Teaching “Let’s go!” for Reactive Dogs (Part 1)

If you have a dog who goes crazy around other dogs, chances are you’ve started to run the other way when you see dogs out on walks. Wouldn’t it be nice if, instead of having to drag your dog, he would happily run away with you?

In our online reactive dog class, one of the behaviors we teach is “Let’s go”, which is a u-turn done on cue.  Over the next few weeks we’ll be showing you how to teach this at home to your own reactive dog. 

In the first steps of this training, you’ll be working indoors. You won’t even have a leash on your dog in the first step! As a good reactive dog owner, you probably have an instant “Choke up on the leash and hold on for dear life!” reaction when you see trouble on the horizon. Although that seems like the safe thing to do, a tight leash can actually exacerbate your dog’s reaction.  So as we begin this training, we’re going to take the leash completely out of the picture. As you progress, you’ll be practicing holding the leash and keeping it loose while asking your dog to follow you.

Practice the steps shown here. Next week we’ll have the next steps available: