Bork, Bork, Bork
I was able to get a nice reactive moment on video with Julia in today’s session. Like we talked about in last night’s Big Feelings Group, sometimes reactions happen, and when working on behavior modification no matter how well we try to set something up, sometimes reactions are unavoidable. I feel like this video really well shows how her reactions are frustration boiling over. Unfortunately the reaction happens just off camera, but you can hear it and see all of the lead up to it.
I also love how the video shows the build up through her behavior changes to help learn what that looks like. I knew this reaction was coming, but I felt ok working it through because I knew my options were a bit limited and it was a good opportunity for me to test out what she was able to do and what was too much to ask. To be clear, if I had my ideal I would have retreated away from this dog she was heightened to, but off camera to our other side are two other groups of dogs, and those dogs look like dogs I would rather avoid moving towards as they didn't look as loose and friendly as the dog she was wanting to interact with. So I chose frustration over potentially not nice dogs. Also, the person with the dog she was responding to was clearly not wanting to engage, he was acting like he was very frustrated with his dog and just wanted to get to his car, so I stayed put even though that put Julia on the threshold edge and then briefly over it. If he was not so intent in getting out of there I might have asked him if he was interested in meeting, as relieving the pressure by letting the dogs play could have been very helpful in that moment to prevent frustration that had been building.
So what I saw:
Her first two responses were fantastic, she peeled off on her own and was able to play with me. But she did then go back to tracking what that dog was doing.
As the dog got closer and moved around us she would come back, but not grab or engage with the toy, she would respond to my motion but not hook into my engagement, so I knew she was very close to the edge.
You can hear her borks, these are not yet “reactions” what I mean by that, is she is still responsive, she still listens to cues, she eats treats. Her barks are a light pitch, spaced out woof meant to engage the other dog, they are invitations.
This guy and dog are essentially moving around us along the threshold edge, I know Julia can go off at any moment. And I can see the other dog wants to come over to Julia as much as Julia wants to go to it, they are both sending very positive invitations. But he is not getting closer to it might also be alright. I know I can’t move the other direction. I could have in hindsight moved back where the guy originally came from a little more, but one of the groups of dogs on my other side was heading in that direction so I wasn’t sure if they were going to close in behind us.
Staying put seemed like the best option as everyone was moving around us and not at us.
I saw she was struggling to play so I switched to food, she would snuffle in the grass, but only for quick moments.
Right before she reacts, the other dog which unfortunately is off camera, that dog starts running at us and it’s owner is grabbing the dog and trying to pick it up and the dog is wiggling and staring at Julia and that moment it bolted at her Julia goes to try to run to it, she hits the end of the leash, stops, then when she does that big lunge (which you can see by the leash movement even though you can’t see her) you can hear her voice change, her bark gets low tone and continuous, that is her frustration boiling over, that barking is directed at the leash, not the dog. She is pissed she can’t reach the dog that is now wiggling and wrestling in the guys arms.
Then he puts his dog in the car and Julia whips right back to engaging with me, but I can see her pupils are wide, her tongue big and lolling, her movements fast and twitchy as she is all charged up. So we do some calming obedience and then play to offload her energy.
In this session she saw over a dozen dogs and this was the only dog she keyed into, and it was because of the way they ran across the field catching her motion drives. Then the dog was very playful and engaging, so they both kept feeding each other energy. All of the other dogs she was able to see, and dismiss on her own. Even though she had that reaction, I still feel very positive about how it all went and how she is doing overall. I was really pleased how well she recovered and was able to see more dogs after and still stay engaged.
Oh and also, she was fairly stacked as she had not had a walk the day before as I worked on taxes and worked, so I knew she was a bit more extra going in.