Selective reactivity - anyone else with a dog like this?

[SirChenjins]

I’ve posted about ChenDog before but the last couple of days have left me feeling pretty shit ☹️

He reacts - and I mean really reacts - to the following:

1. the cockapoo round the corner. Its owners hates ChenDog (also a cockapoo) for this and have made their feelings clear on the matter.
2. The 2 collies further round the road. Their owner is very understanding but we walk at different times so it’s rare
3. A boxer who lives locally but we rarely see him.
4. A man from Singapore who we very occasionally see. He has a light up skateboard and ChenDog is petrified of this thing and consequently of him.
5. A woman we see. I have literally no idea why he reacts to her.

I have worked out 1 and 5 routes and timetables as far as possible and do everything I can to avoid them. Sadly, I met cockapoo yesterday and woman #5 this morning. His reaction is so extreme and although I keep as much distance/let’s go, turn and walk away/try and distract with treats on the ground/etc the instant he sees them all hell breaks loose. He calms down really quickly and doesn’t react in the rest of our walk - he just has really big feelings towards them. He’s on-lead unless we’re out in the countryside and he’s fine with other dogs generally.

I tend not to walk in the immediate vicinity of our house to minimise the risk of seeing them but I am getting a bit obsessed/overwhelmed at the thought of meeting them. Is there anything else that I could do to help minimise or stop the reaction to them?

I would imagine it’s you tensing up at their sight - or possibly even just you being on mega high alert that they might appear - (understandably) that is creating this extreme reaction.
Not easy to fix though as it’s very hard to control your feelings. Does anyone else walk the dog? Could they to test the theory? I would book a home session with a reputable trainer and go on a walk with them in your area at a time you are likely to bump into one of the ‘trigger’ people/dogs and get someone experienced to assess his body language and try to pinpoint why he is reacting.

DH, DS and DD walk him too and he reacts in exactly the same way - they’re far more relaxed and don’t get upset by it, but he’s still hyper reactive. He also goes out with a dog walker once a week and to daycare for a few hours once a week - absolutely loves them both and copes well.

We did get a (reputable) trainer in - she even bought a cockapoo the same size and colour with her to see if it was the breed/colour he reacted to but he was absolutely fine with her dog. We saw #1 cockapoo while she was there and she was really surprised by the reaction and just said to continue moving away from it as soon as we saw it and to practise the let’s go - she said some dogs just don’t like other specific dogs. Not sure she was much help tbh.

I could cope with a bark - but it’s like dealing with the Tasmanian Devil at the end of the lead.

Our is small dogs, rather than specific dogs, so we can't plan for it with walking routes etc. I have a yellow lead and harness, yellow means reactive dog. I just try to create as much distance as possible, I've found that enough distance reduces the reaction. Also place myself physically between her and the trigger and get past as quickly as possible, jogging usually. They can't react so much if they are moving fast.
It doesn't bother me tbh. Ours is a rescue who was abused so I think she has the right to protest if she feels uncomfortable. We use a two point harness and if she's really going berserk I will grab it for a bit more control than the double lead gives.

I had this with my last dog.

Lots of training and advice. Like yours, mine would calm down very quickly if I sat her between my legs, rubbed her chest and reassured her. Treats or other distractions did not work.

Sometimes all hell broke loose, sometimes fine.I definitely think she picked up on my tension as my then partner who was very confident with her reported few problems with her after the first few months. I found it stressful and embarrassing. Like having a badly behaved child!

It was hard to see a pattern.If there was the slightest hint of uppity ness from other dog, then it was war. Also dogs with wrinkled faces she despised. I read somewhere that this is because it mimics the face of a growling aggressive dog, which makes sense.

I resorted to walking her extremely early in the morning and then around dinner time rather than last thing to avoid other dogs. It made things hard. She was a sweet girl in every other way and I was devastated when she died suddenly last autumn.

I’m glad it’s not just mine - obviously not great for you either but it sounds like he’s not alone in this. #5 woman has a very reactive dog herself (it’s so reactive she can’t walk it) so she just walks on by but #1 cockapoo owners have been so unpleasant about ChenDog I do feel pretty rubbish every time we do come across his hated dogs/people - though I do everything I can to avoid them.

I think I need to let it go more and work on my own reaction to his reactivity.

No advice but my Border Terrier is fine with nearly all dogs but HATES a French Bulldog we nearly always see on the walk to school and back. It’s very hard to avoid it because of school timings and lack of route options. When we see it he goes mental. It’s so embarrassing. So if anyone else has any good advice then I’m curious!

@SirChenjins

you are not alone.

I try to remember to say my dog is reactive (rather than nuts)… I never let him off lead. He particularly hates border terriers.

I walk him early in the day and rarely see other people/ dogs. He’s ok with people if they don’t have a dog but I wouldn’t encourage anyone to stroke him

He’s great with us at home - loves belly rubs and being with any family member

@SirChenjins I completely empathise. My staffy was reactive, the fact some people were scared and unpleasant about him didn't help matters.
Just remember no dog or human is perfect. Who knows why they take umbridge? Sometimes it's completely random. I know it makes walks hard and unpleasant though. At 1 point I used to just drive to a park where people were generally more relaxed and we had better less stressful walks.

There are a couple of dogs my two hate and, like others, they behave like Tasmanian devils when they see them. They are only small terriers but really snarl and bark and go for it. One of the dogs they hate is a French bull dog!

I avoid if possible, or if I see them early enough step into someone's drive and get them sat facing me with the watch command and offer of treats. Doesn't always work. I always apologise a lot as well!

I've had a number of dog trainers and they all say that sometimes there are dogs your dogs just don't like!

Of course dogs a few selectively reactive .
They get a vibe from others , sometimes a challenging one , other times they'll be passive and show them that they aren't any threat and don't want to ' fight '
My dog will react when another dog ' squares up ' to him , but if they sniff and say hello he's fine .
It's also almost always the same sex they dislike .
Greayadvice I was given many years ago, was dog talk their own language, listen and observe carefully & you may just work it out .

Hi , I can emphasise with this as I have an anxious and sometimes reactive cockapoo.
Have you heard of trigger stacking before? A behaviourist and trainer have mentioned this to me .
I just wondered if your cockapoo was more reactive the day after say doggy daycare?

My cockapoo also hates sheepdogs ( think it's their body language) and some dogs but not others. It's definitely a fear response from her because with more down time between walks , she improves.

Has your cockapoo ever met the other cockapoo face to face and the other dog was too pushy?

My dog, daisy by name but also answers to dickhead occasionally, reacts to some dogs and some people. To make it worse, she reacts to some dogs and some people on television. At least those on Tele don't react back.

Some dogs and some people she seems to adore (some on the Tele too) some she cannot stand. She's small, so even in the middle of her reaction it's easy to pick her up and walk on by, in real life.

As you can tell, I've not the faintest idea how to control this type of behaviour. If it was a big enough problem for us, we'd probably go to an accredited trainer.

Our dog is the happiest dog you'll ever meet and even she will lunge if a dog growls and chases at her as we walk past - she will walk past merrily if it is just a growl but if they run at her she will defend. She also doesn't like herding dogs - their body language is very challenging (she runs past quickly with herding dogs) and weirdly also certain cockapoos. I don't know why that breed seem to trigger her - chocolate brown ones every time - but she just finds them intolerable and I always put her on lead and even walk off the path if I clock one coming in time. She wouldn't hurt them I'm sure but she feels the need to be dominant towards them, unlike any other breed.

My dog isn't reactive, but I reckon that in every neighbourhood there are Dogs To Be Avoided.
I either get up ridiculously early or drive to various peaceful locations to avoid nonsense from regular aggressive animals.
I really feel that walking on-lead in residential areas is very counter-productive for reactive animals. There's a dog behind every second gate and it's not relaxing. Every time the reactive dog has a flare, it increases the intensity of the next one. So if possible, go to areas where you can scan around you and avoid conflict.

Yes my dog can be like this, it will generally be to do with the body language from the other dog. If they show too much interest in him / if he finds them too forward / pushy he can be reactive.

I think the only thing that really works in these situations is parallel walking for a bit (Google it) but you and the other owners need to actively collaborate to achieve that.

Most of the time now his reactivity is 'working for him'; he reacts and as an owner you (understandably) act in such a way so as the threat (other dog / person) goes away. So he doesn't learn to tolerate what he perceives as a threat and lower his reactivity levels when he gains awareness that continued proximity to this perceived threat is not going to cause him any harm.

Parallel walking is one way to take that forward, but yeah, you need other owners on board with trying this out, and it may be more effort than people are willing to commit.

Thanks so much everyone - I feel a lot better for reading this. We went for a walk along the beach today and he was brilliant - playing happily with other off lead dogs after calm meetings and coming back when called. No issues at all. Now trying to pluck up courage to take him out on a walk before bedtime.

I usually drive to another part of the neighbourhood for our quick walks or further afield for our longer or fun walks, but sometimes I just need to do a quick round the block with him - and keep my fingers crossed I don’t meet the ones I know he reacts too.

@Cockapoodled yes, I know about trigger stacking but it’s not that with his hated people/dogs, it happens literally every time he spots them, even if they’re some distance away.

The other issue is other dog owners. You see a situation building and call over to recall theit dog / give us a wide berth on a path etc, and they say ' oh but he's fine' .Yes he may well be. I am telling you that mine may well NOT be.

Occasionally I got abusive comments as they felt I was somehow insulting their dog. No. I was trying to keep everyone safe...

On the other paw, watching her play happily with other dogs she liked off lead was always a joy.