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When your dog is displaying reactive behaviour and there has been a history of incidents it's natural for you to then become anxious in certain situations. One of the most common questions my clients ask me is "is my anxiety making my dog reactive?" and whether they are making their dog's behaviour WORSE by how they respond or if they are anxious.
I understand that when you're trying to work with your dog to reduce reactivity, you want to do everything you can to make sure you aren't making it worse. Sometimes we may inadvertently be doing things that our dogs pick up and they can become signals that something may be wrong.
Now, before I go into more details, I want you to keep this in mind; you are only going to feel better once you start implementing a training plan so that you can see improvements and consistency with your dog's behaviour. Blaming yourself won't help!
Signals
Some of the more common things that we might be doing (and don't realize it) when we are out and about with our dog may be the following:
tightening and/or shortening the leash ONLY in the presence of a trigger
our tone of voice may change or we may stop engaging all together
cue chanting; "leave it, leave it, leave it...."
our own body language may tighten up, we may even be breathing differently
What Should I Do?
A plan. I hear time and time again that my clients feel SO much better when they know what to do consistently, as a pattern, whenever they are with their dog around potential triggers. This makes sense. Our anxiety reduces when we have a pattern to follow and know what to do and when
Preparation. What I mean by this is that before you head out with your dog, know what you may need to have with you and bring it. Treat pouch, poop bags, etc. This also includes knowing where you plan to go with your dog and whether you have an exit plan if you get into any sticky situations.
Breathing. Breath work is very beneficial for our health. Practice taking deep breaths throughout your time with your dog in ANY potentially stressful situations.
Happy talk. This doesn't mean high pitched phony talk with your dog. Using a sing-song voice with your dog and talking them through situations can help BOTH ends of the leash.
Leash work. Practice shortening your leash randomly and interacting with your dog in an upbeat manner. If we do this randomly, if we accidentally do this when we are stressed, it's not sending any particular signal to our dog.
Reducing Your Anxiety With Hard & Fast Rules
Uncertainty is STRESSFUL. Not only for us, but for our dogs as well. A few "hard and fast rules" you may want to implement and start working on with your dog may look like the following:
no on leash greetings with dogs you don't know
no dog parks (if they cause you to become stressed)
saying no to certain parks or trails in which you, or your dog, have seen a pattern of reactivity or negative experiences
deciding that taking your dog to certain environments or events is not worth the potential stress or reactivity is NOT copping out!
You can't change who you are, if you're a bit anxious naturally, you can only be yourself. But, if any of my suggestions help you feel better then please continue to implement them and let me know via Instagram how you're doing!
Do you feel anxious with your dog?
Yes, my anxiety is making ME ANXIOUS!
I think I have it under control