The main difference between reactivity and aggression is that reactivity stems from a heightened state of emotion due to an environmental trigger or specific situation. Aggression is spawned from fear or the desire to seek out conflict to cause harm.
Reactivity is not aggression, but can escalate. Resource guarding may involve protection of people, toys, beds, or food. Animal behaviorists can help address the issues that cause aggression.
Reactivity is when a dog over reacts to things in their environment. These reactions can include: barking, lunging, and growling. However, these reactions do not make a dog “aggressive.” Reactivity is not uncommon in dogs.
Aggression in dogs commonly includes body language or threat displays such as a hard stare, growling, barking, snarling, lunging, snapping, and/or biting. Aggression can be a normal form of communication in dogs, yet the display of aggression toward a person or animal is often considered undesirable or problematic.
Like territorial behavior, protective aggression usually appears as puppies mature into an adolescence or adulthood, at one to three years of age. Many dogs show the tendency to guard their possessions from others, whether they need to or not.
Which dog breeds are most reactive? Dogs considered highly reactive also include the Boston, Fox, Cairn and Yorkshire Terriers, Pekingnese, Weimaraner, Pug, Irish Setter, Shetland Sheepdog, Shih Tzu, Poodle, Bichon Frise, Springer Spaniel, the Westie, Chihuahua and the Dachshund.
Dogs of any age can start training to improve their reactivity. You do need to keep in mind that the longer a behavior has been ingrained, the longer it will take to retrain the dog. Whether or not the dog will be “cured” in the sense of being completely fine in the presence of his triggers cannot be predicted.
Reactive behaviors usually crop up in adolescence around 6 to 18 months of age and tend to get worse as the dog reaches social maturity around 2 or 3 years of age. Your pup will not “grow out of” this behavior. Seek help as soon as you notice an issue.
By training a reactive dog you will learn more about yourself and your dog than you ever thought possible. So the answer to the question “can reactive dogs be helped?” is that yes, they can be helped, they can live a normal life and they are definitely worth the time and effort that goes into it.
It means that you react to situations through your emotions. Here, you can often come across as blaming, resentful, insecure, or angry. Common statements made when someone is being reactive include: “It's just the way I am”, “There's nothing I can do”, “She ruined my day”, “The teacher wasn't fair”.
The answer is yes, I do use remote collars as part of the training program when dealing with aggressive dogs. Using the electronic collar as a way to redirect the dogs attention is a large part of the success in how I go about rehabilitating dogs with aggression issues.
1. Calmly remove your dog from the situation. No scolding, no yelling, and no physical punishment. Gently take hold of her collar, lead her to a quiet room away from the action, and leave her there with a bowl of water and a chew toy.
Most often a dog's aggression is motivated by fear, anxiety, conflict about what to expect and what to do and the anticipation of possible punishment (see Aggression – Diagnosis and Overview, (Dominance, Alpha, and Pack Leadership – What Does It Really Mean?, and Canine Communication – Interpreting Dog Language).
Females scored 5.0 on their reactivity scale and males a close 4.9. Companion dog owners tend to care less about gender and more about personality.
This kind of work can take anywhere from two to 12 months, as that's how long it takes for a dog to learn a new behavior. After that time period, you should be able to substitute negative reactions with positive thoughts.
For many of our clients, a muzzle provides a safer way to allow their dog to be a part of the family and family's activities, rather than being in isolation. It is also a great way to improve safety while working to improve a dog's aggressive or reactive behavior.
To build your dog's confidence in a more general way, provide him with enrichment activities and relationship-based training. Simply feeding your dog via food puzzles and getting him involved in nose work (which, by the way, is fun for both dogs and their people) can make him more confident.
There is no guaranteed way to successfully introduce a reactive dog to another dog. You will need time, patience and you need to pay attention to your dog and his mental state. If you rush the introduction, your dog will become even more reactive. Preventing your dog from crossing his threshold is highly important.
Labrador Retriever
Their friendliness, intelligence, gentle temperaments, and energetic spirits have earned Labrador retrievers the coveted title of "most popular dog breed in the U.S.," according to the AKC.
Many older dogs show increased aggression, anxiety, or compulsive behaviors. These behaviors are aggravated by body inflammation, sensory changes, and cognitive decline.