which pretty much all dogs like. For reactive dogs, though, it creates a sense of predictability, and helps them know both what to expect, and what is expected of them. This relieves some of their anxiety.

Reorienting also teaches the dog impulse control; instead of rushing off to check out the exciting new environment, the dog learns to contain himself and check in with you first. This, in turn, leads to increased team work and attention to the handler- skills we definitely want in our performance dogs!

Finally, reorienting helps mitigate some of the sudden environmental changes that happen when you move from one location to another, largely because the dog becomes patterned to look at you automatically instead of scanning the environment for a potential trigger.

Ironically, after Alexa discussed the value of reorienting at the seminar on Saturday, I experienced first hand how valuable reorienting can be. Maisy and I were walking out of our hotel room, and as we headed into the hallway, an older man was walking towards us. Because Maisy has not learned to automatically reorient to me, she shot to the end of her leash and barked and growled. She was truly over threshold; nothing I said or did was able to get her attention. Although I’m quite sure she would have been nervous about the man no matter what, I believe that if she’d been conditioned to automatically turn to me, there is a decent chance I could have prevented that reaction. Needless to say, I’m going to teach Maisy to reorient!

So, how do you teach reorienting? Alexa had us start with the dogs exiting their crates. In turn, we each opened the crate door and fed a constant stream of treats as long as the dog remained inside the crate. If he tried to exit without a release cue, we calmly shut the crate door and then tried again. Pretty soon, we had a group of dogs that really enjoyed being in their crates! This step helped create some impulse control in the dogs.

Next, we stood next to the crate so that we were facing the same direction as our dogs, and called them out. As they did, we watched for the tiniest movement in our direction. Even an ear flick or a slight head turn earned the dog a click and treat. Each time, we waited for a little bit more of a turn in our direction. It really didn’t take long for the dogs to rush out, make the u-turn towards us, and plop down, watching us expectantly. (The sit, while not necessary, is nice. It is an added demonstration of self-control, and it also means that if your dog is feeling especially wild, you have a better chance of catching him if he's loose.)

Astute readers will notice that we didn’t give any cues, verbal or otherwise. We didn’t ask them to “wait” before getting out of the crate, and we didn’t call their name or otherwise ask them to pay attention to us. This was a deliberate choice, because we want the dog to learn to reorient to us based on environmental cues. The cue to seek out the handler is the transition from one location to another, not anything we said or did. This gives the dog the ability to think and make the right choice, which creates both confidence and self-control. It also means that you don’t need to be constantly nagging your dog with commands, something that I find mighty appealing.

Once the dogs were easily reorienting while coming out of their crates, we worked on reorienting while walking into a box made out of ring gates. Again, the process was similar. We would approach the opening to the ring, and stop and wait. Some dogs automatically reoriented, while others would take a few moments before they turned back towards their handlers, impatient about the lack of movement. At the first sign of turning towards us, we clicked! We repeated the process again as we moved through the gate into the interior of the ring. After only a few repetitions, the dogs were offering up the reorienting behavior on their own.

This is something that would be easy to practice at home. Practice it when your dog comes out of his crate, as you let him into the back yard, or as you go through the gate to your fenced in yard. All of these are pretty low-distraction environments, so it should be easy for your dog to learn. Once he gets good at the game, you can make it more challenging by putting a toy or bowl of treats on the other side of the boundary.

Reorienting a simple behavior, but it’s a powerful one, too. Like I said, I’ll definitely be working on this one with Maisy. But I want to hear from you guys. Have you taught your dogs to reorient? Has it ever helped you and your dog? I’d love to hear your examples!

Management 101: Routines and Downtime

So, this is what I meant to post on Wednesday, but instead was consumed by the Great Off-Leash Dog Incident. Maisy's doing okay, by the way. Seems emotionally fine so far, though she does have a vet appointment next week. She continues to have an intermittent limp on the rear. It's probably nothing, but we'll get it checked it out either way.

My husband and I were on vacation last week, and so Maisy had the good fortune to spend 9 days with her aunt and uncle. (Well, okay, they’re actually my husband’s great aunt and uncle, but let’s not quibble over semantics, as fun as that might be.) She had a wonderful time: extra long walks every day, older children who were willing to throw her ball endlessly, treats that she didn’t have to earn, people home all day long, and lots of snuggle naps.

We’d been home for three days before we went back to our reactive dog class, which was, in theory, time enough for both of us to re-adjust to our regular schedules. There was only one other dog in class last night, a dog whom she’s seen regularly for half a year or so, and whom she’s basically ignored in recent months. Maisy and I pranced in, settled down on our mats, and practiced relaxing during the check-in portion of class.

And then she lost it.

Okay, maybe “lost it” is a bit too severe of a description, but she flew off her mat at the other dog every single time the other dog got up and walked around. She hasn’t done that in a long time, and she repeated this over and over, no matter how much I lowered my criteria and tried to pre-emptively stuff her full of cookies.

The instructor commented that she hadn’t seen Maisy like that in a long time, and it’s true, Maisy’s improved a lot since we joined the class last fall. And, even in this burst of reactivity, she was fairly quiet without much barking or growling, and she immediately self-interrupted and returned to me. She even bounced back pretty quickly each time, able to settle on her mat calmly after each reaction.

The whole experience really cemented in my mind the importance of creating routines for our dogs, especially the easily-stressed. The predictability of a schedule can do a lot to help the nervous among us know what to expect, and thus feel more secure and confident.

I also suspect that the reduced amount of downtime contributed to her increased reactivity. Although I often feel guilty about leaving Maisy home alone for 40-45 hours a week, I've learned that she does better when she has ample opportunity to rest. A constant barrage of stress, good or bad, will accumulate and push a dog closer to her threshold.

And while Maisy got plenty of time to rest and relax while on her vacation, the novel environment undoubtedly made it harder for her do so as thoroughly as she is used to doing at home. In addition, her naps probably weren’t as long as they likely are when she’s home alone all day.

Although Maisy had had a great time while we were gone, it was definitely a big change, and it was interesting to see how much that affected her. It was also nice to have some confirmation of how important both routines and downtime is to her.