Fear & Reactivity

Any scenario where your dog is fearful or reactive is stressful for all involved. It can even feel impossible to go for walks or to have visitors over. Fortunately, there are plans and strategies that we can put in place to make these events much less stressful for both you and your dog.

The key to success in fear and reactivity training is to teach our dogs that the things they fear are actually pretty cool.

Ever heard of Pavlov's dog? He learned that a bell predicted dinner and eventually started to salivate when he heard the bell. You've seen this in action any time you grab your dog's food bowl or leash and he comes barreling toward you. It isn't that he loves those sounds. He loves what they predict: good stuff for him.

We can actually train dogs to like stuff using the same principles and a carefully-executed, incremental plan. It's really powerful stuff that can transform your life with your dog. It can help you break through the communication barriers and get back to the joy. Because your dog is awesome and you want others to see it. We can't wait to show you how.

How we can help alleviate the stress for you and your dog:

TEACH

It’s important to us to share the ‘why’ of our training approach as well as the ‘how’ so that you can have confidence we’re doing the best for you and your dog for the long term. We'll explain what motivates your dog and how to leverage it.

PREVENT

Every time your dog bites, barks or lunges, the behavior gets stronger and stronger because it works. It gets him the distance he's after. Together, we'll come up with a plan to prevent these behaviors from ever happening in the first place.

TRAIN

Teaching your dog to love the things that he fears seems straight forward enough, but there are a ton of details you'll need to plan for to make sure that the training sticks. We're here to guide you, step by step, to ensure lasting results.

How Training Works

All fear and reactivity training is done online via Zoom. This allows your dog to focus on the task at hand without worrying about the strange trainer that's been thrown into the mix. An important part of our training process is keeping your dog under threshold, meaning he isn't rehearsing the fearful behaviors that cause you both so much stress. We coach you remotely so that we can get right to training immediately, without having to wait for your dog to warm up to us.

Not only is it practical, it's highly effective. It allows us to focus on the nitty gritty of your technique by reviewing video in freeze frame so we can analyze all the minutia that really matters. It also facilitates short but sweet sessions that leave your dog wanting more.