Reactive Dog Behaviour

The term “reactive” is used a lot these days to describe a range of dog behaviours, many of which are examples of aggression. In some cases reactive is actually used as a euphemism for aggression or maybe in place of aggression as people do not understand what aggressive behavoiur is or are trying to avoid the stigma.

So what actually is reactive dog behaviour?

Well, it is an excessive emotional response to a ‘trigger’ i.e. unfamiliar people, dogs, cats, traffic, etc. Behaviours you may see that are often labelled as reactive include: hard pulling towards the trigger; jumping at end of lead; barking; whining; growling; snarling; snapping/bite attempts; hyper arousal; lead ragging; jumping at owner; attempts to escape; attempts to hide; and more.

What are the motivating factors behind these behaviour responses?

Reactivity covers a wide range of behaviours that can all be motivated by a range of emotions. Most commonly reactivity is due to fear; distress; excessive eustress (positive emotion/excitement) tipping into frustration (due to being restrained or unable to access the trigger; frustration; and emotional conflict (two or more different emotions battling each other - such as joy at seeing a potential play mate, but fear of the unknown due to previous negative experiences with some dogs).

The emotional root of the behaviour will underline the motivating factor that the behaviour is ‘aiming’ to achieve. If the dog is reacting due to fear or distress, the motivating factor behind the behaviour is likely to be the hope of increasing distance between themselves and the trigger. If the dog is conflicted or frustrated (i.e., just desperate to say hello and interact with the other dog or person) then the motivating factor might be to close distance to the trigger quickly. Sometimes the behaviour is acting as a release of tension/emotion - i.e., if the dog is desperate to say hi but restrained by a lead, the barking/jumping up at their owner/chaotic behaviour may be a physical outlet for the emotion because they do not know what else to do to achieve their goal.

One of the most important things for owners to understand is what their dog’s emotional threshold is. Reactivity happens when your dog is over threshold - their emotions have tipped over and the behaviours spill out. When working with your dog you want them to remain below threshold to ensure they are able to take on board what you are teaching them, as well as generally prevent the undesirable behaviour from occurring.

How does learning theory play a role in reactivity?

If a behaviour continues to occur then something must be reinforcing it. There must be a consequence to that behaviour that is telling the dog that it is effective at reaching their goal, therefore they should keep doing it. This reinforcement can be negative (something bad is removed) or positive (something good is added). Potentially the behaviour is also punishing (removes something they like OR something bad is added) BUT without being shown what to do instead to meet the motivating factor of the behaviour, it will likely come back.

Examples:

Positive Reinforcement - When the dog pulls hard enough on the end of his lead at the sight of a person they are keen to say hello to their owner drops the lead. The dog is then able to close distance between themselves and the trigger.

Negative Reinforcement - When the dog barks and growls at the unfamiliar dog, whom they are desperate to avoid/want to go away, the other owner quickly turns and exits the vicinity. The dog learns that barking and growling means the other dog goes away.

Can we fix reactive behaviour?

Contacting a behaviorist is the best option to working through this behaviour issue as they will help you to understand the motivating factors beneath your dog’s reactivity. Every dog is an individual so your behaviour plans should be individualized, however here are some key tips and advice to help you whilst you work on acquiring a qualified professional.

With that said, the most important step at working through reactivity is managing your dog and their environment in such a way that they do not keep practicing the reactive behaviour. Not only is this because the more they practice and learn this behaviour is effective, the more strongly it is reinforced. Also because our dogs are not having a good time when they are expressing this behaviour and feeling these huge emotions. We need to ensure that we help them to navigate the world in a way that keeps them calm and joyful, not manic, stressed, or fearful.

We will be going through our top management examples and training advice in the next blog post.