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Dealing with an anxious and reactive dog can be incredibly stressful, lonely, and defeating at times. We all get a dog and envision this perfect companion with peaceful walks in the park, relaxing hikes, and playdates at the dog park. But if your dog is nervous, anxious, or reactive those dreams are immediately crushed.
Often you blame yourself and constantly wonder what you could’ve done differently. You feel like your dog will never be “normal.” It effects your happiness and is a constant source of anxiety. And a lot of times it feels like no matter what you do it never gets better.
I felt that way for about the last 3 years with Sheila. She started exhibiting a lot of anxiety around 6 months and it developed into full blown reactivity shortly after and I felt like I failed her.
I have been researching and studying for so long looking for anything that may help. We’ve had small victories but it wasn’t until very recently that Sheila made HUGE improvement. So what is the number one thing that help her?
Freedom
That was the missing piece for us. I believed for a long time that giving Sheila more structure, more obedience training, and less spontenaity would make her more confidence in her life. For some dogs this may work. But for her I never saw improvement.
I started implementing decompression walks in 2019 and did notice that Sheila had small behaviorial improvements. So over the next couple of years I tried to keep that a regular part of our routine.
Despite her other issues, Sheila is a dream off leash and it’s when she seems most confident. Unfortunately, when we were living in the city it was really an option. I don’t do dog parks so unless we got out of the city we didn’t have a lot of off leash opportunities besides Sniffspots. At this time I started to implement sniff walks instead and saw so much improvement in her general reactivity.
So I noticed a pattern. When she is allowed to be a dog, sniffing and exploring and being free, she is the best version of herself.
It makes sense! Being allowed to engage in natural behaviors has to feel good. Our dogs lives are filled with rules that go against all of their instincts.
Don’t bark. Don’t chew. Don’t lick. Don’t sniff.
Growing in leaps & bounds
We’ve been in the desert a little over 2 months now and I have had quite a few moments that just blew me away! Sheila has so much freedom out here. She is mostly off leash so she can explore around our campsite. She sunbathes, cuddles in the loveseat, enjoys a chew in the shade. We take 2-3 long walks in the desert every single day and as long as it’s safe and she isn’t harassing wildlife she is allowed to do whatever she wants.
She follows smells, she runs, she jumps, she plays with sticks, she chases flies (I don’t consider this wildlife), she, unfortunately, rolls in horse manure. Essentially, she gets to be a dog.
We’ve also had some great opportunities to desensitize her to “scary” things. We often see horses, cattle, hikers, mountain bikers, and atvs from a distance. When I see them coming we play the “look at that” game and reward calm behavior. And she has blown my mind a couple of times!
- We had a group of trail riders come through our camp. Literally within 10 feet of my car. I don’t know why. But I saw them coming and put Sheila in the car to make sure she could run up and spook them. This amazing dog gave one halfhearted bark and then calmy watched them walk by!
- Another camper drove by looking for a spot and they kind of slowed down before realizing I was there. Normally, this would be a situation where Sheila loses her shit. Instead, she perked up and was on high alert but she stayed with me and did not bark.
- This one was huge! Sheila and I were playing fetch when a man and his dog literally came out of nowhere. Seriously, they just materialized out of the desert. The dog showed up first and shortly after the owner popped up. Sheila didn’t notice the dog until the man called him but the other dog had zero recall. Immediately I wanted to panick because it was running pretty fast toward her but I called Sheila and she grabbed her ball and started coming back. The dog followed and I wasn’t sure if it was friendly or what but Sheila stopped, turned around, and with very loose and friendly body language they sniffed each other. I watched her for any tension but she was completely calm! I let them sniff for a moment and then called her again. She came right back to me and was very proud of herself!
Ultimately, reactivity and anxiety can be caused by many things and what helps my dog may not help yours. But I think it’s important to understand that sometimes our dogs just need to be dogs. Obviously, this freedom isn’t the only thing that’s changed her behavior. We’ve worked on so many different things from diet to training to get here.
I believe our dogs wellbeing should be approached from a holisitic standpoint. Taking the whole dog into account when we are dealing with difficulties.