Training articles - Louise Kirby Dog Trainer

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The emotional cost of a reactive dog

February 28, 2023February 28, 2023

Trying to manage a reactive dog can be stressful. It changes the dynamics in the household, and slowly but surely everything starts to revolve around it.

Having a reactive dog affects everything

The first thing that goes is taking your dog out for a walk. The dream you had of taking your dog out on enjoyable country walks or to the beach, goes out the window.

Next is your confidence. You get so much advice from people who love to tell you everything you’ve done wrong. You start to doubt yourself. Should we have done puppy classes, am I strict enough? It’s a long list.

Add in a little regret that you can’t admit to. You love your dog, you want the best for him, but this isn’t how you imagined owning a dog was going to be.

Physical health can be the next on the list, if your dog is medium to large then trying to manage a dog that is pulling and spinning on the end of a lead can cause issues with your back, shoulders, and other joints. If they are jumping, you also risk being scratched and if they are red misting, you might even worry about an unintentional bite.

Then you join the Midnight Walkers or the Early Riser club, the band of dog owners who sneak out at odd times of day or night to walk their dog in the hope of not meeting anyone else.

You are a hero

If any of this chime with you, I empathise. Owning a reactive dog can be a challenge. You are a hero for not giving your dog up and for looking for solutions. And there is a solution, a way to unpick your dog’s emotional response to seeing another dog. Reactivity is a response driven by frustration or anxiety & worry. We need to build your dog’s confidence, teach them to ignore other dogs, build their tolerance of novelty and help them become more optimistic. Make better decisions for themselves about what to do when faced with events.

Confidence all round

And we need to build your confidence, show you some useful moves to get you out of dodge. The best way to manage the situation while we work on dogo. Once you understand why they do what they do life becomes a whole lot easier.

This isn’t something that can be trained by trudging up and down in a field or by putting on a specific collar. In fact, these gadgets can add the stress of pain and discomfort to an already volatile situation, and they don’t teach your dog anything.

It’s dog behaviour. You need to understand what is going on in your dog’s head. We need to fix it there.

Need help with dog behaviour? Send me a message.

dog behaviour,

Does your dog go from 0-100 on the dog…

September 25, 2023September 25, 2023

Does you dog go from 0-100 in a blink of an eye?

You know what it’s like, one moment your dog seems to be lazing about then the doorbell goes, and they go up like a rocket barking and jumping because they want to get involved.

Or you’re out on a walk and everything is going swimmingly then they see another dog and instantly they are barking, lunging, and spinning on the end of the lead.

Or a car door slams, and the dogs are up at the window barking like aliens have landed on the lawn.

Reticular Activating System

Reactions to stimulus for humans and dogs is controlled by the Reticular Activating System (RAS) which is a bunch of neurons located at the base of the brain stem. This system regulates behaviour, and how our dogs react. For a small event we should get a small reaction and for a large event you would expect an increase in arousal and thus a larger reaction.

The problem for dogs that go from 0 – 100 on the extreme dog behaviour scale is this system is hypersensitive or tight. It’s incapable of in-between setting of 10, 50 or whatever the appropriate arousal level for the situation is.

Calm, or crazy.

It is operating like a light switch, it’s either on or off. Calm, or crazy.

This hypersensitive RAS creates behaviour struggles for our dogs. Other dogs find these over aroused dogs difficult to deal with and will defend themselves against them. They can be hard to walk as they bounce about unable to take direction or make good decisions about the environment. They can be difficult to manage at home as they are jumping up at every noise, overreacting for visitors and find it difficult to settle. You may also find they suffer with separation anxiety issues as their emotions run high when you leave. They may also be more prone to biting, overreacting to movement.

It can look a bit like this across the day, with multiple times your dog jumps from a relatively calm state to inappropriately over aroused. It a bit like a light switch going from off to on.

What we want is a smoother line, interest but not crazy. Of course, if there is a big, scary event then we want our dogs to be able to get themselves out of a situation by reacting fast, but what we don’t want is this hypervigilant reaction to normal things going on around them.

Dimmer switch

To help our dogs overcome this light switch effect and have more controlled dog behaviour we need to teach our dogs a dimmer switch, a smoother transition between emotions and more self-control. So, they have a range of setting in-between 0 -100.

Play figure 8s

One simple game for this is figure of 8’s or shape walking with pace changes.

Walk you dog in a figure of 8, calmly without food if you can. Think of it as a meditation. Keep chat and interactions down to the minimum. This can take a few sessions to achieve.

Once you have a calm figure of 8 happening, you start to alter you pace. When a dog moves faster, their arousal level goes up, when it’s slower it comes down. So gentle pace changes move your dog through a arrange of arousal levels, helping them build that all important dimmer switch. Stretching out the RAS so your dog has a better selection of levels to pick from.

Like any dog training, this is only part of the picture, but building a dimmer switch is an important part of dealing with hypervigilant barking and crazy behaviour. Giving your dog the skills to make better decisions themselves.

About the author

Louise Kirby is a Pro Dog Trainer and Behaviour Coach and works 1-2-1 with owners at home. If you would like more information about games based training and how this can benefit your dog, please send a message.

dog behaviour,

Should we ban XL Bully breeds?

September 13, 2023September 13, 2023

You can’t help but be horrified by the recent news about the young girl attacked by a Bully breed dog in the UK. Looking at the videos the dog was completely over aroused and dangerously out of control. This is not the first bite incident with a dog of this breed, two years ago a young lad in Wales was killed by an XL Bully named Beast. Calls to ban the breed have understandably been quick to follow the attack. But is banning the breed the answer?

What is a Bully breed dog?

Bully breed is a generic term used to identify a variety of terrier-type dogs such as American Pit Bull Terriers, Bull Terriers, Bullmastiffs, Staffordshire Terriers, Boston Terriers, Boxers, and our cute little French Bulldogs. The American XL Bully is the largest variation of the created from cross breeding. They are large, powerful dogs and the largest can weigh 36- 54kg.

What is the current law?

The [1]Dangerous Dog Act is an act created by the government on the 25th of July 1991, to prohibit a person from owning a dog belonging to certain breeds that had originally been bred for fighting. It also makes it illegal to sell, breed, give away or abandon one of these dogs. In addition, it is a criminal offence for the owner or person in charge of the dog to allow the dog to be ‘dangerously out of control’ in a public place or be in a place where it is not permitted to be.

In the UK there are only 4 dogs that are banned, Pit bull terrier, the Japanese Tosa, Dogo Argentino, and Fila Brasileiro. It is illegal to own, breed from, sell or give away or abandon one of these dogs. If you have one of these dogs the Police can seize it even if it’s minding its own business and no complaint has been made about its behavior. Interestingly, how a banned dog is determined is based on looks rather than any kind of DNA evidence and is widely criticized for being too subjective. The British Veterinary Association and many charities and dog organizations are against [2]Breed Specific Legislation (BSL). Suggesting that just because a dog is bred for fighting doesn’t mean they are inherently dangerous and can be brought up to be trained to be reliable companion dogs.

Hard to insure

While not on any banned list it can also be difficult to get insurance for some breeds considered dangerous, German Shepherds, Cane Corso’s and Huskies are among them.

Which dogs bite the most?

Hannah Molley, dog behaviourist and advisor to the Government told GB News, JTRs, Shihtzu and Frenchie’s cause more dog bites to children. Obviously, the number of dog bites is directly relative to the popularity of the breed and the amount of damage done in such an attack is relative to the size of the dog.

But in March 2022 a Husky mauled a small baby to death in an unprovoked attack, but so far there have been no calls to ban Huskies or these other breeds.

Any dog can be a weapon

What is being left out of the conversation around Bully breeds and dangerous dogs is that any dog can be weaponized, and this is done with training methods. The kind of people who want a status dog are unlikely to train in a humane way and are more likely to use gadgets like prong collars, e-collars, and other brutal training methods. This will put any dog in a high state of arousal, create pessimism, anxiety, and hypervigilance around movement. Brutality also creates conflict of emotion, where a dog wants to be with people, but they worry about what people moving means for them.

Essentially this creates so much stress for the dog that they become a ticking time bomb, a child running pushes a dog over the top and they react by chasing them down.

Could this also contribute to the increase in dog attacks on other dogs, the hypervigilant, stressed dog notices movement or hears another dog coming and is overwhelmed and launches an attack.

Celebrity trainers

This is only going to get worse as owners look to self-styled celebrity dog trainers on social media. Often people who use gadgets and domination tactics to try and push a dog into a state of submission. It looks like a quick fix, but all it teaches a dog is their human is scary and unpredictable. There are no skills there that a dog can use in the wider environment.

Personally, I don’t feel that BSL will have any meaningful effect on the problem. But these dogs need to be registered and accounted for and their well-being monitored. The problem here is anyone who wants a Bully breed to boost their profile is unlikely to worry about any kind of legalities.

All that will happen is legitimate owners will face having their dogs removed and possibly destroyed because it’s always easier to go after a soft target than the real criminals.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public/banned-dogs

[2] https://www.bva.co.uk/take-action/our-policies/dangerous-dogs-act-1991-and-dog-control/

About the author

Louise Kirby is a Pro Dog Trainer and Behaviour coach and works with clients on a 1-2-1 basis at home. specialising in reactivity and difficult walks. Training is force-free and fun for you and your dog. If you would like more information please send a message.

dog behaviour,

How much responsibility to give your dog?

September 5, 2023September 5, 2023

On or off the lead?

When you get to the park do you let your dog off the lead as soon as you get there, or do you prefer to keep them on a longline or extendable lead? If your dog is reactive this will drive the decision.

100% you

If a dog is reactive, we either spend our walk trying to avoid other dog walkers or keep out dogs on lead. We don’t feel our dog has the skills to cope with the environment, so we take all the responsibility for the outcome of the walk ourselves.

If they have no recall, and likely to go visit every dog they see or go charging off after a squirrel then this is the sensible thing to do. The dog can’t make good decisions, so we take the decision making away from them. For your dog the environment is hugely distracting, all those smells, squirrels, and things to chase. It can create overarousal and put your dog into flight-or-fight mode making it hard to get them to respond to you. If your dog can’t take food when out this is an indication that they are overstimulated by what’s going on around them.

Making better decisions

If you are working on their behaviour issues and trying to build ‘off-lead freedom’ for your dog, then at some point you are going to need to drop the lead and give them the opportunity to get it right. It can be nerve racking, are they going to stay with you, will they recall, and most importantly will they be able to disengage from a distraction when you call them? What you’re hoping for is a dog that can make the right decision at the right time.

Handing responsibility over to your dog should be gradual. And can change over the duration of your walk. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

Case study; Arlo

Arlo can be chippy with other dogs, he finds their presence worrying and will bark at them if they get too close. Once, he would have chased them hard and harassed the other dog jumping in their face and generally cause mayhem.

We have been working on his ability to ignore other dogs and to stay within a proximity zone around me and only leave my side when I say it’s OK and safe. I am a lot more confident now that he would be able to disengage from any interaction. But I still don’t allow him total responsibility when we are out on a walk. This is because emotions change in a heartbeat, and I don’t want to put Arlo in a situation that he won’t be able to cope with.

A walk can be a range of on/off lead experiences. It starts onlead, as the car is stimulating and creates excitement. In this state he is less likely to make good decisions. We do some work around calming down, maybe a scatter feed to start with. I keep him on the lead while the other dogs do their toilet, so I have him under control while I pick up. Then I let him off and play some games getting his focus on me rather than him scanning the horizon looking for something to worry about.

If I feel the environment is at a level, he can cope with I tell him to ‘walk-on’. This is our Premack cue that lets the dogs know they can leave my side and go do dog stuff. I would expect regular check-ins without calling him. If I don’t get them and I felt the environment was getting the better of him, I might call him in and pop him back on lead for a while. Play some games and refocus him.

If I recalled him and he ignored me or was super slow to respond, then he would certainly go back on lead. I don’t mean this in an angry way, just things are hotting up for him and his decision-making ability will go down. I’m taking the responsibility back from him for a while.

I also might call him in and put him on lead if we are transitioning between environments or going around a blind corner. A sudden head-to-head with another dog or some novelty might create anxiety and I don’t want to put him in a situation he might not be able to cope with.

But even with best planning the environment can throw things at you that you’re not expecting and more than once I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how well he’s coped. It’s a fantastic moment when your dog shows you that they can take the responsibility for being off lead and is able to make the right decision.

About the author

dog behaviour,

What do you want your dog to do?

September 5, 2023September 15, 2023

Ignore what I don’t want reward what I want, does this work?

This is a common methodology you hear in dog training and it has some merits, because we don’t want to add punishment into a behaviour routine. But, what if, you dog isn’t offering behaviour that you can ignore, and they also aren’t offering anything you can reward. If you find yourself in a situation like a crazy meltdown at another dog, it’s not possible to ignore it and it’s unlikely that your dog is going to be able to offer anything you can reward. Even if they were able to take food in this situation, they will be so highly aroused that there will be no pairing of reward and required behaviour.

So, what do you do, how do you get through to your dog in this situation?

When you’re training a dog, it’s traditional to focus on what you don’t want your dog to do. You don’t want them to jump, bark at other dogs, pull on the lead. Everything is geared toward controlling these output behaviours. Often working in the moment or when it’s all kicking off! This is where it gets difficult to ignore and reward.

Flip this mindset

Let’s flip this mindset, rather than focus on what we don’t want our dog to do, lets decide what we do want them to do. Your dog is jumping at visitors, so what would you rather they did. My guess is sitting calmly on a boundary while you visitors or deliveries come in. So instead of creating additional excitement at the door telling your dog to get down and manhandling them to stop the jumping, we grow the skill of sitting on their boundary.

Emotional drivers

There are also emotions driving the jumping at people, barking at other dogs, and pulling on the lead. These emotions can be excitement, frustration, or anxiety. So, look at the drivers and give our dogs an emotional power boost, if the behaviour is driven by anxiety then work on your dog’s confidence, if it’s frustration then help them with impulse control and tolerance. When training your dog, decide what you would rather they were doing and build the skills to perform this in any given situation. Work for the moment and not in it. What I mean by this, don’t wait until the event is happening and try and train there.

About the author

Louise Kirby is a Pro Dog Trainer and Behaviour coach and works with clients on a 1-2-1 basis at home. specialising in reactivity and rebuilding difficult walks. Training is force-free and fun for you and your dog. If you would like more information please send a message.

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What is triggers your dog?

February 28, 2023February 28, 2023

Have you ever wondered why your dog does something? What triggers your dog? Chances are they are having conversations with the environment that your not aware of. These ‘conversations’ create triggers.

Triggers are stimuli that elicit a response in dogs. This can be anything from a loud noise to a certain scent, and it can have a significant impact on a dog’s behavior.

Understanding what triggers your dog is essential so you can help to modify behavior and prevent negative responses.

Triggers can be really obvious like a doorbell or the sound of your car on the drive, but they can also be really subtle and you may not notice them. Subtle triggers can be you getting up from your chair, moving towards a cupboard where the lead is kept.

Triggers drive a response and a behaviour outcome. Sometimes this is desirable like responding to a recall whistle but more often than not they create unpredictable and unhelpful responses pushing up your dogs’ arousal levels.

How your dog reacts to a trigger depends on their ability to think in high arousal. If they are able to respond to a recall when out having a good time, they can think in arousal. If you are dead-to-them when the doorbell rings, it would suggest they can’t.

Fear can be a trigger

One common trigger in dogs is fear. Dogs may become scared of loud noises, such as fireworks, thunder, or gunshots. Very common for us locals, as artillery fire is an everyday occurrence. This fear can cause dogs to become anxious, hide, or become aggressive. Some dogs get spooked and may run off towards the car if you’re out.

Presence of other animals

Another trigger that affects dogs is the presence of other animals. This can include both dogs and other species, such as cats or squirrels. Dogs may become aggressive or defensive when they feel threatened by another dog. The trigger can be sufficiently well rehearsed that the other dog doesn’t have to have even looked at your dog to get a reaction.

Or, in the case of a squirrel or cat, it may trigger the prediction of movement. Movement is stimulating for a dog and creates a chase reaction. The squirrel may be still, but the dog has predicted movement will follow and the squirrel rarely disappoints.

Subtle triggers are all around the house and are very tied up with prediction. Where your dog has decided what is going to happen next based on the action you’re performing.

Dealing with triggers can be time consuming and a little bit tedious. One of the issues owners have is they try to deal with them ‘in the moment’ (when the behavior is happening) rather than ‘for the situation’.

Dealing with triggers

Identifying what triggers your dog. Break this down into major and minor triggers. Make a list of them.
Decide what you would like your dog to do in that situation. This is important. Most owners know what they don’t want their dog to, but often haven’t considered what they do want them to do. Then work towards growing that outcome. For example if your dog barks at the doorbell, you would probably want them to sit quietly on a boundary. Grow this behaviour intentionally rather than create anxiety at the door by shouting and grappling with an excited dog.
Work for the situation not in it. Trying to modify the output behaviour while it’s happening will probably be adding in more excitement into the event. Put some time aside each day when your dog is calm and tackle a trigger a week.

Start to watch your dog, see what is driving some of their behaviour. Once you’re aware of their triggers you will find them much easier to deal with.

Need help with behaviour? Send me a message

dog behaviour,

What is dog rehearsal?

February 28, 2023February 28, 2023

A client asked me why her dog always barked at the postman. The answer is dog rehearsal. The postman arrives, your dog barks, Postie goes away again. Then he comes back another day and it happens again, day after day. In your dog’s head, barking at the postman works. The arrival of the postman becomes a trigger for a conditioned response.

Spotting Dog Rehearsal

Once you understand rehearsal, you will start to see it and recognise it. Barking out the window, barking at birds, barking when the doorbell goes, barking at other dogs. Like any activity, the more it’s rehearsed the better we get at it and this is the same for our dogs. If we allow the constant rehearsal of these unwanted behaviours they become a default behaviour.

Break the cycle

One of the keys to stopping some of these unwanted behaviours is stopping the daily rehearsal. Breaking the cycle. We don’t do this in an aggressive way, by shouting or squirting water or other adverse training methods. Most of these are high arousal in themselves and just add another level of stress and excitement into the situation.

Management of dog rehearsal

The first and easiest way to stop dog rehearsal of unwanted behaviours is with management. Management gets a bad rap with some trainers who don’t consider it ‘training’. But if you don’t start to manage the situation you will be constantly working in the moment or trying to slap down the output behaviour as it occurs.

Let’s use barking out the window as an example. Your neighbor slams their car door shut and your dog barks out the window. The noise of the car door is a trigger to the dog, it creates anxiety and the conditioned response is to jump up and bark to get the ‘threat’ to go away.

Working ‘in the moment’ would be trying to control this output behavior. People may use things like squirting water, shouting or smacking the dog even shock collars. While some of these methods may work at the time. Long term they erode a dog’s confidence and their trust for you. Plus cessation of the behaviour (barking) is dependent on you being there to command or punish your dog.

Instead using management we would prevent the dog from having access to the window with baby gates or moving the furniture, maybe block the view using frosted film. This would be a start by breaking the cycle of trigger-stress-response.

A dog that can think!

Then we would work with the dog to build calmness around the window and reduce anxiety. First this would be done without any of the triggers present. Helping your dog to feel less worried. Then, we would gently start to reintroduce some of the original triggers, desensitizing them in a positive way. What we are working towards is a dog who can make their own decisions about what they can safely ignore. The outcome is you don’t need to be there to cue your dog to make the right decision.

Need help send me a message

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