How to help a fearful & reactive dog

In order to help a fearful & reactive dog you need to understand what motivates them to behave the way they do  In a word; survival.

The dog sees threats where they don’t exist and is acting upon them because in the dog’s mind this is what is required to stay safe   

What does a fearful dog want?

The fearful dog wants to survive the day.  Teach them a new way to accomplish this and you will alleviate a ton fo stress from your dog’s day to day existence and make your life easier in the process.

“I’ve tried training with treats and it doesn’t work!”

We are all hard wired to survive and food is not as compelling a motivator as survival.  I have nothing against using food in training and do so in some instances – but it has to be the right tool for the right dog at the right time.

“Is my dog beyond help?”

It isn’t likely that your dog is “beyond help”. I regularly work with older dogs with long, complicated histories or multiple previous trainers, medications and the owners feel like they have exhausted every option available to no avail.   They just needed to find a better approach.