# Ep 142 Life After a Dog Attack: The Unexpected Fix for Scared, Reactive Dogs

An episode of [Help! My Dog: The Podcast. Dog Behaviour & Training Strategies that Work!](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1721245241), 19 Aug 2026, 7:21.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2287608/episodes/19475244-ep-142-life-after-a-dog-attack-the-unexpected-fix-for-scared-reactive-dogs.mp3

Has a dog bite, attack or fight left your once-confident dog suddenly anxious, barking, or scrambling to get back home? In this episode, we’re exploring how you can support your dog after they’ve been attacked and turn an awful situation into a life-changing opportunity to build an incredible bond with your dog! We’ll unpack how temporarily shrinking their world can help ease the constant worrying, plus we’ll share a few simple tips to switch off their reactive mindset and rewire their brain with simple, positive predictors to boost their confidence from the inside out! ................ Whether your dog is unpredictable with other dogs or predictably bad… Whether it looks like freezing, barking, lunging or running away… Whether you are just starting out on your dog-owning journey or your dog has been labelled as having a “behaviour problem”… … this episode is for you and is going to give you huge insights! Want to join the Help! My Dog Online HUB? Here's the link: www.helpmydog.com/hub Dr Tom Mitchell is a world-renowned veterinarian, behaviourist and dog trainer and director of the Behavet behaviour clinic (rated Excellent on Trustpilot), which sees over 400 pet behaviour consultations each and every month no matter where you are in the world. In 2023, he founded Help! My Dog, an online dog behaviour learning platform to help even more owners all over the world and show that dog behaviour transformation is not only possible but it's FUN, with the right know-how! Make sure to subscribe/follow the podcast for the free weekly episodes! Useful Links: Follow Help! My Dog on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helpmydogofficial/ Schedule a Consultation with Behavet: https://www.beha.vet/ Follow Behavet on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/behavet

## Transcript

[0:00] SPEAKER_00: But he now seems very nervous while out on a walk.
[0:04] SPEAKER_00: Pulls a lot and just seems to want to come home and has started barking a lot in the house.
[0:09] SPEAKER_00: Any advice would be greatly received.
[0:11] SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Mary.
[0:12] SPEAKER_00: Alright, Mary, you've come to the right place.
[0:14] SPEAKER_00: Before we dive in, a warning.
[0:17] SPEAKER_00: The content of this podcast may not be appropriate for some young listeners.
[0:22] SPEAKER_00: This is real life, and that means that sometimes it can be a little bit graphic.
[0:27] SPEAKER_00: So listen on at your own peril.
[0:30] SPEAKER_00: As a veterinarian, dog behaviourist, best-selling author and trainer, over the past decade, I've had an obsession with transforming the behaviour of dogs.
[0:39] SPEAKER_00: Understanding their brains and creating practical strategies that you can implement easily at home.
[0:45] SPEAKER_00: I know all too well when the dream you imagined when you first got your dog is far from your daily reality.
[0:51] SPEAKER_00: In fact, out of the blue, a few months ago, my little dog Gorse was bitten by a dog 20 times her size.
[0:58] SPEAKER_00: And suddenly our life of stress-free walks, a calm and cuddly household, and being teammates was replaced with reactivity, anxiety, and worrying about what's around the next corner.
[1:09] SPEAKER_00: I'm Dr.
[1:10] SPEAKER_00: Tom, this is the Help My Dog Podcast, and this is me documenting that journey of transformation, sharing my knowledge and experience with you, and having a few laughs along the way.
[1:21] SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to this episode of the Help My Dog Podcast, and today we're doing a listener's question.
[1:29] SPEAKER_00: Hi Tom, we're after a bit of ad bit of Hi Tom, we're after a bit of advice.
[1:35] SPEAKER_00: Seven-month-old puppy was bitten in the face by another dog just over a week ago.
[1:40] SPEAKER_00: Oh no! Luckily it was a minor cut.
[1:44] SPEAKER_00: At the time of the incident, he didn't seem too phased and even went up to another dog at the vets.
[1:50] SPEAKER_00: But he now seems very nervous while out on a walk, pulls a lot and just seems to want to come home and has started barking a lot in the house.
[1:59] SPEAKER_00: Any advice would be greatly received.
[2:02] SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Mary.
[2:03] SPEAKER_00: Alright, Mary, you've come to the right place.
[2:05] SPEAKER_00: So, first thing to say is this is so similar to obviously what happened with Gorse, yeah?
[2:12] SPEAKER_00: Where you know, my little miniature Daxon, she got bitten by a dog 20 times her size, and and um and the um the the effectively the the outcome of that was one, she had the physical injuries, but secondly, she became reactive to the world, right?
[2:30] SPEAKER_00: Um, and so if you are not already, what I would highly recommend you do is you get into the Help My Dog Hub, which is effectively like our members area, um, where there are all the video lessons, live teaching every week, and most importantly for you, Mary, there is um uh something called Gorse Diaries, which is the video footage of me training Gorse to go from reacting to the world at home and on walks to being cool, calm, and collected on the beach by the end with like dogs coming up to her and all sorts.
[3:05] SPEAKER_00: Um, so not so that not only can you see it's possible and don't worry about it, and but secondly, you can literally follow the step-by-step, right?
[3:14] SPEAKER_00: Um, and copy it and then and then help your little puppy.
[3:17] SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's number one.
[3:19] SPEAKER_00: Number two, I know this feels rubbish, right?
[3:22] SPEAKER_00: I know it feels like, oh, this is so unfortunate, my puppy's only seven months old.
[3:27] SPEAKER_00: But the journey you're about to go on to get them to the point of being, you know, cool, calm, and collected about everything, you're gonna have a stronger relationship by the end of it.
[3:38] SPEAKER_00: And they're gonna have even better skills by the end of it.
[3:41] SPEAKER_00: So I know it doesn't feel like an opportunity right now, but I promise you, when you're on the other side of this transformation, you're gonna be thankful you had the opportunity and you're gonna feel super grateful of the skills that your dog and you have learned along the way, all right?
[3:55] SPEAKER_00: So just keep that in mind throughout this um throughout this process.
[4:00] SPEAKER_00: Number three, okay?
[4:02] SPEAKER_00: Um, I think the most important thing to do right now is to shrink their world, okay?
[4:10] SPEAKER_00: Your dog is in a reactive um state, okay?
[4:15] SPEAKER_00: They're reacting to the world because they're effectively asking themselves the question where's the danger?
[4:20] SPEAKER_00: Where's the thing to worry about?
[4:22] SPEAKER_00: Where's the, you know, where's the dog that's gonna attack me, right?
[4:26] SPEAKER_00: And that means that every little thing that happens is triggering a fear response.
[4:31] SPEAKER_00: So the best thing to do is actually to ditch walks for the minute, simplify their world, okay?
[4:37] SPEAKER_00: To stop that rehearsal of them answering that question, is there danger with yes to actually is there danger, no, by just simplifying and calming their world down.
[4:47] SPEAKER_00: You might want to do that for three weeks, okay, from the point of you hearing that this episode of the podcast.
[4:53] SPEAKER_00: Next, we then need to change the way that they're answering that question, okay?
[4:59] SPEAKER_00: The the step that I said beforehand of minimizing their world and making it smaller, that gets them asking the question less.
[5:07] SPEAKER_00: Now we need to change the way they answer that question.
[5:10] SPEAKER_00: So now in their smaller life, right, of less things happening, of you know, us being slightly more in control of the events of the day, every time something happens, whether it be someone walking into the room, they hear a noise, the TV gets switched on, I don't know, you have to put the blender on, whatever, right?
[5:28] SPEAKER_00: You're going to follow that with a positive outcome, with a piece of food, a tasty treat.
[5:33] SPEAKER_00: So you're literally going, event happened, positive outcome, event happened, positive outcome, event happened, positive outcome, event happened, positive outcome.
[5:42] SPEAKER_00: This rewires their brain.
[5:44] SPEAKER_00: It rewires their brain from predicting a bad thing to predicting good things.
[5:50] SPEAKER_00: And what we've got to think is the reason why they're behaving this way right now is because they had this big event that was very bad in their, you know, in the in the brain's perspective.
[6:01] SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, we're not gonna do this like big event that where there's something really good.
[6:05] SPEAKER_00: Instead, we're gonna say every little event that happens throughout the day always leads to a positive outcome.
[6:10] SPEAKER_00: And that's what will really rewire this brain.
[6:13] SPEAKER_00: And as you do that, you're gonna see the way that they perceive the world will change, and that will mean that you can start to grow their world, yeah, following the process in the help my dog hub, following what we learn in Gore's diaries and and the the um the reactivity lessons within the help my dog hub as well.
[6:33] SPEAKER_00: Implement that learning.
[6:34] SPEAKER_00: And not only is your dog gonna learn really cool skills, right?
[6:38] SPEAKER_00: Not only is this behavior that you're experiencing gonna be transformed, but you're gonna come out the other end stronger and better for it.
[6:45] SPEAKER_00: Okay, it is an opportunity.
[6:47] SPEAKER_00: I promise you, I have lived it, right?
[6:49] SPEAKER_00: As of tens of thousands of other people that we've worked with, okay, and they all say the same thing.
[6:54] SPEAKER_00: So go forth, Mary, grab the opportunity, let us know how you get on, get into the help my dog hub.
[7:00] SPEAKER_00: That is non-negotiable because literally it's the perfect place, especially for this struggle, right?
[7:05] SPEAKER_00: Because there's a you can follow a dog who's actually experienced exactly the same things.
[7:09] SPEAKER_00: That was this episode of the Help My Dog podcast, and I will see you next time.

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