​YOUR REACTIVE DOG CANNOT HELP ITSELF

​Many of you will have heard me explain that reactive dogs are not naughty, they are not making a choice and they absolutely cannot help their behaviour - this is why they need owners who can help them!

Reactive behaviour is much more than a habit or choice that a dog makes, in fact there really is no choice-making involved and instead these behaviours stem from deep physiological processes.

Whenever a dog is exposed to a trigger, a part of the brain, the amygdala, is activated. The amygdala is a section of the limbic system, located in the forebrain, that receives information from all the sensory systems in the body. This sensory information is translated into emotional responses and other parts of the brain are activated by it autonomously.
So when a dog perceives danger, this sensory information is dealt with directly by the amygdala without going to the cerebral cortex first. The relationship between the “thinking brain” and the limbic system is very important to understand. Once the latter is activated, the cerebrum is by-passed. The dog will no longer “think” on how to handle the situation but will react in an impulsive, automated way.

If the amygdala is activated it will trigger the release of stress hormones and activate the sympathetic nervous system. The body tries to re-find its balance by switching between the sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous systems and strives continuously towards an equilibrium.
Stress is a collective term used for being in a state of high alert. It’s the body’s response to danger or a stress-provoking event.

If a dog is exposed to a stressful situation, the level of hormones will become unbalanced. Once the situation has passed, the body will strive to return to a balanced state. The level of adrenaline may be cleared out of the system swiftly, often within 15 minutes. The effects of an increased cortisol level on the other hand can take from 48 hours up to 6 days.
If the dog would be exposed to another stressful situation during this recovery period, the cortisol level will not be able to return to the normal level and the dog will eventually become chronically stressed. As a result of this constant increased cortisol level, the body will undergo certain changes, common side effects of ongoing stress are a reduction of “feel good” brain chemicals, resulting in a tendency to be more irritable, become more reactive and have less self-control.
Showing reactive behavior is often a self-sustaining cycle.

As described above: if a dog feels threatened by a certain trigger his brain, nervous and endocrine system kicks-in to anticipate on this perceived threat. The “thinking brain is bypassed and the sensory information is sent directly to the amygdala, which in its turn activates the brain stern for one of the 4F responses. All this happens in the blink of an eye.
The dog is ready to react to the threat.

In the end, the dog will form a “neural pathway” telling him how to react when being exposed to a certain trigger. Every time the dog is confronted with the same situation, the same neural pathway will be activated, strengthening the neural connection. This is called “long-term potentiation”.

If on the other hand, this neural pathway is used less the neural connections will become weaker, being “long-term depression”. An organism will always choose the path of least resistance, it is thus our task as owners of a reactive dog to “weaken” the reactive brain path and strengthen the new “normal behaviour” one.

So, I hope that I have been able to provide a little basic insight as to how and why a dog might develop reactive behaviours and why a reactive dog simply cannot help itself.

The rehabilitation of a reactive dog is a complex and multi-approach process that I would describe as recovery. Many of the popular approaches to dealing with reactivity tend to focus on addressing the symptoms as a method of solving the cause. I get a lot of worried dog owners who believe that they have tried everything to stop their dog from reacting and barking at other dogs for example.
These owners will usually explain that they have tried distracting the dog away from the trigger, perhaps with high-value treats. often they have combined a bit of distraction with exposure to the trigger, in the hopes of getting the dog used to it.

My opinion is that in some cases, elements of the above might be helpful, or in some cases, in fact, these methods can be harmful and exacerbate the problem. Either way, these approaches are simplistic and fail to get to the heart of the matter - this is why so many people try hard and fail to get real results for their dog.

I would encourage owners of reactive dogs to be very hopeful that they can achieve amazing transformations, however, the process of recovery for a reactive dog will be complex and will require:

• Canine skills - the dog will need to learn the skills that a non-reactive dog has.
• Owner skills - the ability to help a reactive dog is not easy and takes understanding and practice - but you can do it!
• Time and patience - the changes you require will take a lot of time, patience and work - aside from practical skills, your dog needs time to adjust on the deepest physiological level.
• Confidence - this will be super important for both the dog and the human.
• Management - every aspect of the dog's lifestyle must be managed super well, this includes everything from diet, to sleep and rest and everything else!
• An individual approach that take into account the individual dog as well as the owner and so many other factors.
• Appropriate progression that is based entirely on the dog's ability to cope and succeed - this of course requires the ability to understand the dog as well as the ability to respond to the need at every step.
• Committment to look further and deeper than the obvious symptoms. I do not blame anyone for feeling distressed by frequent and excessive barking and I do not blame anyone for wanting to stop the barking! However, it is crucial that we focus beyond the barking and work toward treating the causes so that we achieve real and permanent results.

I write all of this because I meet so many owners who are baffled, confused and distressed by their dog's reactive behaviours. I find that many owners do think that their dogs are making a choice when they kick off and ultimately spoil everyone's day.
Dogs cannot help these behaviours BUT owners can learn to help their dogs.
It is not always easy to solve a problem such as reactivity and it is nearly always easier to avoid these behaviours...but that is another subject.
My final comment is that even if helping your dog to recover from being severely reactive is hard work, surely that is still easier than living with the problem for the dog's lifetime?