Why The Term, "Reactive Dog" Is A Misnomer
On the latest episode of The Family Pupz Podcast, the owner and head trainer of Sit Pretty Behavior & Training, Vanessa Charbonneau, tells us why she thinks the term "Reactive Dog" is a misnomer.
Check out her answers above!
To learn more about how to train a dog that is reactive in the car, check out Vanessa's webinar, Chaos In The Car, here: https://www.sit-pretty.ca/training-options/chaos-in-the-car-webinar
To listen to the rest of the conversation with Vanessa, check out the podcast episode below:
[TRANSCRIPT FOR THE VIDEO BELOW]
Family Pupz: So one of your greatest skills, you know, when we absorbed your webinar, is your ability to break down dog training terminology into simple, relatable, and easy to understand terms.
Sometimes, you know, it could be just very esoteric to a lot of people, right?
So could you describe in your own words, what reactivity is, and also why you think it's a misnomer?
Vanessa Charbonneau: Yeah, I really don't like the label reactive dog.
But I find that most dog guardians can understand or relate to it. So for simplicity's sake, I will continue to use it.
When I'm talking about a reactive dog, I'm really talking about a dog who is behaving in a way that is over the top given the current situation.
So these dogs are actually better labeled as, “over reactive” towards certain stimuli or certain triggers. Every little living thing on this planet has to be reactive in order to stay safe and survive. So to call a dog reactive is really, you know, of course it is, of course they’re reactive, you know, if we’re not reactive, we may not step off to the side when a car passes us on the road, keeping us safe, or we don't withdraw our hand when something is hot or uncomfortable underneath it.
So reactivity to the environment around you is really important.
But with our “reactive dogs”, these dogs are taking things further than that. So they're reacting in a way that is bigger than necessary or putting more energy into that reaction than might be deemed appropriate in that scenario.