"curing" reactivity

[Dekka]

You will notice I never said I agreed with it. I am going by talking to others and what is said on the JRTCA site. So as a breed they are reactive, so so many take it as a cop out.

But regardless dealing with reactivity in a drivey dog is a little different than non drivey dog. Drivey dogs tend to be more reactive to stimuli in general than non drivey dogs.

 

[Criosphynx]

Chili did not have any bad experiences except the vet. He had to have his skin tested and that involved a vet restraining him and taking a scalpel and scraping him until he bled, then repeating it in two other spots. This was repeated every few weeks.

By the fourth or so visit, he tried to attack the vet when he restrained him, i mean really like he meant it. Keep in mind this was a young young puppy He was only, I dunno, 10-13 weeks old at this point. They took him to the back and I could hear him screaming. The tech brought him back to me and he was all wet. They said he had expressed his anal glands and they had to wash him.

.

I never went back to that vet.


that said, I do feel its very largely genetic with him. He is a drivey drivey dog and high energy. The type I never saw myself owning.

When I started, I had to be hundreds of feet away from triggers. If he could see it, he'd throw a fit. He had exorcist head 24/7.


Thanks for the Kudos Lynn

 

[darkchild16]

Crios the vet did the same thing to walker when he was 4-5 mths old for a staph infection and it took a year for him to be able to even walk in the vet again. Thankfully I was in the same room though so i told the vet if he did it one more time I was going to do it to him.

But walker still cant go to a vet without a muzzle. Thats why we use shot clinics to get his shots.

 

[adojrts]

You will notice I never said I agreed with it. I am going by talking to others and what is said on the JRTCA site. So as a breed they are reactive, so so many take it as a cop out.

But regardless dealing with reactivity in a drivey dog is a little different than non drivey dog. Drivey dogs tend to be more reactive to stimuli in general than non drivey dogs.

Please point out to me where on the JRTCA site that it states that Jrts are reactive.

 

[Criosphynx]

Crios the vet did the same thing to walker when he was 4-5 mths old for a staph infection and it took a year for him to be able to even walk in the vet again. Thankfully I was in the same room though so i told the vet if he did it one more time I was going to do it to him.

But walker still cant go to a vet without a muzzle. Thats why we use shot clinics to get his shots.

Luckily, I think he only associated it with THAT doctor. So far it seems that way at least. I remember desparately trying to feed him treats when they scraped him, knowing it wasn't going to help once they got deep. I still cry when I think about it too much.

I was very very pissed. There was no need to scrape so many spots on him, and no need to do it so often. I do understand that dogs need to be restrained, but taking him to the back to do it makes me wonder what really happened.

 

[Criosphynx]

oddly enough, my Jrt mix is bombproof. Fireworks, guns, kids, animals. Shes a saint.

 

[darkchild16]

The vet that did Walkers cut him doing it.

 

[Criosphynx]

Omg that awful.

 

[darkchild16]

Yea he blamed it on Walker for his struggling. I went off on him. I offered to hold walker during it. If i had he would have laid right there. But dude was a cat vet not a dog vet.

 

[Dekka]

Please point out to me where on the JRTCA site that it states that Jrts are reactive.

(They don't often call it reactivity. But they do talk all over the place about dog dog aggression, which in many cases is reactivity. )


All from various places on the JRTCA website.

Jack Russells can be very aggressive with other dogs, and in fact more than two should never be kept together unattended. There have been many instances of terriers being hurt, even killed, by their fellow terriers; even young pups over the age of eight weeks must be carefully monitored. It is imperative that prospective Jack Russell owners understand this part of the terrier's nature. Special facilities and handing are absolutely necessary when owning a Jack Russell, and especially when owning two or more Jack Russells. Their natural hunting instinct also brings out aggression towards other small animals

... are often aggressive with other dogs. Same-sex aggression and aggression towards other breeds of dogs is well documented with this terrier.

They can be very aggressive with other dogs (not just other terriers), and in fact more than two terriers should never be kept together unattended. There have been many incidents of terriers being hurt, and even killed, by their fellow terriers; even young pups over the age of eight weeks must be carefully monitored. It is very important that prospective Jack Russell owners understand this sometimes harsh part of the terrier's nature.

There is more but its pretty repetitive.

 

[Criosphynx]

One of the visits, he scraped, went away and then told me he didn't scrape deep enough and we had to do it over. Seriously? Can't you see how tramatized my dog is...do it right the first time!

Yea he blamed it on Walker for his struggling. I went off on him. I offered to hold walker during it. If i had he would have laid right there. But dude was a cat vet not a dog vet.

I would have restrained him also, heck, I would have taken the bites, but he didn't want me too. I guess hindsight is 20/20

 

[darkchild16]

thats why I now just call my vet when he has a staph infection (hasnt in years) but he used to get them every summer. I even had a vet try to take himt o the back room to weigh and give him shots after my warnings........he tried to bite them.

 

[adojrts]

(They don't often call it reactivity. But they do talk all over the place about dog dog aggression, which in many cases is reactivity. )


All from various places on the JRTCA website.









There is more but its pretty repetitive.

There is a huge different between reactivity and aggression, they are not one and the same.

I just love how the new polite term that people are giving dogs that are DA/HA, which is reactivity.

Btw, do you know who writes all the stuff for the JRTCA website?? I do and they are hardly an expert lol.

 

[lizzybeth727]

I offered to hold walker during it. If i had he would have laid right there. But dude was a cat vet not a dog vet.

The vet we go to at work knows that we are more than capable of restraining our dogs while he does procedures, but he won't let us do it because he says his techs are covered under worker's comp. I mean, imagine, if you were a litigious person and you were holding your dog for the skin scrape, and the vet accidently cut your dog and your dog bit you, you could sue the vet.... just not worth it for them.

 

[OutlineACDs]

:rofl1: Oh man how I know that feeling!

so how is she now, I know you compete, is she functional enough to compete?

Uhh. No. It's Rumor if anyone is wondering. She trains in herding. I honestly thought she would have nothing to do with herding, and while she is very soft, shes willing. So we will keep working at it. She's 4 now, so maybe when she's 8 or 9 we will compete

She *hates* other dogs. She doesn't care for people, and some people just freak her out. She's gotten better. She goes to all trials with me and travels wherever I go. I manage her closely in public/at trials. She is crated unless I am actively working with her.

We just play it one day at a time.

 

[Dekka]

Ado: Oh I know that well But this is the site breeders who have no problem with aggression or reactive (and I would say a high percentage of aggressive dogs are reactive, though not all reactive dogs are aggressive.. if that makes sense) dogs will point to to validate reactive or aggressive dogs.

Though pretty much any drivey breed seems prone to reactivity.

 

[darkchild16]

Lizzy well then they shouldlearn how to hold one because they didnt Walker got cut.

 

[Criosphynx]

The vet we go to at work knows that we are more than capable of restraining our dogs while he does procedures, but he won't let us do it because he says his techs are covered under worker's comp. I mean, imagine, if you were a litigious person and you were holding your dog for the skin scrape, and the vet accidently cut your dog and your dog bit you, you could sue the vet.... just not worth it for them.

I figured there was som'thing like this in play, so thats why I didn't insist on helping.

 

[adojrts]

Ado: Oh I know that well But this is the site breeders who have no problem with aggression or reactive (and I would say a high percentage of aggressive dogs are reactive, though not all reactive dogs are aggressive.. if that makes sense) dogs will point to to validate reactive or aggressive dogs.

Though pretty much any drivey breed seems prone to reactivity.

Of course breeders send people to the site concerning same sex aggression/small animal aggression, not sure what your point is because that has nothing to do with reactivity.

I have known countless low drive dogs that have aggression and/or reactivity issues. And I would love to see some statistics that actually state that high drive or prey drive dogs are more prone to reactivity and/or aggression.

To quote from Control Unleashed by L. McDevitt:
Reactivity:
Reactivity comes from anxiety, which comes from feeling uncertain about something. Reactivity is an information-seeking strategy. A reactive dog will rush toward something or someone that he is uncertain about, barking, lunging,growling, and making a big display. People sometimes preceive reactive behaviour as aggression, but a reactive dog is not rushing in to do damage; he is attempting to assess the threat level of a given situation. End Quote.

Funny how truely aggressive dogs to either humans or other dogs are not ALLOWED in Reactivity classes................for the simple reason that aggressive dogs will engage and will bite provoked or not.

I still maintain that there is a huge difference between a reactive dog and an aggressive dog (which btw has nothing to do with same sex aggression imo.)

 

[Romy]

I just love how the new polite term that people are giving dogs that are DA/HA, which is reactivity.

Personally I like the term "reactive". It's more specific to the cause of the behavior, rather than describing the symptoms like DA/HA is. Yes it is important to know the symptoms, but those terms bring to mind other old training lingo like "alpha" and "dominance", which sadly too many people think is an appropriate way to deal with aggression/reactivity issues. They also scare people (including lawmakers).

Let's say, you have congestion. It's not inaccurate to say "Ado has a runny nose". That doesn't tell us why you have a runny nose, or give any ideas on how to fix it. However, if we say, "Ado has pollen allergies" or "Ado has a cold", we have a much more specific idea of what is causing the symptoms and how to treat the cause. I see "reactivity" vs. "aggression" as the same thing.

To answer Crio's question, Strider used to be happy go lucky around all dogs. Then when he was 1 year old he had a bad week, with three separate incidents of off leash dogs attacking us.

After that he became extremely reactive. If he saw another dog, from 100 yards away he would leap into the air and snarl, roar, etc. I never put him in a position where other dogs got close at that point, but I think if they had gotten close enough he probably would have attacked them. It was a huge problem because he was training to be my service dog, and flipping out like that he definitely couldn't work.

I used the methods in Click to Calm, only I used words as a marker instead of a clicker. Keeping him under threshold, etc. while we reconditioned him to feel good about other dogs again.

In three months, he seemed close to normal. I entered him in a dog show as a test, as it was a safe place (dogs under control) and had a lot of strange dogs. He was perfect, all weekend. Just happy to see them. Then a few months later a great dane attacked him, and he slid backward. Not nearly as bad as before. He wouldn't get outright reactive, but seeing other dogs (esp dogs larger than him) caused him to get stressed, and he would pant and stuff.

We went back and worked some more. Today he is fine with other dogs. He likes playing with them off duty, and ignores them while working. There is another service dog at church, and he is very comfortable laying in a down stay and ignoring that dog from 5 feet away for an hour through a church meeting. Today he went with me to the collie specialty and was totally indifferent/happy with all the hundreds of strange noisy dogs.

My most proud moment lately, was at the grocery store. Someone had a pom with them wearing a SDIT vest. The pom saw Strider and went ballistic, lunging and snarling at the end of its leash. In the past, even on a good day he would have turned around and snarked back at it. I just smiled at him and said, "leave it!" in a cheerful voice. He didn't even look at the pom. He just focused on me and smiled.

I think a huge part of his success was that he started out with a very solid foundation of socialization, good temperament, and training. Because of those things he was able to rebound from those bad experiences pretty well.