Reactive dog class

I’ve decided to adopt a new (another?) mantra: if you think I need to body block the dog, she’s too close!

Class was good in a number of ways. When Amika came out of the car, she reoriented on me – er, the sausages in my treat pouch might have had an influence – but still, it was good! She mostly sniffed at first, despite it being obvious we were in the company of dogs. It was only when we started approaching that she reacted, and only really once we had covered some distance. I read the sniffing as a sign not only of interesting smells but of stress. There was another new dog tonight, which made it hairier than when I visited last time, as that dog reacting was more likely to get others going.

One of the first things the trainer told me to do is to “take her space”. At first I didn’t have a clue what she was on about. Then she demonstrated and mentioned body-blocking. It was a bit much to go into why that wasn’t going to work so well for this team, but the trainer did acknowledge what I was saying about there being history, and would read the information form I had brought along (I didn’t get there early enough for it to happen before class).

There were actual moments of loose lead walking right at the start, but I found that we were too close, and I wasn’t able to allow Amika as much as a leash length. I had to keep a tight lead because we were close enough that reactions occurred many times. Despite this, she was able to respond to cues throughout. We did two exercises. The previously mentioned “prisoner’s walk” where people walk very slowly, slouched and parallel to other dogs and handlers. Then, in the same line-up, we were supposed to get our dogs sitting by our side while one dog / handler walked behind us at a distance, then move up the line to take our turn walking behind. This really was too much for Amika.

We did one turn and a half before I called the trainer over and said it was time to give Amika a water break. While we got water (I forgot water- I was pretty stressed getting out the door) I let her know that Amika had had enough class for the night and to her great credit, she said it was fine to quit early. She suggested a walk around the grounds further from the class, which we did a bit on the way back to the car. There was a bit more reacting going past the class and an outlying dog, but pretty good after.

I gave Amika a break in the car for a few minutes. She did protest not being able to see the action (blanket over crate) but settled a bit. I then got her out again, sat on the pine pole fence at the edge of the oval in front of the car, and spoon fed Amika her dinner from an ice cream container. In this setting, she did not react once. She sat at my feet, back to the class and did anything I asked. I also cued her to go sniff, but dinner was more interesting (this despite having consumed 4 sausages). I cued quite a few reps of LAT dog class. She was completely disinterested at that distance, and looking at them just to get her dinner- YAY!!!

Going to the reactive dog class and playing it by their rules to start out told me a lot about where we are at:

• Amika isn’t as ‘bad’ as I thought, but the bit of training outside the class after we quit really brought it home to me: correct distance is key.

• Another thing I picked up while trying to keep her ‘in line’ in the class was that any man-handling or pulling on collar made her worse- the front attachment on the harness was good. I had control, and with attachment to my belt was never worried about dropping a lead.

• The body blocking thing, as I know from experience, only frustrates Amika and makes her more excited. I do not want to put myself in her way. If she can’t choose to turn away, she is just way too close and I need to be responsible for keeping that distance.

I’ll be calling the trainer in the next couple of days to see if I can do some stuff on the fringes, and not participate in the whole class. I’d like to set up a ‘station’ with Amika’s mat and a chair on the sidelines, and start there to watch arrivals.  We’ll join in the prisoner’s walk, but any other exercises that are too close, we’re going to sit out at our station. I’ll need to check with the trainer on what is appropriate. Like: can we jog away or is that too provocative for the others? When I want to rejoin the class, do I need to give her a heads up? Basically I need to figure out the trainer’s boundaries and see how much CU she’s willing to tollerate.

We’re home now, and both of us are coming down from the stress. I guess I handled it pretty well – most of my stress was getting there. Amika is wiped out, but not in a desperate / fearful emotional space like she was after that ‘other trainer person’. I think the wrap-up (getting her out of the car again for dinner) was a good, good thing to end on. Also, my homework of getting Amika more comfortable going out and having walks has paid off. She re-orients when I say her name – even tonight after the class while walking and sniffing. That is huge. I’m looking forward to next week!