Congratulations to Ace & his family for this big huge success last night in Reactive Dog Class!
For those unfamiliar with the class, here’s a quick lesson. Reactive dogs are ones that bark and lunge at other dogs or at people. They’re frequently mislabeled as “aggressive,” when most reactive behavior is related to fear. The dog has learned that acting tough (barking/lunging) will result in the other dog or person going away. Reactive Dog Class works in baby steps to rehabilitate these dogs so they are less fearful and thus, less reactive. (Read more on Dog Reactive-Dogs and People-Reactive Dogs.)
Back to the story!
The mottled puppy on the left is Ace, and he’s a reactive dog. The black and white dog is Mozart, who is the furry assistant for the class. Instructor Michelle Mange and her assistants said that last night’s class was amazing for all the dogs but especially for Ace.
He would look at Mozart and then look away. (Huge thing for a reactive dog to be able to do this!)
He was super calm. (Yay, Ace!)
And they got closer and closer. Closer and closer.
To have a reactive dog at this close a distance to another dog is pretty much unheard of! But Ace did it!
Reactive Dog Class
We have two new sections of Reactive Dog class starting this spring. One begins on Wednesday, March 27th and the other begins on Wednesday, May 22. As always, if you have questions, feel free to contact us.