Reactivity Desensitization Courses

These courses are designed to help desensitize dogs who are reactive to people, cars or other dogs.  These are not for dogs who are aggressive, have a bite history or are a bite risk.

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You're not the only dog owner who stresses about walking your dog for fear of something happening, the faster you work to help your dog overcome the reaction caused by the emotion they are having towards a stimulus the less likely your dog is to become dangerous.

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We have a lot to cover in these courses to teach you why your dog is responding by showing unwanted behavior, how to read your dog's body language to help them through the desensitization process without pushing them past their mental limits as they overcome their emotions while learning how to offer alternative behaviors and change the way they perceive stressful situations.

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Although we can work on reactivity through an online course we prefer to mostly work in person to be able to show you more details about your dog's body language and how to properly time marking correct behavior.  If you are out of our service area we can set up a one on one online course if you're able to regularly send us practice videos.

 

Cues needed before the desensitization process can be taught virtually or in person.  In our reactivity courses we go teach the following:

• How dogs learn through luring, shaping and capturing wanted behavior

• Motivators and how to use them

• Why we don't punish unwanted behavior

• How to socialize a puppy or dog of any age by creating positive associations and building a strong bond with their owners

• The Nothing Exercise (a calming exercise)

• eye contact

• leave it

• take

• drop

• hand targeting

• recall

• who's that

• sit

• wait

• release

• loose leash walking

• place (on a mat, bed or crate)

• switching cues to every day behaviors

• proofing the behaviors

• behavior thresholds and how to avoid pushing your dog past their mental limits

• safety and when to seek help from your veterinarian or a veterinary behaviorist during the desensitization process

• access to our free muzzle training online course if you feel it's necessary

Once your dog is able to respond reliably to cues we can start desensitization.  Our goal is to help your dog overcome reactions caused by their emotions from looking at stimuli.  We use no harsh methods in this process but help the dog learn to overcome their stressors at their own pace.  These courses are designed for the average reactivity level case we work with, some dogs (& some breeds) can take a little longer than others and may need some more in person sessions.  Sessions can be purchased individually or in bulk for a discounted rate.