Big, Bad Reputation: Adopted & Reactive

Welcome to another episode of the Adopt That Monster Podcast!

Today I felt called to talk about reactivity. While this will not be about how to solve or remedy your dog’s reactivity, we will explore how reactivity affects our lives as humans and how our behavior, mental and emotional states are impacted by our dog’s reactivity.

Unfortunately, after unconsciously practicing these emotional and thinking patterns, we act almost on auto-pilot in specific environments. Which in turn reinforces our dog’s reactive reactions, and it all kind of spirals from there.

My intention with this episode is that we practice awareness and make even the slightest change in our thinking patterns and emotional states so that we get to enjoy walkies with our adopted monsters more!

Rather than walking around feeling like sitting ducks waiting to be shot down, feeling ashamed, having all these apologies prepared when people look at us horrified because our dog is a quote, unquote “acting out.”

Or wasting our time, ruminating, and running over and over arguments we would be having with irresponsible dog owners who let their dogs run free and who often don’t have a good recall in place for their dog.

At the end of the day,  the only person all this bad mojo going on inside of you is hurting is YOU, and the only relationship that is being negatively affected is the one you have with YOUR DOG!

For that, I thought it would be helpful to explore (from a kind and compassionate perspective) three widespread situations in which we, guardians of adopted & reactive dogs, often find ourselves. Together we will be re-framing these situations so that we pivot internally and end up walking with our dogs on the street feeling empowered and at ease.

Suppose you do not have a reactive dog, or you want to send this to a friend who does not have such a kind of monster on their hands. In that case, this episode is an eye-opener as to what guardians of reactive dogs go through and how they internalize their dogs’ reactivity.

It is my intention that you, the guardian of the reactive dog, feels seen and understood and that you, who do not have such a monster on your hands, gain a better understanding of what goes beyond the surface of a reactive-dog-human pairing when you meet them on the street, or at the park. 

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Thank you for listening!

Transcript

Hi there, and Welcome to the Adopt That Monster Podcast! I'm Julia and for over half a decade now, I've journeyed through the intricate maze of canine neuroscience, delved deep into dog training styles and ethics, and found my guiding light by studying and observing dog behavior.

Kona's Bark

And That's Kona, my adopted monster from a Romanian shelter. She was a bundle of reactivity from the very first moment, and she unleashed many storms of emotions when we started our journey together. But she isn't just MY RESCUED DOG... she was and continues to be my Muse, my mentor, the heartbeat behind every lesson I've learned about understanding and nurturing adopted dogs.

On the 'Adopt That Monster' podcast, we don't just geek out on the science that equips us to better understand our adopted dogs, we support you build that lifelong bond. Here we go beyond adoption, into connection! 

Together, let's unveil the scientific facts, share the challenges, and celebrate the joys of that magical dog-human relationship.

Let's begin our journey today!


Where do podcasts come from? Ha! I used to ask myself this question in the past quite often when I wrote poetry. I love writing poetry, the way the blocks of feeling and thought are translated into words in the shape of a poem still remains a mystery to me. And instead of questioning it or over-analyzing the process which frankly just suck the well of creativity dry, I have come to just accept the act of writing as a gift meant to be experienced. My motto is: when the Muse of Poetry starts whispering into your ear, you better press stop on the mind chatter, breath deep into your belly and listen. 

Given that the same thing has been going on inside of me for the past few days: this struggle between rational doing and creative being. I am going to go ahead and guess there is a Muse of Podcasts because this was not my initial, scheduled subject for a second podcast episode. I felt giddy with excitement (and terrified of putting myself out there at the same time) about doing the Adopt That Monster podcast for a while now, but I felt unsure whether I would have things to talk  about. Therefore I decided to run this little experiment: I put pen to paper to see if I could list a few topics off the top of my mind. Topics I felt capable about talking about for at least 30 to 40 mins. I came up with 10 talking points right away. For me that was my confirmation that I should go ahead and start a podcast and initially it felt very technical: getting the audio clean, having the right microphone, learning how to use the audio editing software. But now that I got familiar with all of that, I feel the process is becoming more creative. Or at least I am allowing myself to drop the doing and the high-tech part of it, and be fully immersed in what feels so natural to me: which is be in the flow of thoughts. And lets not confuse creativity with inventing things. I am not an AI. Still everything I am saying is based on years of doing my own research, studying for canine communication & training styles certificates, and MOST IMPORTANTLY practicing with my dog, Kona. But the way the knowledge, lessons and experiences shape themselves into a topic and flow out of my mind: there is a definitely a Muse of Podcasts behind that!

As I mentioned, initially I wanted this second podcast episode to be exploring a different subject, than the one we will be tackling  today.  Namely the episode would have been entitled the Three Pillars of A Strong Dog-Human Bond. This is just to give you a preview of what is coming. It felt suitable as a follow up on the mission statement in episode one. Plus I figured I would do my friends listening to the podcast a solid and talk about something that is relevant and applicable to ALL relationships, not just the dog-human relationship. As I am in the beginning stages of the podcast and still anticipating full of hope and joy in my heart, all the wonderful people who have adopted dogs and would actually find value in listening to these episodes, my friends, whom I greatly appreciate, are keeping me company in the meantime.

Ok so today I felt called to talk about a different matter and the title is of course suggestive: Big, Bad Reputation: Adopted & Reactive. It is obviously going to be about reactivity and while this is not going to be about how to solve or remedy your dog’s reactivity, we are going to explore how reactivity affects our lives as humans, how our behavior, mental and emotional states are impacted by our dog’s reactivity. And how unfortunately, after a while of unconsciously practicing these emotional and thinking patterns we start acting almost on auto-pilot when in certain environments. Which in turn reinforces our dog’s reactive reactions and it all kind of spirals from there. My intention with this episode is that we practice awareness and hopefully make even the slightest change in our thinking patterns and emotional states, so that we get to enjoy  walkies with our adopted monsters more!

Rather than walking around feeling like sitting ducks waiting to be shot down, feeling ashamed, having all these apologies prepared when people look at us horrified because our dog is quote, unquote “acting out”. Or you know just walking around ruminating and running over and over these arguments we would be having with irresponsible dog owners who let their dogs run free, and who most often than not don’t have a good recall in place for their dog. Give me a YUP! That’s me! If you do that: run over and over this inner monologues in your head. If not, then apparently we are not all crazy here, it’s just me! At the end of the day,  the only person all this bad mojo going on inside of you is hurting is YOU, and the only relationship  that is being negatively affected is the one you have with YOUR DOG!

For that I thought it would be useful to explore (from a kind and compassionate perspective) three highly common situations in which we, guardians of adopted & reactive dogs often find ourselves in, and together we will be re-framing these situations so that we pivot maybe just a little bit internally and end up walking with our dogs on the street feeling empowered and at ease. And listen, if you do not have a reactive dog, or you want to send this to a friend who does not have such a kind of monster on their hands, this episode is an eye opener as to what guardians of reactive dogs go through, how they internalize their dogs’ reactivity and it is my intention that you, the guardian of the reactive dog, feels seen and understood and that you, who does not have such a monster on your hands, gain a better understanding of what goes beyond the surface of a reactive-dog-human pairing when you meet them on the street, or at the park. 

Sidenote: when I refer to reactive dogs as “monster”, and I call Kona “my monster” a LOT”, I say that lovingly and it is kind of a double play on that: because outside observers look at our reactive dogs horrified as if they are looking at a real-life monster, I have heard it all in regards to Kona’s reactivity: being labeles “hysterical”, “dangerous”, “poorly educated”. But to us they are just perfectly imperfect bundles of fluffs and woofs and we empathize with this monstery side of them. Or at least I do.  

So going back to our topic and to how we are affected by our dog’s reactivity which has a ripple effect and goes to the core of our belief system, this is then reflected into our emotions, thoughts and actions. That being said: At Adopt That Monster we don’t believe in being the leader of the pack, but we do believe that we are constantly leading by example for our dogs. So if we walk our dogs with a fight or flight attitude then naturally our dogs are going to be walking around us with a fight or flight attitude as well. Remember: our dogs smell the chemical changes in our bodies, they smell when we go in fear mode or angry mode, they just don’t know how to interpret that, but they will for sure look up to us to see how they are supposed to react to their environment when that internal chemical change happens, when the vibration in our voice changes and so on. The moment we check ourselves, and adjust even just a tiny bit our reaction in whatever situations comes at us, then our dogs will be open to adjusting their reaction to certain stimuli in the direction we would like them to. 

First, Lets dive in into differentiating between reactive and aggressive. I feel it is highly important that we distinguish the two. 

To me aggressive dogs,  are those that are chemically unbalance and are what the behaviorists call as “abnormal”. A case like this would be a dog who attacks a litter of puppies and kills them. There was a case of a german shepherd in a Romanian shelter who escaped his enclosed pen and killed an entire litter of puppies. So I would describe aggressive as outside the norm, or abnormal. In parallel terms, in the human world we have psychopathy. Basically the intent to cause bodily harm has no reason behind other than the one of causing harm. 

In the case of adopted dogs, especially in the case of adult dogs, we term aggression “reactivity” as in reacting to outside stimuli with fear or over-arousal. From what I have researched in older literature, some decades ago the term “reactive” does not appear. To me “reactivity” stems from being “uneducated” to societal rules.

A shelter dog spends their time before being adopted either: enclosed in a pen on its own or with a few other dogs, or in Kona’s case, she lived on the streets first, making her own rules of survival as she adjusted to being a stray dog and then goes to live in a shelter enclosed in a pen alone or with a few other dogs. Either way: they never learned the rules of good doggy behavior humans expects of them on the one hand. On the other hand they have never been exposed to a variety of situations and environments: like being on leash and meeting other dogs while on leash - they have no idea what the proper etiquette is for that. Is a dog on leash passing by a friend or a foe? When we take them to a restaurant terrace are they just supposed to sit still and watch people passing by, or are they supposed to alert us to every thing that seems  dangerous: another dog, a bird, a tall, muscular man with mustache walking by. Is the bus a danger? Are wheels a danger? And combined the dog goes from scary stimuli to scary stimuli which in turn escalates their behavior.  

Before we go any further, however I do want to point out a few things: first  both reactivity and aggression are highly interconnected. If reactivity is not properly tended to, it can escalate into aggression expressed through physically harming their guardian or other people and other dogs. 

Secondly, aggression and reactivity are highly complex and nuanced topics and it will be impossible for me to go in depth into this in one single episode. Actually now that I am talking about it I am getting all sorts of ideas that it would be interesting to do an episode and look at what we as human beings do in order to activate, and even escalate, our dogs reactivity. 

Or maybe even discuss the different types and causes of reactivity, especially in adopted dogs, who leave the shelter and upon being introduced to living life in human society according to certain rules, may act reactive to stimuli in their environment by displaying fear, over-arousal and other symptoms. So the topic is highly complex, and I am aware of the multitude of layers and I do invite you to go on this bit of the journey with me today, keeping in mind that the talk on aggression and reactivity is not over for us on the Adopt That Monster podcast. 

Mainly because I feel it is one of the “undesired” dog behaviors that have such a huge impact on the human-dog bond, that also impacst our quality of life and from a dog’s perspective reactivity is always a cry for help, basically our dog is conveying in their own language: I am in fear, I feel pain, I feel overwhelmed, please help me!

During this episode when I will be talking about reactivity, I am going to mostly refer to intraspiecies reactivity, both on leash and off leash. 

If you are listening to this podcast and your dog is aggressive, and you are afraid of your dog, or you cannot say if you are dealing with aggression or reactivity! Then you do not need a podcast or anything online. You need a certified dog behaviorist or a board certified veterinary behaviorist (or whatever the title is in your country) to work with you and your dog ONE-ON-ONE IN PERSON. And you don’t need to tend to that today, tomorrow or asap - you need to tend to it yesterday. 

A professional trainer and behaviorist should be your first go to solution in order to improve your dog’s and your life quality. Just like you would go to an orthopedic doctor if you broke a bone and follow through with physical therapy afterwards as prescribed or you would not hesitate to get your son a math tutor if they were failing math in school: the same applies to getting yourself and your dog help in case you are struggling with reactivity and/or aggression. 

And while you may find a lot of instructive tips and fun facts about dog behavior on this podcast, tending to the seriousness of aggression needs to be taken offline and into a specialists office where your case is given the attention and consideration needed. Each case of dog reactivity and/or aggression (as I mentioned before, the two are connected and reactivity can escalate into aggression) is different and the causes are specific to each dog individually. 

It is my solemn, heartfelt request to you: there is nothing to be ashamed of or feel guilty about if your dog displays signs of aggression. It is a cry of help from your dog and you tending to it with the support and guidance of an IN PERSON professional is only going to help improve your particular situation and bond you and your dog! Overcoming challenges together as a team will only tighten that bond of love, mutual respect, and acceptance on both sides of the human-animal relationship.

So what do we as humans categorize as reactive/aggressive when it comes to canine behavior? And I am particularly phrasing it like this because we don’t really know what dogs think of the terms, so to some of our dogs certain types of behavior we humans deem “inappropriate for cordially socializing in a community”, might be just: doing their duty. We see sometimes these cases in social media where a dog or a cat attacks an intruder who approaches a child, and people tend to applaud that and be like: oh yeah the dog/cat is defending its human baby. How cute!!

Is that aggressive? Or just protective? Or both? I sometimes muse that the dog is definitely thinking: ok it is my duty as the dog of the family to protect this child. But perceived objectively: the dog still attacked another human being. 

I also want to talk about how reactivity gets a bad reputation, reinforcing the belief that a reactive dog is a problematic dog or a dog with special needs. And is that really a bad thing? Or are reactive dogs just dogs who express their boundaries in a canine appropriate way, that humans deem unfit. 

Is it also a question of how attuned is a puppy mill/breeder dog to veritable canine behavior in comparison to a former street and shelter dog?

I have been asking myself these questions for a long time, as I have been struggling with shame and wanting to make myself small, becoming overly apologetic when Kona would act reactive towards another dog, on leash and off leash. I have done the angry inner talk for hours and hours, and what I realised was: I was allowing myself to be conditioned by the reactions and more often than not, the lack of education iN OTHERS in regards to dog behavior and proper, perfectly normal, canine communication, to dictate how I felt, what I thought about and how I interacted with mine and Kona’s environment.

Next, I would like us to go through three typical situations that we experience a lot when we have a reactive dog. And as I mentioned, I have struggled with this myself, but I have found a lot of soothing and it changed the way I went about life and living with an adopted & reactive dog when I re-framed those situations taking into consideration canine behavior & communication. Knowledge is power! And I am excited about talking about these situations with you and hopefully, help you re-frame your own way of experiencing them.

Situation #1 and see if you can related! I believe this is a popular situation: My dog is aggressive/reactive towards other dogs. So I often end up feeling ashamed. During walks I am constantly in fight or flight mode, checking my environment for when that off-leash dog will come running towards us only to have my problematic dog lounge and create a whole spectacle and have people look at us horrified of what my dog is doing. 

I scream at the other dog guardian from a safe distance to CALL YOUR DOG BACK! 

They reply with that annoyingly calm demeanor: “MINE IS FRIENDLY!”

and proceed to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! 

When my dog starts acting out, they finally attempt to recall their dog, mostly failing. 

All this time I am left ALONE trying to separate two dogs, calm my dog down, or get the other dog to distance itself. Without success. The other dog guardian is still too far away to intervene and be pro-active. 

Conclusion: I end up being a bundle of anger and anxiety, screaming at other dog guardians to leash their dogs. And then proceeding to have this angry monologues in my head (or even in person) with other dog guardians. 

This is probably one of the most common scenario we experience with our reactive dogs. The off-leash bundle of joy comes way too quickly towards our dogs, prompting a reactive reply from our fluffy monster. 

Now, I will be honest: I have been on both sides of this interaction and I cannot tell you how ashamed I am today at my ignorance when I would let Tonks, my first dog, run towards other dogs. If I could go back and slap myself out of that ignorance, I would do it. But I have come a long way… and if at some point in the future I will have a friendly dog, then I will go about off-leash interaction with more mindfulness towards other dog guardians.

Now, Kona has gotten to a level where she is only reactive towards certain dogs: mostly female dogs who are either her size or bigger than her. So I know when I see the dog: ok this is going to be a trouble interaction and need to act or I just go with the flow and let Kona do her doggy stuff with the other dog. 

Somethings that I do today, that amuses me: is when I get the “MINE IS FRIENDLY!” reply from dog guardians who are far away and there is no way they would be able to control their dogs if anything happened, I scream back: “MINE WAS BRED TO FIGHT BEARS!” and then watch the panic on their face! There is no shame in my game, people! 

In Kona’s case this is actually the truth. She is a moritic-mix, which is the typical Romanian shepherding dog, so this breed was created by humans with this goal in mind: protect the flock from bears, which are the main big sized predators in the Carpatian Mountains. 

Now, if you have a big dog this line will most probably work with laid-back mine-is-friendly dog guardians! Feel free to use it, even if your dog is not necessarily a shepherding mix or breed! Obviously, if you have a smaller dog, Like Tonks, who was a Cairn Terrier mix, and if you are from the United Kingdom, you are most probably familiar with this breed, they are small sized, so selling it as a bear-fighter mixed-breed is not gonna illicit seriousness and be impactful so that the other dog guardian stops rolling their eyes and turns pro-active.

In my case, I observed that when I say that combined to the fact that Kona is black: people tend to take it seriously. You have no idea how many times, I heard the line: “Get this dog away from me! It’s black” or “don’t let her touch me! It’s a black dog!” or variations the belief that: black is bad.

But going back to our goals. Let’s reframe this situation. 

Reframe #1: Is there truly a need to be ashamed? Apologetic? 

NO! There isn’t! YOUR dog is clearly communicating to the other in perfectly normal and respectful canine language that the other’s approach is not wanted. When the other dog enters your dog’s personal space and refuses to listen to your dog’s signals, it is not your fault and your dog is doing NOTHING wrong. 

It is perfectly normal that not all dogs like to interact with ALL other dogs. Just like we are not friends with all other humans on the planet!

Also: it is perfectly normal that not all dog guardians are educated in canine communication. 

So instead of getting angry, which you are entitled to! YOU ARE TOTALLY ENTITLED TO FEEL ANGER! HONOR THAT ANGER!

And now let’s try together and choose better feeling actions! Let’s see what alternatives are there to be prepared for that happy, impolite dog. In a way that protects you as a team: you and your dog. 

Now where I have found that the snowball starts spiraling out of control and the emotions take over reasonable actions is when I break eye contact with Kona. When my focus is taken away from Kona and goes to the other dog, that is when Kona’s attention turns from me to the other dog. And before we can take any other kind of reasonable action, our dog knows we are feeling everything else BUT calm and relaxed. And they are like: no worries Hooman! You anxious?! You worried?! You angry?! Let me deal in doggy ways with this four pawed intruder for you! 

So keeping the interaction with your dog active and completely ignoring the other dog as if they are just a leaf falling from a tree, led me to two observation: first my dog keeps their focus on me (it is all about the treats I have, the toy I am holding in my hand etc), and the other dog just stops a few steps away and watches and feels ignored, which prompts it to either linger for a few moments or move it along to the next distraction. 

Has your dog ever looked at you right after they were reactive towards another dog searching for approval? As if asking: so did I do well? Did I do right? I know I was shocked in the beginning when I would watch Kona react towards other dogs and she would then turn to me and have like the kindest, calmest puppy eyes. As if she turned on/off a switch. And it was like a bulb lightning up for me and it became clear that all my dog wants is to make sure I am ok and that they are super attuned to my reaction to the environment: I get angry, mad, deffensive, my dog follows my lead: and gets reactive. I stay calm and ignore whatever is happening around us, my dog ignores whatever is happening around us because in that very moment: I choose not to make it about the other dog approaching us, but about the two of us connecting, playing, sharing a treat, communicating. And that is the lead she follows. 

And if shit hits the fan: use a vinegar spray. 

I used to follow this lady from Canada on instagram. She takes adoptable dogs out of the shelter for a walk in mountains, in Alberta. Takes professional photos of them and then posts them to social media with a description of that dogs personality. Basically marketing for adoptable doggies. And she was saying that the number one thing she always has on her is the bear spray. Because in Canada, you never know when you will run into a bear. And she always has that within quick reach. 

And I was like: that is me with my vinegar spray, within reach, in case that off-leash dog does not get the message. Vinegar does not harm dogs, however they hate the smell of it. So it kind of forces a foreign dog to keep their distance if I spray vinegar in front of them. Make sure you do on spray it on the dogs head, cause if it gets to their eyes it most probably itches. But towards their body or paws if their are really close, if not just spraying it in front of them. This will give you a bit of distance. I use this water spray bottle for flowers, just I fill it with vinegar. 

We live on a greek island and we have lots of stray dogs here, some are bigger female dogs, and they get very territorial when we pass by their zones of living. Here also, a lot of people, just let their dogs roam free, especially in winter when there are no tourists. And I have had the occasional female malinois or mastiff coming for us.  So I keep my vinegar bottle within immediate reach. I actually learned this trick from a local here and have heard it many times since. 

The other dogs usually back up immediately. 

And if the other dog guardian has a problem, you can face them with the following dilemma: what would they rather? Have their dog back up at the scent of vinegar or end up at the vet with bills to pay because their dog is not responsive to genuine canine communication which might lead to an altercation? An altercation they would never be able to intervene in, because they are too far away to control their dog?

By the way, someone told me they use lemon juice mixed with water and it has the same effect on dogs, but you would have to do that fresh every time I assume.

Ok, lets move on to
Situation #2: And this one is a practiced belief, influenced by the initial period the dog requires to adjust to society and interactions with pure breed dogs: my dog is problematic because it comes from a shelter. 

So I often excuse myself and am apologetic towards other dog guardians who have pure breeds when it comes to failed dog interactions that involve my adopted, reactive dog. 

This for example might happen in an off-leash dog zone, when a dog insists on sniffing your dog’s butt without permission. 

Or upon greeting for instance: what starts like a relaxed tails wagging greeting, ends up in growling and lounging. 

Or it might just happen, because the dogs are just not compatible. Because the other dog is too pushy, or a bully, or just a puppy who does not understand canine boundaries. 

For instance: Tonks loved to play with ALL dogs. We never met another dog she did not like. Kona however is very particular about playmates, and she mostly just likes to be around dogs and not actively interact with them. Sometimes, very rarely, she would play chase with another dog, but only for 30seconds and then just be like: ok I have other hobbies I am more passionate about. Bye now! 

Reframe #2: Listen! No blaming or shaming anyone here: but the main difference between a stray shelter dog and a dog from a puppy mill, or a breeder is that the puppy mill/breeder dog is USUALLY isolated from fellow canines for two months upon purchase from the age of two months to 4 months. Because of the vaccination period. So unless they stay with their litter until the age of 4months, a dog will go thorugh this period of isolation from its species. What happens in this time? The dog loses touch with canine body language and proper canine interaction etiquette. Upon being re-introduced to society: they learned from other already behaviourally modified canines how to interact, which have in turn in their puppyhood forgotten normal, canine interaction. And the bad cycle keeps on going. Now this is a generalisation. There are ethical breeders out there, who actually know what they are doing, but lets face it: do all malinois owners and all golden retriever owners out there have 3000euros to 10000euros to afford a reputable breeder who starts training their puppy, before selling them? But this is another topic for another time. 

What I did observe and what the reframe is here is: your dog is actually the one who is acting in a canine proper way. And until I took my certificate for canine communication and behavior I did not know this, it was only something I intuited: Kona greets new dogs be pointing her muzzle at their front shoulders. Which is classic canine behavior for friendly greeting between dogs. 

Normally: what I experience with breed dogs who have been isolated as puppies is that they come DIRECTLY for Kona’s butt. Which is NOT proper etiquette. A dog needs to give permission to another dog to have their butt sniffed. Just like in the human world we don’t hug everyone we meet or someone we just met or whatever. Sharing a dog’s scent with another dog comes after trust has been established. And Kona sometimes takes a few interactions until she feels comfortable letting another dog sniff her butt. And if a dog we just met for the first time wants to sniff her butt: she will growl at him. Which is also normal canine communication and IS NOT REACTIVE BEHAVIOR: it is saying in doggy language “you are not allowed to do that. I do not feel comfortable with you doing that!”. It may escalate to more if the other dog chooses to ignore those peaceful signals that are a request for space and polite behavior. 

So I hope this helps you be a little proud of your adopted dog who is a genuine dog! 

And again nothing against people who choose to purchase dogs. Everyone is entitled to their choices. This is just a reframe on the feeling small for having a dog who growls or expresses themselves in a very pure canine way. 

We are all learning in this life time, we are all souls walking on our own individual journeys. All dogs, pure breeds, mixed-breeds are wonderful. 

This is just an observation as to why adopted dogs have other signals than pure-breeds. And why it may come to altercations because of lack of consistency in body language and signals for intra-species interactions.

I have noticed that Kona is very relaxed around stray dogs or adopted dogs and that is because: she can understand their body language! Whereas we breed dogs she is more on guard because they body signals are different. 

This is not a generalization, it is an observation of what happens in 80% of dog on dog interaction. Kona does have dog friends who are breeds. She loves german shepherds. She likes the American version of the Golden Retriever. But for instance Akitas is a breed she does not like. Most probably because Akitas have this very upright, chest out body position and that comes off to Kona as “dominant” or “imposing”.

Please feel free in future interactions with different types of dogs to observe with which dogs your dog feels more comfortable around. If your dog growls around close encounters, how does he or she react if the other dog gets his/her request to back off. Does she/he relax their body when the other dogs goes back a few steps? Does the other dog react politely when being growled at or are they still pushing for the butt sniff or the toy or the freshly dug hole. 


And last but not least,
Situation #3: The golden retriever at the next table is so well behaved, lying down quietly. Where as my dog cannot stop growly. I feel ashamed and defensive because my dog is acting out according to society standards. 
Everybody is here to enjoy a drink and a conversation with their partner or friends. I am here to enjoy a nice meal. But my dog just keeps putting me on the spot. Growling, snarling, or loudly barking every time the dog at the next table moves. Or looks her way. 
By the way I will interchange between using he/she for the dogs gender. So that I don’t keep saying both gender pronouns every time. 

Reframe #3: My dog is not a golden retriever, whose breed characteristics and strength involve retrieving. Breed plays a major in how our dogs behave and in their natural instincts. If you have a dog adopted from Eastern Europe, you most probably have a shepherding or working dog: both breeds or any various of those mixed-breeds will be hyper vigilant towards intruders, because that is their job.

When talking dogs and canine behavior and especially reactivity, before branding a dog reactive, it is worth considering: what is this dogs genetic predisposition? 

And dogs from the shepherding class or the working class of breeds, were created by humans so that they would defend their estates, or the flock. So naturally they will be more prone towards barking when other animals or humans pass by, or come into their space. To alert their humans that something has changed in their environments.

That does not mean that you cannot work with your dog to get them to learn that a restaurant outing is a safe environment. But it is also worth knowing: that your dog is simply doing their job. And comparing yourself to quiet breeds like Vizsla or Golden retriever which were bred to be patiently hiding and waiting for pray is only gonna mess with your head. Don’t fall in to the comparititis trap! 

Be proud of your working dog! And find ways to work with them to help them understand that in certain environments their job is a different one: practicing downs or waiting for a treat can redirect their focus on desire to do a job from making sure the other dog keeps his distance, to working for the treats. Or the toy. 

Ok everybody! That was the last situation & reframe pair. I do hope this is has brought you some alleviation and that you can easily spin things internally and externally when confronted with similar settings in the future.

Do you have a dog-reactive circumstance that comes up often for you? 
Send me an email at hello@adoptthatmonster.com and tell me all about it. Maybe I will do a future episode to include a bunch of these situation and try to reframe them by offering easy, actionable steps to improve further interactions, better understanding our dogs, the dogs they come into contact with, and of course: feel easier at heart when being out in the world with our quote, unquote reactive dog. 


Ok so that is it for today! 
I feel the next episode will most definitely be about the Three Pillars of a Strong Dog-Human Bond, unless the Muse of Podcasts messes with my rational decision making. AGAIN!

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Thank you for listening to the Adopt That Monster podcast! And thank you for being committed to up-leveling the relationship you have with your dog by becoming the best version of your Hooman self. 

Till next time