Behaviours/commands for reactive dogs?

I know that I often mention to people with reactive dogs that training a "watch me" and a "touch" command can help with a reactive dog, and I've heard people use "watch it" (getting the dog to watch the trigger) to help. Just wondering what other commands you would use/recommend? It's my aim to get Casper into group classes this year - OH and I plan to move next year so I feel it would benefit Casper to get used to a more "normal" life than our quite rural one in the middle of a farm, and although he's not quite ready for classes yet, I want to get as many different helpful behaviours in his repatoire as possible. Just wondering what everyone has found works for their dog(s)

Dexter is very, very reactive, but I'm finding that I can get some results by saying 'relax' - I use the word at other times when I know for sure he is very relaxed and contented.

Now if I use the word while we're out and he's getting anxious etc, he will respond more quickly to it.

Of course it could be any word, as long as one uses the same word at home when the dog is relaxed, for some time - and then apply the word while out when needed.

Sorry if this is not very helpful, it's the only thing that really works with Dexter because when the 'red mist' descends, it's tough getting this attention at all...


Good luck with the move and the classes

Some Dogs just can't cope with a "static" behaviour for long.
My youngest has a fantastic "watch me", but it has to lead to something else, or she'll be fit to explode.
So we do watch me with an article in either hand (treat for eye contact)....sit....watch me....treat. Stand...watch me treat etc.
We also do paw touches.
If people complain that you're contantly working your Dog in class....find another one.
Some people are only happy working robot Dogs, in straight lines...that sit nicely waiting for the next excercise.

"Click to Calm: Healing the aggressive dog" by Emma Parsons. A very good book for working with reactive dogs.

Thanks. This is what I was doing in our assessment for the local classes and he did well at a distance but once the stooge dog was that bit closer (probably 4-5 metres?) he just couldn't focus and reached that point where focusing on the dog was all he could think about, there was no distracting him (not even with a handful of treats tossed on the floor) other than walking away. This is a lot better than when he used to react at the sight of a dog down the street but not quite good enough for these particular classes. There may be other classes that suit him better but I want to get the watch me etc. down to pat first as I admit I've not quite done as much with him as I probably should have, we've been managed just fine with our remote daily walks then group walks with other dogs so I've not done much more, but now it's lighter and safer to walk towards town I definately want to deal with his issues head-on.

"What do you think you're doing?---get here and sit!"

Followed by loads of rewards

Sorry----I know thats not what you meant! Couldn't resist!

rune

With my youngster I started getting the watch me without distractions, then I did it on walks....she got a reward every time she looked at me...then I put the word to it.
She was very reactive & the watch me just wasn't enough in a class (it's hard indoors as you need to ignore the bad behaviour & really praise with enthusiasm for good & people think you should be reprimanding the bad. They don't realise some Dogs just feed off ANY reaction)
I'm very lucky as I have friends with outdoor training venues, that let me do my own thing whilst one of their classes is in progress.
I have to say one "reactive Dog" class I attended, where everyone had the same issues. Was the class with most handler focus & well behaved Dogs I've been to in a long time.

I've found that teaching lots of static behaviours can help too. The obvious ones are sit, down, paw, roll over, touch with nose, watch me, etc but the more these are reinforced in lots of different contexts, with gradually increasing distractions, the more automatic & ingrained they are.

Possibly you've reached Caspar's threshold with dogs at 4-5metres in that particular context but maybe try in other, perhaps easier contexts first?

Another thing to perhaps be aware of is Caspar's arousal levels when doing the training? E.g. in the class assessment, perhaps there were lots of other things that increased arousal levels so he found it more difficult to cope, e.g. the pheromones flying round in the training class, the new location, perhaps your own behaviour/anxiety or the fact you were effectively in a "testing it out" situation?

With arousal levels there is a release of several neurotransmitters, including adrenalin, noradrenalin & dopamine, collectively called the catecholamines. Dopamine is also closely associated with muscle movement so one you get the catecholamine release, you not only have the flight/fight scenario triggered but there's also a need for muscle movement to use the released dopamine. Hence the need to be aware of what a dog may or may not be able to do once arousal levels are high. It's far more difficult to sit still & stay still once dopamine is released! The rehearsal & practice of static exercises can help to make the relaxed, steady & attentive state more automatic & classically-conditioned.

But I suspect grandmother & sucking eggs may be in point here........

Training the "watch me" (or whatever word you want to use for the same effect, I prefer ONE word commands) needs to be considered very carefully with reactive dogs.

IE it is VITAL that it is taught AWAY from the triggers which make the dog react otherwise what owners teach the dog is that the command "watch me" = "watch out"!

Until and unless this is 100% away from the trigger points, it is at best inappropriate and at worst potentially harmful to teach IN THE PRESENCE of the trigger!

I teach my dogs to watch me from the heel position and so the word "heel" = "watch me" as of course that is the picture I want.

Oh definately - Casper was already on high alert because it was somewhere we'd never been before, someone we'd never met before, lots of interesting sights & smells as it was an outdoor venue, and the trainer used a smaller dog which Casper can sometimes be a bit more excitable/focused around (not always but he's reacted in his overly-focused way more times with small dogs than big ones). However, the classes would be at this venue, smaller dogs would be present, the smells & sounds would vary all the time, and dogs would be at this distance, so we had to see if he would be OK in that situation. Now we know that the classes aren't going to suit him just yet, but it gives us an idea of where to start. The trainer has offered one-to-one sessions, then moving on to private sessions with a few customers in similar situations (like Lorraine says - a group of reactive dogs may sound a little nervewracking but everyone will be extra wary of their dogs, and it'll only be dogs ready for that stage), before we move on to classes.
What I want to do before those one-to-one sessions is establish good, solid behaviours like watch me - he hasn't got it pegged 100% at home so there's no chance of teaching it in one of these sessions so I'd be wasting time and money, and just setting Casper up for failure at best, or mislearnt commands and worsening his reactive behaviour at worst. So basically I want to try to teach him as many helpful commands now, in a calm home environment and slowly build up the distractions, so when we do bite the bullet and go for sessions, I know we've got the benefit of him knowing those commands, it's just a case of working on his threshold