If you have a fearful or reactive dog, you might dread going to new places with your pup. You brace yourself for the inevitable barking, lunging, or maybe panicking and trying to flee. It makes the whole experience so stressful for everyone. But what can you do to train your reactive dog to behave differently when arriving in new places?
If your dog is one to make a dramatic entrance, this week’s training games for reactive or fearful dogs arriving in new places will be right up your ally. These are very simple, don’t (usually) require you to pre-train behaviors at home first, and can make your arrivals at new locations more fun for you and your dog. They will require repetition, and I do recommend doing practice training games in a number of locations first if you can, when there’s no pressure on you to be somewhere. Teach your dog that opening the car door means a fun game is now in progress.