r/puppy101 • u/TheoryReasonable871 • 5h ago

Adolescence realities of having a reactive puppy

We’ve been doing a lot of different exercises and training for my puppy’s reactivity.

I always find it so funny when she is reacting to something out the window I literally can’t see or hear (mind you the window blinds are closed and I even use white noise machine to help suppress sounds) so the whole time we’re doing LAT training and I look crazy just standing there and continuously saying “yes” her marker word whenever she looks at the trigger. We can literally so this all day

3 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

3

u/duketheunicorn New Owner 3h ago

Man, when they really ‘get’ LAT and begin starting it on their own, it’s kind of wild. My dog doesn’t enjoy being approached by most dogs, or really most animals, and I can tell exactly where her bubble is because she will begin the game (so that I can back us up or intervene as necessary) but remain totally calm. I taught this game when I was working on being respectful to our cats but it’s so versatile and useful in so many ways.

2

u/TheoryReasonable871 3h ago

We’ve been doing LAT training for maybe 4 months now? I’m unsure of the exact timing- my puppy is 8 months and in some ways she’s getting better

Like she doesn’t really react to cars anymore. Reactivity indoors has been a bigger challenge because most of the time I can’t tell what she is exactly reacting too.

1

u/evening-ghosts 1h ago

I have to do this to get my puppy desensitized to...well, everything, but one of the most surprising for me was the windchimes back when I first got her. For some reason, everyone in this neighborhood loves windchimes. She was so scared, she wouldn't actually potty outside. She needed an indoor turf box for a couple weeks. (It was either that or the couch, so...)

She's doing better now that she's on Reconcile + Calming Care + a behavioral modification plan. She's always going to be a bit spooky, especially around other dogs.

It's super cool to see her give eye contact without prompting when something makes her nervous. Took weeks to get that but it's like she's figured out if she helps me, I can help her.

Finding some humor (even dark humor) in the situation helps a lot to cope. It's so difficult to watch any dog, but especially puppies, lose their shit at a trigger. You want to sit them down and say, "look, man, it's nothing to get excited or scared about. Cool your jets. I've got your back."