# Ep 52 The Three Most Common Causes of Dog Reactivity & Dust

An episode of [Help! My Dog: The Podcast. Dog Behaviour & Training Strategies that Work!](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1721245241), 27 Nov 2024, 28 min.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2287608/episodes/16183280-ep-52-the-three-most-common-causes-of-dog-reactivity-dust.mp3

Have you ever wondered why your dog is reactive or what is causing their barking, lunging, snapping, growling, pulling on lead or other reactive behaviours? In this episode, we’re diving into three different ways that reactivity can develop in dogs. Between your stories and what we see in the behaviour clinic, these root causes show up again and again – though they might not be what you would immediately think! Tune in to find out more and discover what could have influenced your dog’s behaviour today! ................ 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 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 started 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: When she caught up with Flossy, she was surprised to see the dog frolicking between the group of people, jumping and trying to catch what looked like dust in the air.
[0:11] SPEAKER_00: Then it dawned on my friend.
[0:16] SPEAKER_00: Before we dive in, a warning.
[0:19] SPEAKER_00: The content of this podcast may not be appropriate for some young listeners.
[0:25] SPEAKER_00: This is real life, and that means that sometimes it can be a little bit graphic.
[0:29] SPEAKER_00: So listen on at your own peril.
[0:32] 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, understanding their brains, and creating practical strategies that you can implement easily at home.
[0:47] SPEAKER_00: I know all too well when the dream you imagined when you first got your dog is far from your daily reality.
[0:53] 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.
[1:00] 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.
[1:11] SPEAKER_00: I'm Dr.
[1:12] SPEAKER_00: Tom.
[1:12] SPEAKER_00: 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.
[1:23] SPEAKER_00: Hello, HMD family.
[1:25] SPEAKER_00: Welcome to this episode of the Help My Dog Podcast.
[1:28] SPEAKER_00: And today we're talking about what is always the most requested topic for us to cover and dive into, and for obvious reasons, and I love talking about it, so I admit it's my preference as well.
[1:40] SPEAKER_00: And that is reactivity, okay?
[1:42] SPEAKER_00: And specifically what we're going to be covering and diving into what I see as the three different ways reactivity develops.
[1:52] SPEAKER_00: And that's based on, you know, obviously working with all of you guys and hearing from you, and also based on what we see in the behavior clinic as the three most common, I guess, routes to reactivity.
[2:04] SPEAKER_00: And the good news is that one, you can, I think listening to this episode is going to really help you to understand why your dog is behaving the way that they're behaving.
[2:13] SPEAKER_00: But I guess the good news is, is that as soon as your dog goes into that kind of um state of being reactive to dogs, people, noises, whatever it might be, the process is very much the same.
[2:25] SPEAKER_00: So whether it is that you have done their help my dog walks a stressful 10-day plan with us, or whether it's that you're a Help My Dog hub member and part of the community, the cool thing is that the strategies that you learn in there, they're transforming your dog because your dog is reactive, right?
[2:45] SPEAKER_00: And reactivity is reactivity.
[2:47] SPEAKER_00: Now, because I and I say that as a bit of a disclaimer because I think sometimes people can get a little bit almost spend a disproportionate amount of energy on the type of reactivity or how it developed or why it developed.
[3:04] SPEAKER_00: And if I were to tell you how to split your energy, it'd probably be like 5% why, so that we understand where we are and we don't feel bad and we're not beating ourselves up.
[3:13] SPEAKER_00: And then 95% do, right?
[3:16] SPEAKER_00: 95% execute.
[3:18] SPEAKER_00: Because as soon as we start, as soon as we get a great plan and just start doing it, then it gets better.
[3:24] SPEAKER_00: Um, and if we flip those percentages, well, we spend much longer in the problem, right?
[3:29] SPEAKER_00: And and what we can find ourselves doing is almost stepping into a narrative of my dog is reactive, and in doing that, we stay there.
[3:37] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because we're not we're not looking, we're we're not looking to progress to our dogs being able to say, my dog used to be reactive, and now they're thriving, yeah, which is what help my dog is all about.
[3:50] SPEAKER_00: So let's dive into the three reasons why your dog might have become reactive.
[3:56] SPEAKER_00: First one is the one that everybody thinks about, and actually it's the least common, right?
[4:01] SPEAKER_00: Um, and that is that maybe there was some big event, okay?
[4:05] SPEAKER_00: Some big trauma.
[4:07] SPEAKER_00: Something happened to your dog that immediately made them develop a negative association with that thing.
[4:15] SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I'll give you an example.
[4:17] SPEAKER_00: Let's think about little gorse, our dog, and her journey.
[4:20] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she was happy go lucky, confident, optimistic sausage.
[4:24] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then she got bitten numerous times by a dog 50 kilos, you know, 50 plus kilos, which basically makes that dog like 20 times her size.
[4:35] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[4:36] SPEAKER_00: That is an immediate, immediate event where she then went into the world and her brain was going, hmm, I missed that threat.
[4:45] SPEAKER_00: Where's the danger?
[4:46] SPEAKER_00: Because I don't want to miss that again, right?
[4:48] SPEAKER_00: Where's the threat?
[4:49] SPEAKER_00: Where's the thing to worry about?
[4:51] SPEAKER_00: And I think while that that does happen, I'll be honest and say that that might be maybe not even 10% of the dogs that we see in Behave Vet consultations actually develop their reactivity for that reason.
[5:09] SPEAKER_00: And I think that can sometimes lead to owners when when you're like, well, nothing happened to my dog, you then go, it must be me.
[5:16] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, which is a bit of a leap if you think about it, right?
[5:19] SPEAKER_00: Um you manipulated your dog's brain into being reactive, you were whispering in their ear, be reactive.
[5:25] SPEAKER_00: No, it doesn't work.
[5:26] SPEAKER_00: So stop blaming yourselves.
[5:28] SPEAKER_00: Um, but the point is, is that that is actually that does happen, but it's very uncommon.
[5:33] SPEAKER_00: And it the other reason why I want to tell you it's very uncommon is because I think sometimes the human temptation is to go when we experience a problem, is to go, who's the villain?
[5:45] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was that dog in training class that you know barked at them once.
[5:51] SPEAKER_00: It was that, you know, dog walker.
[5:53] SPEAKER_00: I don't know what happened on that dog walk.
[5:55] SPEAKER_00: Probably nothing.
[5:56] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, probably it was just absolutely fine.
[5:58] SPEAKER_00: Um so sometimes there is no villain, and sometimes getting a little bit into finding the villain can limit your progress.
[6:07] SPEAKER_00: And I'll give you an example because I want this to be a lie bulb for some of you.
[6:12] SPEAKER_00: There's an amazing dog owner that we're working with at the moment, where she could make amazing progress.
[6:20] SPEAKER_00: They could make amazing progress, right?
[6:22] SPEAKER_00: They could make amazing progress.
[6:23] SPEAKER_00: And they could make amazing progress quite quickly with the plan that's being put together.
[6:27] SPEAKER_00: But this owner is not getting the split of energy right in terms of execution versus why.
[6:34] SPEAKER_00: And so this owner, amazing as she is, just purely because there's the the wrong split of energy and focus right now, this owner is referencing a specific event years ago as to why as to why the plan's not going to work or why the wrong thing is being focused on.
[6:56] SPEAKER_00: I can tell I've reviewed the plan, and I'm like, that's a great plan.
[6:58] SPEAKER_00: Like, you just need to do it, yeah?
[7:00] SPEAKER_00: Um, but the point is, is that because we're in that narrative, and and we see this all the time, as we're in that narrative of um the villain or the the villain event, we're we're not we're we're spending so much time focusing on that that we're not spending time on doing.
[7:16] SPEAKER_00: And it's actually limiting our ability to do because we've made that the identity of that dog, when actually it was just a few weeks or a few months.
[7:26] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but the dog is now maybe eight years old, right?
[7:29] SPEAKER_00: So, in terms of proportion of life, I think what they are rehearsing every day, say in the garden, that might be what is contributing to that dog's reactivity right now.
[7:39] SPEAKER_00: And that's where the focus needs to go.
[7:41] SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I want that to be a light bulb for some of you, maybe especially one of you.
[7:46] SPEAKER_00: Now, um the the other thing to say, okay, on this before we kind of um before we kind of put a loop on this, is that, hey guys, are your walks as enjoyable as they could be right now?
[7:59] SPEAKER_00: Is your dog looking at you lovingly, walking at your side, recoiling perfectly, not reacting to things in the environment, and you're able to enjoy the scenery.
[8:08] SPEAKER_00: If that's not you, how do you like me to take the wheel and make it happen, right?
[8:12] SPEAKER_00: I've got a 10-day plan.
[8:13] SPEAKER_00: It's a video step by step.
[8:15] SPEAKER_00: You watch the video each day, you implement the learning, super simple, super fun, and it'll move you forward from where you are right now to those dream walks that you imagined when you first got your dog.
[8:27] SPEAKER_00: All you need to do is head to this link.
[8:30] SPEAKER_00: And if you use this link, you're gonna get 60% off and some extra gifts for being a podcast listener.
[8:37] SPEAKER_00: All you've got to do is head to go.helpmydog.com forward slash stressful walks.
[8:45] SPEAKER_00: That's go.helpmydog.com forward slash stressful walks.
[8:51] SPEAKER_00: In the 10-day plan, you're gonna learn all the skills you need to teach your dog to want to engage with you, to want to disengage from distractions, and to be cool, calm, and collected about anything that might come your way on that walk.
[9:04] SPEAKER_00: It'll get you from where you are right now to that dream that you imagined when you first got your dog.
[9:11] SPEAKER_00: The the other thing to say, okay, on on this before we kind of um before we kind of put a loop on this, is that if we s if we ask ourselves the question, what was the villain, right?
[9:25] SPEAKER_00: We'll find one.
[9:27] SPEAKER_00: We'll find some, we'll we'll find the the this this villain that that happened.
[9:33] SPEAKER_00: You know, I I'll tell you a story, it's really it really was eye-opening for me when I first, this was like when I first started doing behavior consultations, so 10 plus years ago now.
[9:43] SPEAKER_00: Um, and this this amazing owner traveled hours and hours and hours to me um um to because her dog was worried about the vacuum cleaner, okay?
[9:56] SPEAKER_00: And this vacuum cleaner, Fia, had um progressed to being things on wheels and things that made a you know vacuumy noise, right?
[10:05] SPEAKER_00: And it was just generalizing and generalizing and generalizing.
[10:07] SPEAKER_00: And this owner, and I, you know, you know me guys, I'm very transparent.
[10:11] SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I try to hold my my my I have a I don't have a poker face, right?
[10:17] SPEAKER_00: And and um this lovely lady sat there in the consult in the consulting rooms when we used to do in-person consultations um as well, before we realized that remote works better.
[10:27] SPEAKER_00: Um and she said, the thing is, I'm so angry.
[10:32] SPEAKER_00: And you know, whole face changed.
[10:34] SPEAKER_00: I'm so angry.
[10:35] SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm just I'm so angry.
[10:38] SPEAKER_00: My dog went to a dog boarder and um and a a like a daycare, and they I'm sure what they did, and she was getting more and more angry, and you could see like redness.
[10:51] SPEAKER_00: I'm sure what they did is beat him with a Dyson.
[10:55] SPEAKER_00: And I was like, what?
[10:58] SPEAKER_00: And she was like, Yeah, I'm sure they they told him off with the pipe of the Dyson.
[11:04] SPEAKER_00: And I was like, it's quite terrifying, boy.
[11:07] SPEAKER_00: But um, but there was no evidence that that had happened, nor did it really impact what was going to happen.
[11:14] SPEAKER_00: Because the fact is, you know, if we ask ourselves what's the problem really, well, your dog is reactive to the vacuum cleaner.
[11:20] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, regardless of whether he was beaten by a Dyson, a Hoover, or a Henry, it really doesn't matter, right?
[11:28] SPEAKER_00: And probably that did not happen.
[11:30] SPEAKER_00: But there was so much anger, and and 95% of that energy was being directed into being angry about this, when actually, if we if we and we did, and the dog, the behavior resolved, if we switch that energy 95% into let's let's do something, yeah, let's execute a great plan, then we'd just be, you know, we wouldn't, years wouldn't have passed and generalization wouldn't have happened if we had spent less time being angry and more time reaching out for help to the right expert, just getting a plan and just getting it going, right?
[12:05] SPEAKER_00: Things don't need to take a long time or be really difficult.
[12:08] SPEAKER_00: Anyway, off the soapbox.
[12:10] SPEAKER_00: So um, that's the first reason why some dogs become reactive.
[12:15] SPEAKER_00: There's an event, but it's the least common.
[12:17] SPEAKER_00: Second reason, way more common, okay?
[12:19] SPEAKER_00: And that is what I call the insidious route.
[12:22] SPEAKER_00: Sounds really scary.
[12:23] SPEAKER_00: Insidious.
[12:24] SPEAKER_00: Insidious route.
[12:25] SPEAKER_00: And that is that actually that that your little dog, whether they were a puppy or you, well, every dog was a puppy once, right?
[12:32] SPEAKER_00: Whether they were in your in your hands or not.
[12:35] SPEAKER_00: Um, and that puppy maybe had a slight pessimistic disposition.
[12:42] SPEAKER_00: Okay.
[12:42] SPEAKER_00: So, in other words, when presented with something slightly strange or slightly novel or new, just new, right?
[12:49] SPEAKER_00: They go, oh, I don't know if that's something to worry about.
[12:51] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[12:52] SPEAKER_00: Um, and what they do with that is they do one of two things.
[12:56] SPEAKER_00: They either go, oh, I'm gonna show that I'm worried.
[12:59] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[12:59] SPEAKER_00: Actually, one of three things, sorry.
[13:01] SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm gonna show that I'm worried.
[13:02] SPEAKER_00: I'm like, sad Furby, you know, when Furby powers down, like, ooh, right?
[13:07] SPEAKER_00: And and the thing is they might opt for stillness, and in opting for stillness, what we might do when we when we've got a cute puppy in front of us is go, oh, they're so cute.
[13:16] SPEAKER_00: And if that puppy is scared of, say, people approaching, but that person's decided they want to stroke that puppy, right?
[13:24] SPEAKER_00: Then puppy powers down, sad Furby, they get stroked anyway, and they go, Oh my god, that was terrifying, right?
[13:31] SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's option number one.
[13:32] SPEAKER_00: Option number two is that puppy goes bark, bark, bark, growl, yeah.
[13:39] SPEAKER_00: And because they're a puppy, we go, oh, that's cute, right?
[13:44] SPEAKER_00: Um, and um, and look at him being all, you know, thinking he's bigger than he is.
[13:48] SPEAKER_00: Actually, that puppy's worried and they need some support and we need to put a plan in place.
[13:52] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, some dogs do come with struggles.
[13:54] SPEAKER_00: They're just they're just very mild at that point.
[13:57] SPEAKER_00: Um, third option, which is most common, I'll be honest, is puppy goes, oh, I'm a bit worried about that thing.
[14:04] SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna squirm up to them and lick them in the face.
[14:07] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[14:08] SPEAKER_00: And we go, what do we do?
[14:10] SPEAKER_00: We see something cute like squirming around the floor.
[14:12] SPEAKER_00: Oh, we did an excitement we.
[14:13] SPEAKER_00: How do we know it's an excitement we?
[14:15] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what if it's a petrified we?
[14:17] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[14:18] SPEAKER_00: Um, and um, and and we we misinterpret what that puppy is doing.
[14:23] SPEAKER_00: And what happens is just with repeated exposure insidiously, yeah, without like we without some obvious event, it just gets worse and worse and worse.
[14:34] SPEAKER_00: Now, sometimes there's a catalyst in that journey where you've got the dog, right?
[14:39] SPEAKER_00: I see this so often, right?
[14:42] SPEAKER_00: You've got the dog.
[14:43] SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you an example of a big bouncy labrador, okay?
[14:47] SPEAKER_00: Big bouncy labrador, and big bouncy labrador seems to love life and be squirming around, licking everyone in the face, jumping up at them.
[14:56] SPEAKER_00: That's motivated by worry and being unsure and trying to make the situation better, right?
[15:02] SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, it's the equivalent of people that are like, oh, I'm a bit uncomfortable, I'll tell a joke.
[15:06] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that might be me.
[15:08] SPEAKER_00: Um and um, and the the the thing is, is this what then happens is effectively the owner goes, gosh, he's been a bit unruly, is running up to every dog in the park and you know, licking them and jumping on them and being over the top with them, not realizing it's motivated by worry.
[15:27] SPEAKER_00: And then they maybe get some advice from a professional that is, yeah, it's because he's come to that age where we need to castrate him, neuter him.
[15:34] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's because he's over the top, because he's testosterone driven.
[15:39] SPEAKER_00: As you probably know from previous episodes, right?
[15:41] SPEAKER_00: Testosterone isn't, you know, a dog can't be too confident, yeah.
[15:46] SPEAKER_00: Testosterone is a big confidence-boosting hormone.
[15:49] SPEAKER_00: We take away that testosterone from that dog, and all of a sudden, now, as the months pass, they're becoming increasingly reactive.
[15:57] SPEAKER_00: Because actually they were reactive before, yeah.
[16:00] SPEAKER_00: But it's just that it were it, they were showing it in a different way.
[16:04] SPEAKER_00: And now they've become so anxious that they're barking and growling and and and snapping at um people.
[16:09] SPEAKER_00: In fact, we saw one of these um dogs just the other week, uh, Madeline and I, we um we and someone almost got bitten until um until the owner um stepped in.
[16:19] SPEAKER_00: Um it and it wasn't in a consultation, it was in like a public, we were trying to have lunch, and then always these things always happen to us where we see like some like dog chaos around us when we're like, no, we're not in dog mode.
[16:31] SPEAKER_00: It's like too late.
[16:32] SPEAKER_00: Uh we are now in dog mode.
[16:34] SPEAKER_00: Um, but um, but you know, that that is a very common story, and and for me, represents the the the second reason why dogs develop reactivity, but it's actually really common.
[16:47] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm talking like maybe 80% of cases that we see um that have become um the for reactivity to anything, it's that insidious route, right?
[17:00] SPEAKER_00: Where they it slowly develops over time, creeps in.
[17:04] SPEAKER_00: Now, the third reason why dogs can develop reactivity is quite an interesting one.
[17:13] SPEAKER_00: And it's one that isn't that talked about, and that is that maybe it didn't start as a particularly negative emotion.
[17:21] SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you got your puppy, and or you know, you these dogs come into your life, you want them to have a life of freedom, you've been told to socialize them, as we all were, right, before you listen to this podcast and realize that socialization doesn't look like bombarding everybody um and chasing people around the dog park.
[17:38] SPEAKER_00: Um, and what we do with that little, say, six kilo puppy is we go and we introduce them to other dogs and people and you know, the vets and everybody, right?
[17:50] SPEAKER_00: Um, and um, and that puppy develops an expectation.
[17:54] SPEAKER_00: An expectation that when I see someone, I go and greet them.
[17:58] SPEAKER_00: And I don't just greet them because I'm a six kilo puppy, they think I'm so cute, I literally get on top of them, right?
[18:05] SPEAKER_00: And I'm licking their face, I'm jumping up at them, I'm mouthing them, yeah.
[18:09] SPEAKER_00: Um, and people say things like, oh, they're going through a mouthing stage.
[18:13] SPEAKER_00: The mouthing stage doesn't stop unless we stop it, right?
[18:16] SPEAKER_00: Um, and um and we we end up almost creating this dog that has an expectation that life is about interacting with everything that they see.
[18:26] SPEAKER_00: Now, fast forward six months, six kilo dog is now, depending on breed, say 36 kilo dog or 26 kilo dog, and it's no longer appropriate for them to jump all over Aunt Edna, yeah, um, and get on top of her, right?
[18:43] SPEAKER_00: That would be an that would be a scary sight.
[18:46] SPEAKER_00: And so now what we do is we say, okay, right, you know, this you're too much, even though the expectation was set by us effectively, um, you're too much, you've got to go on lead.
[19:00] SPEAKER_00: Now, we have a situation where um a dog has had a lifelong understanding that everything that they see they interact with, that is an expectation that is, we have to understand here, guys, that is an expectation that is the equivalent of something that you have done your entire life.
[19:21] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, breathe, right?
[19:23] SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like I I breathe and breathing happens, right?
[19:27] SPEAKER_00: That's that's just that's just normal.
[19:30] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's because it's their entire life that this is that this has been happening up until this point.
[19:36] SPEAKER_00: So the expectation is super, super strong.
[19:39] SPEAKER_00: Now, we now say, but that's no longer reality, yeah.
[19:43] SPEAKER_00: Imagine you've been using a vending machine your entire life that you press the button and something comes out, yeah?
[19:51] SPEAKER_00: And you've done that every day or multiple times a day your entire life.
[19:54] SPEAKER_00: You press the button, something comes out, you press the button, something comes out, you press the button as many times as you want, and as many things as you press come out, right?
[20:00] SPEAKER_00: And then one day someone goes, button's not working, right?
[20:05] SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine what emotion would come out?
[20:08] SPEAKER_00: Initially, it would be confusion, yeah?
[20:10] SPEAKER_00: Feeling a bit uneasy, potentially moving into anxiety, right?
[20:15] SPEAKER_00: Well, why isn't the button working?
[20:17] SPEAKER_00: But then it will be like, hold on a second, it worked yesterday.
[20:20] SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna press, press, press, press, press, press, press.
[20:23] SPEAKER_00: I'm now shaking the vending machine with frustration.
[20:26] SPEAKER_00: And effectively what you get is a cocktail of a little bit of anxiety, yeah, just a tiny bit like, wait a second, why this word before?
[20:33] SPEAKER_00: And you get a huge charge of frustration.
[20:38] SPEAKER_00: Yeah?
[20:39] SPEAKER_00: Now then what happens, okay, is that the frustration doesn't go away.
[20:44] SPEAKER_00: The days pass, dog, Mr.
[20:46] SPEAKER_00: Dog gets more frustrated with everyone that he sees.
[20:50] SPEAKER_00: That frustration might look like barking and lunging or redirecting on the lead or pulling towards them.
[20:57] SPEAKER_00: You're getting frustrated at this point.
[20:59] SPEAKER_00: That's not an enjoyable walk anymore.
[21:01] SPEAKER_00: And effectively, we have the picture of reactivity through the emotion of frustration, driven predominantly by the emotion of frustration.
[21:09] SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense, guys?
[21:11] SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm gonna put a little extra thing on here because sometimes people will say, my dog's a frustrated grita, or my dog, you know, my dog's reactivity is frustration.
[21:23] SPEAKER_00: And I'll be honest, they probably used to be.
[21:27] SPEAKER_00: Yeah?
[21:28] SPEAKER_00: Because the fact is, frustration is a negative emotional state.
[21:32] SPEAKER_00: It's not enjoyable to feel frustration, is it?
[21:34] SPEAKER_00: Like just like just think about something frustrating right now.
[21:38] SPEAKER_00: It feels awful, right?
[21:40] SPEAKER_00: And so the thing about negative emotions is that they kind of go into just they they always gravitate towards the most negative emotional experience, and that is the emotional fear, yeah.
[21:54] SPEAKER_00: And so, sure it might have started as frustration, but with repeated exposure to other dogs or people.
[22:00] SPEAKER_00: Feeling this powerful negative emotional state, effectively, these dogs actually start to become quite quite worried and fearful of people.
[22:09] SPEAKER_00: And they pres they often present that in a very active way of barking and lunging and seeming to want to engage with them.
[22:18] SPEAKER_00: And so you know, and the reason why I say that is because I I think, you know, sometimes we think, oh, if it's if it's that if the reactivity is developed through the frustration route, they need to have a different process of transformation.
[22:32] SPEAKER_00: And the reality is, one, that's not the case.
[22:35] SPEAKER_00: And two, while it may have started as frustration, it probably isn't frustration anymore.
[22:41] SPEAKER_00: Okay.
[22:41] SPEAKER_00: And so it comes kind of full circle back to that point that regardless of how we got here, the way forward is not going to change based on how we got here.
[22:51] SPEAKER_00: It's about what your dog practices every day, right?
[22:54] SPEAKER_00: What they're practicing on a weekly basis, what they're practicing on a monthly basis, the skills that they have today, we teach them those skills, we change the way that they go through the world and we move from a place of survive to a place of thrive.
[23:08] SPEAKER_00: Now, on the subject of surviving, um, we've got a cringe story.
[23:13] SPEAKER_00: And guys, if you've got a cringe story, you know, no matter how painful you think it might be for me to read it out or not painful, email them in because you know you can win prizes.
[23:23] SPEAKER_00: Um and the email address to email is cringe at helpmydog.com.
[23:28] SPEAKER_00: Is that right, Madeline?
[23:29] SPEAKER_00: Okay, cringe at helpmydog.com.
[23:38] SPEAKER_00: So, okay.
[23:39] SPEAKER_01: This one comes with with a funny story, which is that when I read this story, I was cackling and I felt so bad.
[23:50] SPEAKER_01: It is an absolute cracker, but it is it is one of those like absolute shard and freuders.
[23:56] SPEAKER_00: Oh no, oh no.
[23:57] SPEAKER_01: It's so funny, but I it is so funny, but I felt so guilty for laughing.
[24:02] SPEAKER_00: Okay, right.
[24:03] SPEAKER_00: Thanks for sharing.
[24:08] SPEAKER_00: Okay, right, let's do this.
[24:09] SPEAKER_00: So, um, this is actually the story of something that happened to my friend's very foodie dog, Flossie, a black schnoodle.
[24:18] SPEAKER_00: Oh, that is already ringing.
[24:20] SPEAKER_00: That's already a red flag.
[24:21] SPEAKER_00: Schnauzer poodle.
[24:23] SPEAKER_00: Um, as mentioned, Flossie is a big foodie and has a history of inviting herself to join people's picnics when out on walks.
[24:31] SPEAKER_00: So my pal is very careful where floss is allowed off-leash, avoiding beaches, etc., where the temptation of family food events might be too strong.
[24:41] SPEAKER_00: A few years ago, my friend and Flossie were enjoying a lovely off-leash walk around one of our local headlands.
[24:48] SPEAKER_00: Floss sniffing in and out of bushes whilst my friend strolled behind her admiring the sea views.
[24:55] SPEAKER_00: Suddenly, Flossie took off at full tilt towards a family of mum, dad, and two children standing below the path on a rocky shingle bay.
[25:06] SPEAKER_00: This was not normally a sound effect.
[25:11] SPEAKER_00: We've leveled up.
[25:14] SPEAKER_00: This was not normally a picnic spot.
[25:16] SPEAKER_00: But to my friend's horror, she could see that Dad was holding a large thermos flask in his hands.
[25:21] SPEAKER_00: So she pursued Flossie at top speed, ready to drag her away from the accompanying sandwiches and cocktail sausages.
[25:29] SPEAKER_00: However, however, when she caught up with Flossy, she was surprised to see the dog frolicking between the group of people, jumping and trying to catch what looked like dust in the in the air.
[25:43] SPEAKER_00: Then it dawned on my friend.
[25:47] SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no, then it dawned on my friend.
[25:51] SPEAKER_00: It wasn't a thermos flask at all.
[25:54] SPEAKER_00: It was an ern.
[26:00] SPEAKER_00: I shouldn't laugh.
[26:01] SPEAKER_00: Don't laugh.
[26:02] SPEAKER_00: Screaming for Flossy to come and rushing in, apologizing to the group.
[26:08] SPEAKER_00: My friend was met with the sight of the two children in tears and the explanation from the adults that we are all saying goodbye to Grandpa.
[26:16] SPEAKER_00: Oh my word! Oh my I feel sorry for everyone in this scenario.
[26:22] SPEAKER_00: Completely mortified, my friend got a grip of the delighted Flossie and led her away in shame with her schnauzer beard completely covered in the grey dust that was all that was left of grandpa.
[26:35] SPEAKER_00: Oh my word.
[26:37] SPEAKER_00: The family continued to scatter the ashes on the rocky, the rocky shoreline.
[26:42] SPEAKER_00: But to this day, we still wonder which bits of grandpa flossy managed to eat.
[26:47] SPEAKER_00: Oh, and thus scatter elsewhere.
[26:51] SPEAKER_00: Wow.
[26:52] SPEAKER_00: Wow.
[26:54] SPEAKER_00: It's just that has got to win a mug because that has got to win a mug.
[26:58] SPEAKER_00: That's the just because that I feel for everyone.
[27:04] SPEAKER_00: We need to track down your friend, whoever has submitted this, but you've you we've got to get a mug to her.
[27:10] SPEAKER_00: Um if you email team at helpmydog.com um and um and own up, then we will um we'll get a mug.
[27:18] SPEAKER_00: That was that was one of the most shocking ones we have ever we have ever done.
[27:25] SPEAKER_00: Okay, and with that, on that note, what way to end?
[27:30] SPEAKER_00: On that note, um next time, guys, what we're gonna be doing is diving into those dogs where their emotion their their emotion that they commonly feel in life is frustration, so that we can actually look to move them away from that kind of state of frustration and potentially improve some of the struggles, like the struggles that we've talked about in this episode.
[27:53] SPEAKER_00: So definitely check that out next time, and we will see you next time.

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