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Reactivity is a commonly used term in the dog behavior and training world, but it’s frowned upon by some in our profession because it’s a somewhat nebulous behavioral descriptor. The word “reactive” gets used to describe everything from the dog who barks a few times when the doorbell rings to the dog who turns into a raving lunatic in the presence of her triggers.
What is a reactive dog? Here’s the best definition I’ve heard: A reactive dog is one with an abnormal level of arousal in response to a normal stimulus. Thus, the dog who barks a few times at the doorbell would not be considered reactive, but the dog who barks excessively at the sight of another dog, a non-threatening human, a passing vehicle, or any other stimulus that causes a significant overreaction, would be. It doesn’t have to be extreme to be considered reactivity – just “abnormal.”
While many owners are capable of dealing with a dog who displays a low to moderate level of reactivity, dogs who display high levels of arousal can be daunting even to experienced dog lovers. It can be disappointing to discover that your dog’s level of reactive behavior is beyond – or even far beyond – what you were prepared to cope with. The good news is we can usually help these dogs learn how to be behaviorally appropriate in the presence of their triggers.
Types of Reactive Behavior in Dogs
There are two distinctly different types of reactive behavior. One is caused by fear or anxiety and commonly includes a significant risk of aggression. This usually presents in dogs who were not well-socialized, who are generally fearful or anxious, and/or who have perhaps had life events, whether accidental or deliberately abusive, that now cause them to be particularly sensitive to the stimuli that are triggering their abnormal levels of arousal.
The other type is caused by frustration. An example would be the dog who is very eager to interact with the other stimulus – often another dog – but is thwarted from doing so by a leash, fence, other barrier, or physical restraint by a human.
These dogs will often run up to the object of their attention and happily engage in appropriate interaction if released from restraint – but not always. Sometimes the intensity of their frustration has already pushed them over their own threshold to the point they will aggress if released and allowed to interact. Other times, the object of their emotional display may feel threatened by their aroused behavior and react with defensive aggression when approached.
In either case, it’s important for a dog with reactive behavior to learn more appropriate responses. The following suggestions can help you modify your dog’s behavior in the presence of a variety of stimuli that trigger an inappropriately aroused response.
Management is a critical piece of most (if not all!) behavior-modification programs. Reactivity is no exception. If you want to change your dog’s reactive behavior, she needs to stop practicing it.
Each time a dog reacting from anxiety or fear goes over threshold and the stimulus moves away, the reactive behavior is reinforced, making it more likely to happen again the next time. Although in many cases the stimulus (dog, person, vehicle) would have gone away anyway, the dog doesn’t know this. She thinks growling, barking, and lunging made it go away and thus believes this is a successful survival strategy. Her reactive behavior is likely to repeat or increase as a result.
With frustration reactivity, the motivation is different – the dog wants to go see the other dog, human, etc., and the arousal results from being thwarted. This behavior can result from routinely allowing your dog to greet other dogs and humans while on leash – one of the reasons I strongly recommend against this practice. When your dog expects to be able to greet and for some reason is not allowed to do so, it can result in reactive arousal, especially for dogs who are already struggling with low tolerance for frustration. I ask my dogs to be attentive to me in the presence of others, and they are allowed to greet only on occasion (not every time!) when they are given permission.
If you quickly allow your dog to approach on leash to ease her frustration reactivity, you have positively reinforced her for her behavior: The inappropriate behavior made a good thing happen – she got to visit the other dog. Once again, the arousal behavior is likely to increase as a result.
With both types of reactivity, management means preventing your dog’s over-threshold exposure to the trigger stimuli. In order to do this, you need to have an understanding of “intensity of stimulus” – meaning how close, how active, how loud or what gender the person is; how fast or loud the vehicle is; how large, what breed, color, gender the dog; or any other identifiable quality that will set your dog off.
Your dog might be calm in the presence of any dog if they are at least 50 feet away, with small dogs at least 25 feet away, and specifically with Pomeranians as close as 10 feet. She might be comfortable with women at any distance unless they are wearing a hat, sunglasses, or carrying an umbrella, but all men need to be at least 40 feet away. Your dog might be calm with a person walking outside past your living room window, but a jogger or skateboard sets her off every time.
The better you are at identifying all the various characteristics of all your dog’s triggers and keeping them at below-threshold intensity, the more she’ll stay below her reactivity threshold, and the more successful you’ll be at modifying the behavior.
Please note that in cases with more extreme levels of arousal, appropriate medication can be an important part of management. Discuss this possibility with your veterinarian; ask for a referral to a veterinary behaviorist if she isn’t knowledgeable about behavior-modifying medications.
There are several protocols that can be used to manage and modify reactive behavior, and some of them can be used in conjunction with each other. These are the ones I have found most useful, both for effectiveness and ease of use:
Counter-Conditioning and Desensitization (CC&D)
CC&D involves changing your dog’s association with a stimulus by pairing it with something she loves, often a high-value food treat, such as chicken – baked, broiled, canned, or thawed-out frozen “naked” chicken strips (no breading or seasoning).
For this discussion, we will talk about a dog who reacts to other dogs, but you can substitute any stimulus your dog reacts to.
Have your dog on-leash, far enough away from another dog that she can stay below threshold. Let her glance at the other dog, and then feed her a bit of chicken. Let her glance, and feed again.
Repeat many times, until you see her glance at the other dog and quickly look back at you. She is now starting to realize that the other dog is making chicken appear, which makes her happier about seeing the other dog. This is called a “conditioned emotional response” or CER.
As she becomes less concerned about that dog, you can very gradually decrease the distance between your dog and the other one, feeding treats to get a happy response at each new distance. Over many repetitions with many different dogs at many different locations, you can succeed in convincing the emotional part of her brain (the amygdala) that dogs are great – they make chicken appear!
Remember that it is the presence of the stimulus that makes the chicken happen, not your dog’s behavior. If she goes over threshold, do not wait for her to calm down to feed her a treat; instead, move farther away and try again. When she starts consistently giving the CER that you want, it’s tempting to wait for her to look at you to feed – but then you are reinforcing behavior rather than building a happy association; instead, continue to feed her the treats as quickly as possible.
If you are consistently getting the desired CER, it’s time to increase the intensity of the stimulus. You still feed her just for looking at the other dog; it is the presence of the stimulus that makes the chicken happen, not her behavior of looking at you.
Note that although you were doing (classical) counter-conditioning (working with associations and emotional responses), your dog is offering an operant (deliberate) behavior because her association has changed. Operant and classical conditioning are working together all the time! (For more information about how these work together, see “Training Your Dog to Learn,” January 2016.)
There are a variety of operant exercises you can do to convince your dog to offer a behavior other than overreacting in the presence of her trigger stimuli. These utilize the thinking part of her brain (the cortex). If you utilize a behavior your dog already knows and loves, her happy classical association can work to your advantage even though you are doing operant protocols. Here are some that are commonly used:
Touch (teaching your dog to target to your hand). This is a marvelously useful behavior for a number of different applications. It can be used to cooperatively move or position your dog – onto the scale at the veterinary clinic, into your car, onto her bed, and more. The best part of the “touch” behavior is that it is so easy that lots of dogs love it: “I push the button (the hand) and I get a treat – yay!” The positive association with the “Touch” cue can help put the emotional part of your dog’s brain in a happier place when she is worried about the presence of her trigger stimulus, while the thinking part of the brain responds to the cue.
In addition to the benefit of that positive association, when you ask your dog to target you are also asking her to turn her head away from the trigger. With enough repetitions, the appearance of the other dog actually becomes the cue to touch your hand, and your dog will offer an automatic, happy “fist bump” whenever she sees another dog. (For more about target training, see “Beyond Basic Dog Training,” May 2021.)
Find It (asking your dog to look for treats dropped at your feet). This may be the easiest thing you ever teach your dog. With her facing you, drop a tasty treat at your feet, say “Find it!” and encourage her to eat it. (If you already use “Find it!” to mean “look for something a distance away from you,” use a different cue for this. Some of my clients use “Feet!”)
When your dog consistently and happily responds to the cue, generalize it by asking for “Find it” when she has her back to you and/or is otherwise engaged. Most dogs quickly realize that “Find it!” means “treats at your feet” and happily orient toward you to look for the goodies. Again, the positive association can put her brain in a happier place, and the cue simultaneously redirects her attention away from the trigger.
Walk Away (inviting your dog to happily and quickly move away from the trigger). This is especially useful when a trigger stimulus suddenly appears at an above-threshold distance (too close!). “Walk Away” means, “Happily do a 180-degree turn and run away with me!” If you’ve taught it well, you get the happy emotion-changing association as well as the thinking response, immediately increasing distance from the trigger. (For more about this exercise, see “How to Teach Your Dog to Just Walk Away,” September 2018.)
Constructional Aggression Treatment (CAT). In this exercise, developed by Kellie Snider for her master’s thesis circa 2008, under the direction of Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz at the University of North Texas, you teach your dog that a new, acceptable behavior makes an aversive thing go away (or the desirable thing come closer). This is a much more complex procedure than the first three, albeit one that can be very successful when done properly.
Say a dog is reacting in an undesireable way (barking, lunging, growling) to some known trigger out of fear or stress. In a CAT protocol, that triggers would be presented to her at a sub-threshold distance. When she responds with calm, relaxed behavior, the trigger is moved away. With practice, she learns that behaving in a calm manner consistently makes the scary or stressful thing go away – and in the process of practicing calm, she eventually becomes calm and relaxed. Eventually, she no longer feels the needs to make the trigger/stimulus go away.
Conversely, with a “reverse-CAT” procedure where the dog wants to approach, her calm, relaxed behavior makes the desired thing come closer, and as a result she becomes calm and relaxed.
Note: Implementation of this protocol usually requires the guidance of an experienced force-free behavior professional. For a longer article about this, see “Constructional Aggression Treatment (CAT) Can Improve Behavior,” December 2009.
Habituation. This is a fancy word that means “letting your dog get used to it.” It can be successful with fear/anxiety-related reactivity, but it may backfire with frustration reactivity; you may cause more frustration with reactivity that’s related to thwarted access to a desired stimulus as you continue to prevent the dog’s access to the coveted interaction.
For habituation, simply hang out with your dog at a sub-threshold distance from the trigger until she acclimates to its presence with no treat-feeding, letting her go about her normal doggie activities. When she seems totally unruffled about the stimulus, you move a little closer and, again, wait for habituation. (Yes, this is desensitization without the counter-conditioning.)
Grisha Stewart’s Behavior Adjustment Training (BAT) 2.0 procedure utilizes habituation on a long line, in conjunction with specific long line-handling protocols. Habituation can be a useful procedure for modifying reactivity, and may take longer than counter-conditioning and desensitization together.
The Good News
Reactive behavior can usually be successfully transformed into non-reactive behavior, or at least more manageable behavior, with your commitment to an appropriate combination of management and modification. If you are daunted by your dog’s current level of reactivity, know that there is hope. The sooner you get started on a combination of the above-suggested protocols, the sooner you and your dog can live happily ever after together.
Trainer Sarah Richardson of Chico, CA, delivers spray cheese (such as Cheez Whiz or Kong's Easy Treat) through the end of the muzzle. Moxie happily shoves her nose into the muzzle to enjoy the cheese. When teaching a dog to wear a muzzle, don't be in a rush to fasten it onto the dog. The process should resemble teaching her a trick, not asking her to submit to something unpleasant. In this case, the "trick" will be pushing her nose all the way into the muzzle, and eventually, holding it there. Only after she's super comfortable with that will you fasten the strap.
Muzzles, and the dogs who wear them, often get a bad rap, as many people associate them with dogs who may display aggressive behavior. In reality, there are plenty of reasons why even the most mild-mannered, sociable dogs might need to be muzzled, along with numerous situations where using a muzzle is an act of responsible dog ownership.
Muzzles can be used to help keep people and other animals safe in a variety of circumstances:
✔ In an emergency. When a dog is in pain, fearful, and/or pushed past her limits, she may pose a bite risk, so the use of a muzzle keeps everyone safe.
✔ As “insurance” when working through a training plan. A muzzle can be a valuable tool to help ensure the safety of other people and animals when working on a behavior modification program. A muzzle should never replace training to address the root of the issue that leads to the potential bite risk, but it’s a great safety net in case things don’t go as planned during a training session.
✔ As a supervised management tool. In some cases, a muzzle can be safely used to prevent the ingestion of dangerous items, while allowing the dog to explore on a walk; to prevent the dog from harming wildlife; or even as added security in situations where you aren’t sure how the dog will react.
✔ When required by law. In some areas, dogs – or certain breeds of dogs – are required to wear a muzzle when in public.
TYPES OF MUZZLES
There are two basic types of muzzles:
* “Basket” muzzles encase the dog’s snout in a basket with straps fastened around the neck and head. They are typically made from plastic, rubber, or silicone. While a basket muzzle limits the degree to which a dog can open its mouth, a properly fitted basket muzzle allows the dog to relax its mouth enough to pant. The open weave of the basket makes it possible for the dog to eat and drink, making a good choice for muzzle-training programs.
* Then there are muzzles that encase the snout like an open-ended sheath and buckle around the neck. Sometimes called “soft muzzles,” “sleeve muzzles,” or “grooming muzzles,” they are usually made from nylon, mesh, or leather. They are more restrictive than basket muzzles, and prevent a dog from opening its mouth enough to pant, so they should be used only for a few minutes at a time, and not outdoors (where the risk of overheating is greater). These muzzles are often used in vet hospitals or by groomers for brief periods to protect handlers from a dog who is frightened or in pain.
SLOW IS FAST
Teaching your dog to be comfortable in a muzzle is important. We don’t want our dog to simply submit to the muzzle, letting us put it in place without an objection. We want our dog to feel really good about the muzzle.
It’s important to build a slow, thoughtful development of a positive association with the muzzle – as opposed to simple tolerance – because behavior degrades under stress. If under the best circumstances – relaxed at home, free from pain, away from potentially scary things – your dog only tolerates wearing a muzzle, the introduction of such stressors can lower the dog’s tolerance to “I hate everything that’s happening!”
In contrast, however, if you’ve taught your dog to feel reallygood about the muzzle, even if the behavior of wearing a muzzle degrades, it may only decrease from “I like my muzzle!” to “I can tolerate my muzzle.”
Muzzle training is not just about physical safety; it’s also an investment in your dog’s emotional health and well being.
Muzzle Must-Haves
Mask-style mesh muzzle for a brachycephalic dog; this one is sold by VetMed Solutions. See vedmedwear.com or call (888)976-8696
A quality basket muzzle should be lightweight, adjustable, and have options for added security to prevent the dog from removing the muzzle. We like the Baskerville Ultra muzzle. It has an additional strap that connects the top of the muzzle to the neck strap, along with a loop to further secure the muzzle to the dog’s collar. It can also be heat-shaped with a hair dryer or hot water to create a customized fit.
When properly fit, there should be a small gap between the dog’s nose and the end of the muzzle, and the open-end of the basket should sit below the dog’s eyes. The diameter of the basket should allow the dog to partially open his mouth to pant. You should be able to fit one finger between the edge of the muzzle and the snout, as well as between the straps and the dog’s neck.
Brachycephalic breeds like Pugs, Bulldogs, and French Bulldogs can be more challenging to fit with a muzzle due to their short snouts. Many do better in a mask-style mesh muzzle (designed specifically for such breeds) that covers more of the dog’s face, but has eyeholes to keep from obstructing the dog’s vision.
MAKING MUZZLES MAGICAL
These three steps will help your dog develop positive feelings about seeing and wearing a muzzle. We recommend working with a basket muzzle, as it’s less restrictive and easier to use with treats.
1. Muzzle means delicious treats. Hold the muzzle in one hand and feed your dog tiny, delicious treats from the other hand. After a few treats, put the muzzle behind your back and stop feeding. Continue this process, moving the muzzle closer to your dog’s face, until you can present the muzzle right next to your dog’s face and he’s happy to eat offered treats.
Repeat this process three to five times per day for several days. Practice in different rooms. After a few days, your dog starts to think, “I’m not sure what this is, but when it comes out, I get treats. Cool!”
2. A basket of treats. After a few days of being fed by hand when the muzzle comes out, we’re ready for the dog to move toward the muzzle.
If you have already taught your dog a nose-target behavior (often called “touch”), ask for a touch as you present the muzzle. Reward your dog for targeting any part of the muzzle – but to encourage him to actively insert his snout into the muzzle, deliver the treats within the basket.
If your dog is leery of putting his snout into something restrictive, work on that ahead of time with an easier object, such as a food bowl or water bucket. If your dog shies away as you move to adjust his collar, work on this separately, to prepare your dog for having your hands over his head as you buckle the muzzle and adjust the straps.
The goal is to work this step until the dog is happily shoving his face into the muzzle basket for treats. You can test the strength of the behavior by slowly moving the muzzle away from your dog as he moves toward it, making him try harder to land his snout in the “sweet spot.” The dog should move toward the muzzle; don’t move the muzzle toward the dog.
3. Buckle up, buttercup! Once your dog is happily shoving his snout into the basket, it’s time to work on keeping the snout in the basket as you buckle and adjust the straps. A dollop of squeeze cheese (or peanut butter or something similar) applied to the inside of the basket frees up your hands to handle straps. Time your strap-handling so that you’re able to buckle or adjust – and then remove the muzzle – before your dog finishes licking the reward. We want the dog to think, “Hey! I wasn’t done yet. Put that back on!”
Work up to the point that your dog accepts the muzzle for longer periods of time and, eventually, in the absence of frequently flowing treats – especially if your dog will need to wear a muzzle while on walks or when with other dogs. If your training is primarily for emergencies, don’t forget to periodically revisit the “magic muzzle” training to remind your dog the muzzle is a good thing.
The PupSaver works much like a rear-facing car-safety seat for infants, but instead of the back of the seat being a (padded) hard shell, it's full of polyurethane foam that's been sewn into thick bundles. In case of a collision, the dog would be caught like a baseball in a great big catcher's mitt, cushioned between the padded back of the PupSaver and the back of the vehicle's seat. Our test dog Samson weighs 5 lbs and wears the XXS Petite harness.
As we described in our review of car-safety harnesses in the May 2021 issue, even the best products on the market for medium and larger dogs are limited in the amount of comfort and safety they provide – and none of them can accommodate dogs smaller than 11 lbs. Happily, there is a very safe and comfortable car-safety product available for small dogs (those 45 lbs and less): the PupSaver.
The dog is held in place in the middle of the padded seat by a strap that clips to a ring on the front/bottom of the harness – lower than a front-clip walking harness, but not quite between the dog’s front legs. The combination of the harness and the strap provide only part of the protection, however; the shape and padding of the PupSaver, assisted by the shoulder belt, help catch and contain the dog if he’s been thrown by the force of a collision.
For the best way to understand how the seat works, see the crash-test videos on the PupSaver website (pupsaver.com). The website also has links to several videos that show you how to install the seat. We didn’t find the installation to be difficult, but a friend found it more daunting and reported that the video made all the difference.
Like infant safety seats, the PupSaver provides the highest degree of safety when installed in the back seat of a car. Though the car’s seat belts are used whether it is installed in the front or back seat, the PupSaver’s metal j-hooks can be used to additionally secure it with the car’s LATCH (lower anchors and tethers for children) system in the back seat.
ISSUES OR NON-ISSUES
The owner of our tiny test dog, Samson, anticipated that he would feel constrained by his inability to see over the curved, padded back of the PupSaver, particularly when it was installed in the car’s back seat. In reality, Samson relaxed into the cushioned seat without a fuss. That turned out to be a non-issue, particularly because he could still stand up and see out the side window.
As a mother and grandmother with extensive infant- and toddler-car-seat experience, I was concerned about installing the PupSaver in the front seat; rear-facing infant car seats are never supposed to be installed where an airbag could smash into and displace them, injuring the baby in the seat. But because the PupSaver is soft, not rigid, if an airbag went off, at most it would push the cushioned PupSaver and dog into the car’s seat back. In fact, a number of testimonials on the PupSaver website describe accidents where all the car’ airbags deployed and the dogs were unharmed.
PRICING AND SIZES
The PupSaver seat comes in three sizes: PupSaver Petite (for dogs who weigh 10 lbs or less); PupSaver (for dogs 10 to 30 lbs); and PupSaver 45 (for dogs 35 to 45 pounds). The price varies by size and type of fabric used for the cover, but ranges from $150 to $180.
The PupSaver compatible harnesses are sold separately for $30. They are available in four sizes, ranging from XXS Petite (for dogs who are 5 to 6 lbs) to Medium (for dogs who weigh 30 to 45 lbs).
Does this seem expensive to you? It did to us, too – until we tested the product for the past six months and saw how easy it was to install and use, how much our test dog liked it, and how well it worked. When you add in that fact that small dogs usually live longer than larger dogs (and so you could amortize its cost over a longer time), it seems like a great investment to us.
Widely recognized as useful for treatment of gastrointestinal issues, ongoing research shows probiotics for dogs have the potential to improve overall health and well being. Photo: Kosamtu/Getty Images
If your dog has ever suffered from diarrhea, probiotics have probably been suggested to you by a friend, coworker or your veterinarian. Widely recognized as useful for treatment of gastrointestinal issues, ongoing research shows probiotics have the potential to improve overall health and well being.
The live bacteria in the probiotic adhere to the GI-tract lining, limiting the ability of pathogenic (“bad”) bacteria to adhere and cause disease. The probiotic’s bacteria compete with the pathogenic bacteria for nutrients, again limiting the bad bacteria’s ability to thrive and multiply. Probiotics are thought to improve the integrity of the intestinal barrier, which is what keeps potentially harmful ingested substances from being absorbed.
The GI tract is home to 70% of cells involved in the immune system. These cells are called gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT). Probiotics secrete substances that enhance GALT’s ability to modulate immunity. Probiotics ferment nutrients found in fiber and non-absorbable carbohydrates into substances called short-chain fatty acids, which have powerful anti-inflammatory benefits and are a rich source of nutrition for the intestinal epithelium (lining).
Potential uses for probiotics:
Diarrhea – Probiotics are usually added to other specific prescribed treatments depending on cause.
Antibiotics – While on antibiotics for infection, probiotics may prevent antibiotic-associated diarrhea.
Allergic dermatitis (atopy) – The immune-modulating and anti-inflammatory effects from probiotics can help control atopy.
Dental disease – Probiotics potentially minimize pathogenic gingival bacteria that produce plaque.
Chronic kidney disease – Azodyl, a probiotic/prebiotic combo, made by Vetoquinol, purportedly lessens the buildup of uremic toxins that makes dogs with chronic kidney disease feel sick.
Recurrent urinary tract infections –The numbers of pathogenic bacteria in the vagina and perivulvar area that predispose female dogs to recurrent UTIs may be reduced by the use of probiotics.
Anxiety — Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Supplement Calming Care contains one strain of probiotic bacteria, called BL999, that has been shown to have an anxiolytic effect on anxious dogs.
Arthritis – Probiotics have known anti-inflammatory benefits.
Which probiotic to choose?
Because probiotics are considered “nutraceuticals,” not pharmaceuticals, products on shelves are not subject to heavy regulation by the Food and Drug Administration. This means, unfortunately, a marketed product may or may not contain what it says it contains. Choosing a probiotic from a reputable company helps eliminate this concern. Talk with your veterinarian or choose a product that is a member of the National Animal Supplement Council (NASC.org), which verifies its member companies’ products.
Whatever you choose, the package should state “guaranteed analysis” above the ingredient list. The ingredient list should include multiple strains of bacteria with names like Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Enterococcus. The numbers of organisms should be stated. They are counted in colony forming units or CFUs. While the ideal dose for probiotics is not yet known, veterinary recommendations are that each capsule/daily dose should contain at least 5 billion CFUs. Because they are providing living organisms, there should be an expiration date on the package. If there is no expiration date, the viability of the organisms in the product is suspect.
Probiotics are supplements with the potential to improve your dog’s health and well-being in numerous ways. They do not replace the need to see your veterinarian for appropriate diagnosis and treatment of illness. A big key to success with probiotics is choosing a good-quality product, with adequate numbers and multiple strains of bacteria, from a reputable company. As always, the best recommendations for you and your dog come from your veterinarian.
Allow the dog to sniff the harness and reward him generously when he smells or touches it on his own.
So, that brand new dog car harness came just in time, eh? The night before you head out on a big road trip?
Uh-oh.
I bet you were anticipating feeling less stress in the car because you’re so focused on the fact that your dog will now be safer. Alas, you may find that this is the most disastrous trip ever because your howling wild child is thrashing around in distress!
Oops. It turns out that the ideal time to get any new car restraint equipment is a month before the trip, not the night before.
When you think about it, it’s obvious that there is no reason to assume your dog will be hunky dory with suddenly being strapped into a new device that constricts her movement and feels a bit uncomfortable. Sure, maybe your little genius will understand when you say, “Sweetie, this is to make you safe! It’s because I love you!” and immediately relax in the glow of that idea. More likely, though . . . she’ll be confused about what’s happening, she’ll hate it, and she’ll make her displeasure known in ways that will possibly even make you less safe as you drive!
So. Build in some time. The key to gaining your dog’s buy-in is to take it at your dog’s pace, and sweeten the deal by pairing the new containment plan with something the dog loves — likely in the edible category. Here’s how to get your dog to wear a car harness:
Start with a sniff in your home. Whatever device you’re using, start getting your pup used to the idea of it in your home. Maybe that means while you’re watching TV, you bring over that new harness or crate. There’s a sniff, and a treat. Repeat. Repeat. Create a positive link.
Now add restriction, still in your home. Once pup is happy about the sight/smell of the new device, go a step further: go ahead and pop that harness on — time for cheese! ham! — and then take it right off. Repeat. Repeat. Keep going until the dog stares at that harness, mentally willing you to start that fun new game by putting it on.
Build in duration. Once your dog is mellow about putting the harness, make that feeling last a bit longer. Let her walk around in the harness and give her a bully stick to enjoy at the same time. Repeat a few nights in a row.
Hit the driveway! If pup is fully comfortable with the new equipment, it’s time to try it out in the driveway. Load up with, say, dried fish or turkey, and take pup out to the car. Pop that harness on – treat! – and then take it off. Repeat. Repeat. That’s it for today. Then do it all again the next day.
Try a super short drive with a big finish. Now pup is happy to pop up into the car and get into that harness or that crate, it’s time for a little drive. Ideal scenario: a three-minute drive to your dog’s BFF’s house. Any brief moment of concern in the new equipment is quickly rewarded by the best real-life reward in the arsenal: fun playdate. Repeat. Repeat.
There you go. Your pup now has happy associations of driving while restrained in the car. You didn’t rush it, and create a negative association with that brand new equipment. Instead, because you invested the time, that new stuff signals yummy treats and adventure. You’re ready to hit the road!
Read Next: Wondering Which Dog Car Harness To Buy? Read Our Review
This is the first time Woody ever met a horse. He was only about 10 months old in this photo. He started woofing and growling when he first spotted her from a distance; he was scared! With gentle encouragement, he made his way to the fence. The mare was curious and gentle, and she stood still and gently sniffed and blew her breath at him. Woody got closer and closer, though he was ready to flee at any moment. He finally licked her face and then backed away.
A reader commented on my most recent blog post (about my dog, Woody, coming face-to-face with the first rattlesnake we’ve seen this year). I mentioned that, in general, neither of my dogs is particularly predatory, and the reader asked how I knew that. It’s a good question!
Predatory behavior is natural and normal for dogs, and there are a number of ways it may be expressed. ALL dogs will exhibit some type and amount of predatory behavior but the type and intensity of the behavior that any given dog will express in different situations will depend on a number of factors, breed and the dog’s past experiences chief among them.
When dogs hunt for food, they may use a full “predatory sequence” of behaviors including (progressively, from spotting a prey animal to consuming it): eye (focusing eyesight on the animal); orient (moving toward the prey); stalk; chase; grab/bite; kill/bite; dissect; consume.
Humans have bred dogs in order to take advantage of certain aspects of this sequence. Herding breeds were developed to use the eye, orient, stalk, and chase phases of the predatory sequence – and to specifically exclude dogs who were predisposed to killing animals. Interestingly, some herding breeds who are used predominantly for working sheep (such as the Border Collie) have been developed to stop short of the grab/bite phase or the sequence, whereas breeds who are used predominantly for working cattle on the open range have been developed with more of a willingness to bite – but, of course, again without the temptation to go further than using a bite to convince stubborn or feisty cattle to turn and go where they are being directed. It’s amazing that by using individuals with these behavioral tendencies in a breeding program, the behavior of the majority of the progeny can be predicted along such a very fine slice.
Dogs who are used for hunting, whether for rats and other small vermin (such as many terrier breeds), birds (Labradors, setters, pointers, spaniels) or for lions (such as the Rhodesian Ridgeback), all have been developed by humans to display certain aspects of the predatory sequence.
According to his mixed-breed DNA-test results, Woody is about a third to a half Labrador. I feel that this inheritance accounts for a lot of his behavior. He is a fetching fool; if allowed to do so, he will fetch until he passes out. And when Woody is faced with an animal of a new species (or a new individual of a familiar species, such as chickens or horses) in a structured environment (on-leash, for example), he is friendly and curious. His tail wags and his eyes and body are soft. He doesn’t stiffen and gaze intently at the animal, or try to pull or lunge toward it; he acts a lot like he’s meeting a new person that he thinks he might like. His attention isn’t focused, laser-like, on the animal, but soft and wiggly.
There are a few exceptions, all of which arise in uncontrolled circumstances. If he’s in the yard, and there is a squirrel or a strange cat within view, he will chase it. I think most dogs will do this, more from the fun of the chase than a desire to kill, although, of course, we can’t know what’s in a dog’s brain. If we’re walking off-leash somewhere, and he spots a jackrabbit or a deer – both of which he’s chased a couple of times without heeding my cues for “OFF!” or “HERE!” – he absolutely will at least start to run after them. He’s gotten way better about resisting that temptation, though the success of my recall and cue to “leave it” will depend on how far we’ve already hiked (if he’s already tired, he’s less likely to give chase), whether it’s super hot outside (if it’s blazing hot, he is less likely to give chase), and how close he was to the animal when he spotted it (if it was super close, it’s going to be very tempting to chase).
However, if he were to meet a cat or tame rabbit, squirrel, or deer when he’s on a leash, I know for a fact that he’d be friendly. His desire to chase is all about the fun of the chase.
Here’s a better indication that he’s not very predatory. He once dug up a vole (a mole-like creature) on our property; he LOVES to dig up their tunnels, although it’s clear from this incident that he has no clue WHY he’s digging or WHAT he’s digging for. He is highly attracted to the smell of the animals in the tunnels underground, and will deeply huff the hole and then dig furiously. One day, as I was walking around my property doing various chores, I saw him out in my field digging. A minute later, I looked again and saw him do the same sort of behavior I recently witnessed with the snake: He looked down at his feet, and then slowly swiveled his head and looked deliberately at me, and then slowly looked down again. The look was, “Mom, I’ve got something…but I don’t know what!”
Afraid it was a snake, I ran over to him, yelling “Off!” He obediently took a step backward as I ran toward him – and as I arrived I could see a stunned-looking little vole, laying on its back, with its feet still moving. I think he actually dug it out of the ground with his furious digging; I don’t think he had grabbed it, because it wasn’t wet or bitten. He was plainly mystified by its very presence – strongly drawn to it, but not sure what to do.
I’ll tell you who was certain what to do: my senior dog, Otto, who arrived on the scene a few seconds after I did. Otto took one look at the vole on the ground and immediately grabbed it and shook it. Boom: dead vole. And was he ever proud! “Ha!” he seemed to say. “That’s what you do with that, ya idiot.” Both Woody and I were shocked!
Some months later, I saw that same “Mom, this is weird! Come look!” expression on Woody’s face. When I went to investigate, I found him standing over what I think is a dead baby gopher. Since my property is PLAGUED by these voles and gophers, I celebrated this development at the time, but this was actually the last recorded death of a rodent here. And, to tell you the truth, I don’t know that Woody even was the one who killed it; it didn’t have a wound on it, and it was completely wet and covered with saliva, like he had been licking it. For all I know, he dug up a baby, licked it incessantly, and then it died of exposure from being wet and cold!
Different animals may provoke a different predatory response. Otto came from a shelter with a “rap sheet” of having killed someone’s chickens as a stray adolescent dog, but I was very easily able to dissuade him from his interest in my own chickens, with some simple lessons in “Leave it.” (You can see both his interest, and his willingness to “leave it” in this video I took a couple years ago, when my current chickens were new baby chicks. Look at Woody’s response, as a contrast. His interest seemed very maternal. He wanted to clean the baby chickens’ tiny butts! “But Mom! They need a mother!”)
But even though Otto seemed to know without any hesitation whatsoever how to kill a little rodent, and, indeed, had the strong instinct to do so, he’s never shown the slightest impulse to chase after or grab lizards or snakes. And some dogs definitely do! I have one friend whose dog had, over her lifetime, grabbed and dispatched at least three garter snakes (to her owner’s dismay; garter snakes are both harmless to dogs and a great asset in killing moles, gophers, and voles who destroy home gardens). Perhaps these are behaviors that are also learned, because my friend’s other dog, who came along when snake-killing dog was about four years old, would go nuts if she saw a lizard. If a lizard ran under a planter box or into the crevices of a rock wall, woe to the planter box or rock wall; she would tear them apart trying to get at the lizard.
Over the years, I have witnessed Otto’s lack of interest in the snakes we’ve seen on the trail, but the best evidence of this was when, years ago, I used him as a model for an article we did about snake avoidance training for dogs, and I used a friend’s pet snake as a co-model. The problem on that shoot was trying to get Otto to look at all interested in the snake (so that we could show how to teach him to “leave it” alone). His response ranged from “So what?” to “Can I go now?” He wasn’t afraid or interested. It was like trying to get him to work with rocks.
Though we hoped that Otto would look interested in the snake, for the sake of illustrating an article about teaching a dog to leave snakes alone, he couldn’t care less about the snake. We had to toss treats sort of near the snake to get him to look even mildly interested. If you look carefully, you can see he’s not looking at the snake, he’s looking for the treat we tossed near the snake.
In contrast, when, in each of the three instances he’s seen a rattlesnake on the trail, Woody has given me that same, “Mom? What’s this?” sort of look, and has moved away from the snake either by himself, or easily in response to my “Off!” cue. So I’m not terribly worried when walking either of my dogs off-leash in snake country, although I stay very alert at this time of year and scrupulously watch their reactions to everything they see. In the winter, I can space out a little while we walk; not so at snake times and in snake places.
Here's how to tell if your dog has the hiccups. Photo: iStock / Getty Images Plus/ Iryna Kazlova
Have you ever seen your dog’s body jerk with what appeared to be a hiccup? Yes, dogs can get hiccups. A hiccup is described in medical terms as a myoclonus of the diaphragm. A myoclonus is a sudden shock like contraction of a muscle. The diaphragm is the internal muscle between the chest and abdomen.
What Do Dog Hiccups Sound Like?
Hiccups in dogs look very similar to hiccups in people. There’s a quick jerk or jump of the chest that appears to be involuntary. This is usually repeated several times in a rhythmic pattern. It may be silent, or there may be an audible grunt, squeak or puff of air associated with the hiccup. It has been described as the sound of a drop of water from a leaking faucet. The dog usually appears unperturbed.
Dog hiccups are a are a rite of passage for puppies. Photo: iStock / Getty Images Plus/ monicadoallo
Why Do Dogs Get Hiccups?
Hiccups, in and of themselves, are a benign phenomenon. They are a rite of passage for puppies, one of those super cute things that they outgrow…like puppy breath. Enjoy both while they last!
Are They Ever Something To Worry About?
Adult dogs can also get hiccups, but they are way less common, and possibly less benign. The question becomes, is there something new that is irritating one of the nerves involved in the hiccup pathway. These include the phrenic nerve which passes over the heart, the vagus nerve (which travels up the side of the neck), the cervical spinal cord, and the brainstem.
The medical workup for persistent hiccups in an adult dog starts with a physical exam. Initial diagnostic tests generally include x-rays of the chest and abdomen and baseline blood work. Your veterinarian is looking for things like tumors, heart enlargement, stomach issues, hiatal hernia (an abnormality of the diaphragm), and electrolyte derangements in the blood.
Sometimes gastrointestinal diseases like inflammatory bowel disease and reflux esophagitis can trigger hiccups. If your dog shows any signs associated with these diseases, treatment specific to the underlying disorder should resolve the hiccups as well.
How To Stop Your Dog’s Hiccups
If your hiccuping dog gets a clean bill of health from your veterinarian, there are a few tricks you can try to stop hiccups. Smaller meals more frequently throughout the day, as opposed to fewer, larger meals may help. Distention of the stomach is thought to perhaps tickle the diaphragmatic nerves. Sometimes putting a little sugar on the back of the tongue works. And finally, a finger touch to the back of the throat, similar to what you might do when “pilling” a dog, will sometimes stop hiccups. If all else fails, ask your veterinarian about gabapentin, a neuropathic pain medication which has been used successfully for hiccups in humans.
We didn't see a snake on this walk, which took place earlier in the spring. I didn't take photos of the snake; I was too busy calling Woody back to me and giving him his delicious jackpot.
I have relatives visiting from out of state, and after a two-day drive to get here, they want to stretch their legs on a hike. Since I am not sure how long they will be game to walk, I leave elderly Otto at home, and bring only 5-year-old Woody along with us.
We were maybe 100 yards up the trail, with Woody off-leash ahead of us by about 20 feet, when he stopped, looked at something on the ground in front of him, and looked back at me. I glanced down at whatever he was looking at and – “Woody! Off! Here!” He calmly and immediately stepped back away from the snake and trotted back to me for a jackpot of treats. “YES! What a good boy!”
We were close enough to see three or four “buttons” on the snake’s tail, but the snake never rattled them in alarm. Woody’s calm behavior didn’t upset the snake, and she did what rattlesnakes prefer to do when faced with humans or dogs: She slithered quietly off the trail and into the tall grass, out of sight.
We practice the “Off!” (a.k.a. “Leave it!”) behavior on every walk, and that event was exactly why. I want my dogs’ response to “Off!” to be instantaneous and calm. I want them to have every expectation that when they immediately turn away from whatever they were looking at or smelling when I gave the cue, and return promptly to me, that they will for sure get a treat – and just might get a jackpot. (That’s when they get a handful of treats, delivered one after another. A dog can eat a handful of small treats in about two seconds, but by delivering them one after another after another after another, it drags out the handful into a good 15 or 20 seconds of sustained nomming. It’s way more special than a handful given at once. It takes advantage of the same principle behind the programming of slot machines to let coin jackpots trickle out a bit at a time, instead of dumping all the coins into the tray at once: It seems like more!)
I think this training is essential for every dog who is walked off leash. But I know that I’m lucky; neither of my dogs is particularly predatory. If they were, I couldn’t ever let them walk off-leash in our neck of the woods from May through October, because instead of looking back at me with that, “Hey Mom? What’s this?” expression, I know that some dogs would just dive in and try to grab it, with potentially disastrous results. There are too many snakes around here to walk with a predatory dog off-leash. But even with my non-predatory dogs, the snake on the trail is exactly why we practice and practice some more.
For lots of information about rattlesnakes, their bites, preventing and treating snake bites, and training your dog to leave snakes (and other things) alone, please see all the following:
The other day, I happened to go into a pet supply store that I had never been in before, and was looking at their collection of leashes, toys, treat bags, and, of course, food, when I overheard a conversation between a couple who were in the store with their new puppy. I had crossed paths with them several times, and had smiled at and ogled the puppy each time, but they both had frowns on and were looking only at the products as they walked up and down the food aisles. Finally, they flagged down a store employee. Throwing up her hands, the woman said, “You don’t sell the food that breeder told us to get! We don’t know what to get! It’s too much!”
Unfortunately, I had to go; as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t stay to hear what the store clerk told the couple.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about it. If you knew nothing – how would you know what to buy, where to start?
Pet supply store or veterinary clinic employees: I’d love to hear from you. How do you advise people who are looking for food and don’t know what to buy?
Dog owners: How did you choose what you feed?
I’ll go first:
I feed my dogs dry foods from three different companies, mostly. I tend to buy similar formulas – a chicken-based, “all life stages” food – from each of the three companies that I am familiar with and feel good about, and I usually switch which company’s product I buy with every single bag. Why chicken? I am not a huge fan of beef or lamb, as dog foods made with these tend to be lower in protein and higher in ash than high-quality chicken-based foods. And I don’t like the smell of fish-based foods – but more importantly, fish-based foods tend to be volatile (they go rancid quickly, especially at our summer temperatures, even indoors).
Dry food is not all they eat, though. I don’t make a big point of it, but if there are healthy leftovers from the family table that I feel like they would enjoy, they get those.
Also, if a dog food company sends me samples of something new, I often feed that to my dogs, whether it’s a canned, frozen, or dehydrated diet. I’m curious to see what different products look and smell like, how the dogs like it (how palatable it is) and how it comes out the other end (how digestible it is).
Neither Otto nor Woody is sensitive to any particular food ingredient, and neither seems to have digestive trouble if there is a spike or a dip in the amount of fat or protein they get. I’m lucky! Nevertheless, I go with the three main foods I feed because they are all in the same approximate ballpark in terms of protein and fat levels. One food has 25% protein and14% fat; the next has 23% protein and 13% fat, and the last has 26% protein and 15% fat. These levels seem to maintain my dogs at a healthy weight, coat, and energy level with a reasonably sized portion.
So, that’s us. I’ll repeat the question:
How did you choose what you feed your dogs? If you advise others about diet, what do you ask them about their dogs? How would you recommend that other people choose their dogs’ foods?
Nutrition, health, safety, training, behavior, puppy stuff, end-of-life issues – this issue has it all!
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Pam and Dean's dogs are a little lost without Dean. They are making up for it by staying close to Pam.
Just a super-short post today: My family is mourning the sudden loss of my sister’s husband, Dean. Yes, this is the family with three noisy little dogs, who have been Otto’s go-to dog-sitters since they moved to my town about five years ago. Otto loved and is going to miss his time on the sofa with Dean, enjoying hours of TV-watching and distracted petting.
Our hearts break for Dean’s loss, but our grief is nothing compared to my sister’s. She and Dean were a match, 28 years married (no kids) and still passionate about each other.
While all three of her dogs are barky and I find two of them to be whiny and neurotic, always clinging to my sister’s skirts, at the moment, I am just so thankful for their clinginess. She needs all the love (and even the distraction of barking) that they have to offer right now. She reports that they are all very lost, looking for their Dad, and in their confusion, are spending all their time underfoot or, when in bed, under the covers with her. She can’t even roll over without moving their little bodies first; they all want to be touching her right now.
I never anticipated saying this, but at the moment I am grateful that they are so demanding. They BARK when they want food and BARK for play and BARK to go for a walk. These demands will help my sister get out of bed and get outside. I hope she will eat when she feeds them. That’s enough to expect for now.
I spent days at the hospital with Dean and was with him when he passed. When I got home, I needed (and a week later, continue to need) to spend long moments with my face buried in Otto’s grass-scented, scruffy mane, feeling his tail gently wagging. And when yet another kind comment on Dean’s death announcement online makes me start crying again, Woody always seems to notice and gets up to shove his nose under my elbow, insistent with concern.
I don’t know what any of us would do without dog love.
