Yes, I know what you mean about 'high alert'. Good way to describe it!

When I first got Dex, if we were out walking and for instance if a paper bag was blowing down the gutter, he would go on high alert and lunge at it.... Anything that moved, basically.



Thank you very much

Sounds like you understand Kestral pretty well and are really helping her to stay calmer

Lana's so much less reactive than before but she also doesn't like people sitting on the pavement. She's much better regarding motorbikes now although we did have a bit of a setback when one young guy came into the park and rode right up past us. Lana's dream came true and she got to chase and run alongside the motorbike barking her head off I shouted at the guy to stop which he did and I asked him to wait until I got Lana on the lead. He was probably only 17 and was very apologetic. Lana was a very happy dog that day haha

We walk round town most evenings now it's dark early and go through crowds of people outside pubs without any problems now.

Cats, nothing changes there and I doubt it will. As soon as she smells one she's on red alert and nothing can distract her.

Like Dexter Lana's reaction is so random I can rarely figure out what caused it and sounds seem to make her nervous too. If something falls in the house, maybe a book or something from the sofa she's up and running almost before it hits the floor. Outside if I see someone I think Lana might react to I sit her at the side and feed her treats until they are past.

I sometimes stand outside shops in the evening once they are closed as Lana reacts to ornaments of cats and dogs. It was usually very funny and I would be laughing when telling her it was an ornament. There are certain streets I don't walk her on as the windowsills are very low and right at the pavement. I got a fright the first time she lunged at someones window because there was something sitting on it and of course if it's on the windowsill it's bound to be a cat (sigh) and I try to avoid houses with big dog ornaments in their gardens.

Peacocks. She doesn't like the peacocks, she's desperate to get nearer to see what it is, this big scary thing mincing it's way down the road but you can tell she's also scared. I turned back one night as they tend to take their time going down the road looking into all the shop windows

Some days Lana is more nervous than others and then things she's normally fine with she finds scary. I don't think this will ever change she's just a nervous dog.

It's like when people do defensive driving, I do defensive dog walking and try to see things first that she might find scary. I turn corners at the very widest point with me going first so I can see what's round them in case there's something scary there or another dog.

I am exactly the same. On leaving the garden I look down the road in both directions, and on entering the park I scan the whole park (luckily our park is very open and I can see most of it). I can't count the number of times I've turned round and gone a different way just to avoid the "big black dog" that Ben might decide he doesn't like.

As for cats, well I think Ben feels they don't have the right to exist and he's going to let them know that. He has on occasion mistaken a plastic bag, and once even a "poo" bag that someone had left on the grass instead of putting it in the bin, for some sort of creature that had to be put in its place, but generally it's big dogs that get him going.

I've tried, when I know the person with the "big" dog, to chat to them at a distance and edge forward very slowly, a step at a time, so that the distance becomes smaller, and this seems to work ok. However, it only works at that time and doesn't make a lasting impression so the next time we encounter the dreaded "big" dog we have the same problem.

I do think it's a fear thing, and that he's getting in first to show the nasty big thing that he's a toughie really, though to everyone else he's the most placid soppiest dog there is. I just think it's easier for everyone if we avoid situations where we can.

Apparently they also like to hide in the fog! He had an "OMG WHAT THE HELL IS THAT????" reaction to fog a few days ago

I worked on what I saw as the most important things with Rupert at first. Getting him used to the kettle boiling, the tv going on, the vacuum and other house hold noises and just taking him to the field literally a few metres from my door for his walks. Then traffic. A single car moving at a very slow speed was terrifying to him. Actual traffic was a case of hit the deck, eyes shut, shaking like a leaf. It was a hell of a lot of work and very slow going but now we can stand on one of those little island things in the middle of the road at rush hour and he won't bat an eyelid. Buses and trains are apparently temples where people gather to worship the Rupert God so he loves them, he gets a ton of attention on them.

He still has his fears and they're very strange ones sometimes. Metal grates or grids is one he seems unable to get over. Lines on the floor is another one. He once dragged me into a toy shop to avoid a shadow. He's terrified of me washing the dishes and will go and hide under the bed.

And if I'm not with him many of his old fears re-surface. He had a hissy fit about a traffic cone with Calvin several times. With me he ignores them, they're nothing to worry about. So he's not over his fears completely.

I once pushed Cain over the edge by exposing him to too much. I was taking him to too many places that he found stressful, the bit that pushed him over the edge was when I started taking him regularly to the vets to try and desensitise him. He didn't have time to "come down" between reactions so ended up permenantly on high alert and therefore more likely to react as the stress hormones were high in his blood. Once we cut down the activities and gave him more recovery time, he began to progress again. So I guess just keep an eye out that Dexter isn't reacting more while you do this and if he does, account for it.

Conversely I think I also did some accidental flooding with him! I wouldn't choose to flood intentionally but on reflection I guess that's what happened. Cain used to lunge at bikes and joggers. To get him to this park, we had to walk down a busy Thames tow path which was heaving with cyclists and joggers. But we couldn't get there any other way so we just walked it. Cain lunged a lot at first but now walks down it without batting an eyelid, never lunges at cyclists and only reacts to joggers if they pop out of nowhere. I guess that the high level exposure to them made him learn to ignore them because he couldn't react to them all? I don't know. I had done a little work sitting on a bench and click/reward every time a bike went by but I really hadn't done it enough to have an effect yet. So I don't really know. I wouldn't flood on purpose but it appears to have worked in this occasion.

Probably not much help, sorry

So reassuring to read all of your responses - thank you SOOO much guys!

Dexter has also reacted to an ornament of a cat - in fact it happened his first night here! He went BESERK and I didn't know what had hit me.

When he sees anything that could be a cat, in real life, he goes crazy - there is no distracting him, he is on full red alert and that is IT.

And when he is on leash and sees another dog in the distance - again, full red alert, he wants to PLLLAAAAAYYYY with that dog and cannot understand why I won't take him right over! He throws a bit of a temper tantrum but it looks like aggression to anyone nearby.

MOON'S MUM - Dex is not good with joggers in the park if they are too close and he thinks they are heading right for us. Cue much mortification on my part the other day when he reacted to this poor woman by barking his head off and running up to her....

I apologised repeatedly and put him on the lead until she had passed - and we then spent the next hour practising 'watch me' and 'stay'.

With Daisy (people reactive) - I used the Watch Me, a Halti and avoidance plus reward for calm.,
So I`d get her attention, put her in a sit and keep her focussed on me if the threat wasn`t moving too close.
If it was, I`d turn and walk her away then sit and reward.
Also, at `Oribble Dogs Club, Andy my trainer would walk near her (when she was muzzled) with head turned away and stand there till she stopped screaming abuse at him. Then he moved away.
At first she reacted to window cleaners carrying ladders, postmen, buses, people using mobile phones, shops, umbrellas, push-chairs, skateboards... you name it. I have a feeling she`d never left her garden from her reaction to the outside world. What was interesting was that she learned very fast. So provided I stopped and she had time to calm down and look and realise she hadn`t died yet, she wouldn`t react to that again. Well, except skateboards.
4 years on we rarely get a reaction but I still take care with her. Some things I know she will react to - blokes in uniform looming at us, dog trainers (don`t ask) and people who are terrified of dogs and stare wildly into her eyes for instance. Sigh...

[QUOTE=1cutedog;2406089]Lana's so much less reactive than before but she also doesn't like people sitting on the pavement. She's much better regarding motorbikes now although we did have a bit of a setback when one young guy came into the park and rode right up past us. Lana's dream came true and she got to chase and run alongside the motorbike barking her head off (quote)

Izzy didn't like someone sitting on the field around the corner from us. She barked and barked at them but when the person held out their hand for her to go and have a sniff she was fine.

We were on this field Wednesday and Izzy was having a sniff when a cyclist rode past her and nearly ran her over at about 20 miles an hour coming round a blind bend I was fuming as where she was was next to the cut-through where people with children walk through and he could have hit someone's child going so manic. He swore at Izzy as she barked at him because he had scared her.

With Izzy I am aware of her body language and before she is going to start barking at another dog or person she takes a sharp intake of breath so I say "oh look at that" and click her before she starts wuffing. Or when I see someone she normally barks at (like the boy opposite we pass on his way to school) I get her to do a sit and use the "watch me" command to keep her focus away from reacting. I really don't like her barking at children as I know she is not aggressive but it doesn't look nice!

ALthough Cherry's "issues" were quite different to Izzy's as Izzy is fine with other dogs off-lead and Cherry was brilliant with people and would never have barked at a person, I do feel that having learned to handle Cherry's dog-reactivity prepared me for dealing with Izzy.

I take Skye around the local city centre once a month and stop off and have a coffee sitting outside one of the cafes where lots of people, children, prams etc walk past. She is much calmer now these days when we do the circuit as she used to bark at the buses out of fear but will happily walk past without a fuss now.