Dog and/or Human Directed Aggression/Reactivity

What reactivity actually is

Reactivity is an over-the-top response to something specific: another dog, a stranger, a skateboard, a person in a hat. The dog barks, lunges, growls or freezes. To everyone watching it looks like aggression. Most of the time it is closer to panic.

The behaviour is communication. Your dog is telling you the thing is too close and they want it to go away. Barking and lunging usually works, because the other dog does move past, so the behaviour gets repeated and strengthened. Nothing about that requires the dog to be stubborn, dominant or badly raised.

This matters for how it gets treated. If you read the behaviour as defiance, punishment seems reasonable. If you read it as fear, punishment is obviously the wrong tool. As Lea writes in Do Dogs Feel Guilt?, the signals owners often read as guilt or stubbornness are stress signals: crouching, tucking the tail, pulling the ears back, showing the whites of the eyes.

Why we do not use corrections

A prong collar or a leash correction can stop the barking. It does not change the feeling underneath, and it adds something unpleasant to the exact moment your dog already finds difficult. The dog often learns that other dogs predict pain, which makes the underlying problem worse while the surface looks better.

This is not a matter of preference. In 2021 the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior reviewed the evidence and published a position statement on humane dog training. It recommends reward-based methods for all training, behaviour problems included. It also states that aversive tools should not be used, naming electronic collars, prong collars, choke chains and leash corrections. Its conclusion was blunt: there is no evidence aversive methods work better than reward-based ones in any context.

How the work actually goes

The first job is finding your dog's threshold, meaning the distance at which they notice the trigger but can still eat, listen and move away. Every dog has one. For some it is across the street. For others it is the far side of a field.

We then work at that distance and pair the trigger with something your dog genuinely likes. Over many short sessions the association shifts from "other dog means tension" to "other dog means chicken appears". As that changes, the distance closes. This is desensitisation and counter-conditioning, and it is unglamorous, repetitive and effective.

Alongside that we manage the environment so your dog stops rehearsing the reaction. That might mean quieter walking routes, different times of day, or crossing the road early instead of hoping for the best. Management is not giving up. It is what buys the training room to work.

What a session looks like

We usually start at home where your dog is relaxed and there is nothing to react to. That first session is mostly assessment: what sets your dog off, how close is too close, what they find rewarding, what has already been tried. Sessions run about an hour.

We will also look at your dog's learning history, genetics, environment, health and emotions, and we work with veterinarians and veterinary behaviourists where something medical may be contributing. Pain is a common and frequently missed driver of sudden reactivity.

How long it takes

Lea gets asked this constantly, and the answer is in her own writing on comparing your dog to others: there is no timeline that fits every dog. Behaviour change is not one size fits all. Dogs with trauma behind them may manage rather than resolve their reactivity, and that is a real outcome, not a failure.

What you can expect early is a plan, a threshold you can actually work at, and walks that stop feeling like something to dread.

Where we work

Reactivity is a local problem as much as a behavioural one. North Vancouver has narrow sidewalks, busy trailheads and off-leash areas where dogs approach without warning, and those are exactly the situations that make reactive dogs worse. Sessions happen wherever you and your dog are most comfortable, usually starting at home and moving outward as your dog is ready. Training covers North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Richmond and New Westminster, with online sessions across Canada.