Reactive dog owners.. read on.

Anxiety Disorder in dogs.. its REAL, it’s SAD, and if not managed properly, it can do more damage than good.

I’m just going to elaborate a little bit more on my last post and try to put some things into perspective.

Fear is a HUGE reason for reactivity in dogs. Forcing your dog into situations that they emotionally cannot handle is not the answer.

Using devices to make them less reactive, I feel is not the answer. Figuring out why that dog is scared and building confidence so eventually they can face that fear, to me, is the answer.

Zapping (for a lack of better terms) a dog for reacting out of fear and making them “behave” is training in fear.

Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT against e-collars. I am against not knowing how to properly use the e collar and not knowing exactly when to use the e collar.

A dog that lives in fear does not need yelled at, yanked or shocked, they need support and comfort.

Let’s say you have a 2 legged child with bad anxiety. You would get them help to try to either overcome (if possible) or cope, correct? Then why wouldn’t you do the same for your dog?

Your dog is full of emotions just like we are. It’s up to us to advocate for our pals and support them emotionally just like we would our human kids.

What I am getting at is before you look at your reactive dog and label them as naughty, please understand that is probably not the case and they are simply flooded with emotions that they cannot handle. Acting out is their way of releasing these big feelings and telling you that they are not ok!

That is all.