Ricochet is my 11 year old Jack Russell I adopted when he
was about 9 months old. I knew he was reactive as soon as I got him out of the
kennel to get to know him a little better. He turned into the Tasmanian Devil
as soon as he saw the dog across the way. I lived with reactive dogs before, had learned
a lot since then and was up for the challenge. I filled out the adoption forms
and our adventure began when Ricochet came home 2 days later.
 |
| "Ric Recharging" |
Fortunately, Ricochet had no problems with my other 2 dogs(
they on the other hand thought I had totally lost my mind bringing home him
into their house). He settled in fine while I began planning how we were going
to work on his reactivity. It involved a lot of treats, keeping him at a
comfortable distance from other dogs and teaching him to have real good
attention to me.
Lucky for me I was active in a dog training club so we were
able to be around great dogs with owners who understood and worked with us. We
also would travel to PetSmart to so we could work in a more public place.
We mostly spent the first year working on his reactivity. Once
I felt more comfortable having him around other dogs, I began taking him to
different dog training workshops and seminars where it seemed like something would happen to
test our reactivity training. The biggest test was at one seminar where the
speaker had us set up in relay teams. As we walked across the room, Ricochet
noticed the dog next to us and gave a little growl. He had never seen a Shar
Pei before. I quickly got his attention and we got to the end of the room and
waited for our team mates to arrive and line up behind us. As the last members
arrived and we were standing in the front of the line all kind of packed
together, a toy flew through the air and landed right next to Ric. Ricochet
LOVES toys. He thinks every toy is his. He also had gotten a little worked up
seeing the Shar Pei. So when I saw the dog coming to get his toy I began to
stress and curse the owner who thought it was a good idea to reward their dog
by throwing a dog toy in a crowd. I knew
Ric would react. It was a bad setup and I had no place to go.
The dog approached. And Ricochet didn’t react. He watched
the dog come over, pick up his toy and leave. Ricochet just watched. I was
ecstatic!
All the time we spent. All the work we did. It was all worth
it. Ricochet will never be one of those dogs who can go somewhere and be
instant buddies with other dogs. I will always watch for potential problems
because I can’t always count on other people to understand, but we are able to
have fun doing the things we like to do.
Dawn Miklich shares her home with a variety of furred and
feathered friends. She blogs about pets at afFURmation and NEPA Pets.
No comments:
Post a Comment