I’ll be happy if we don’t make more dog reactivity progress
For years, the majority of our dog Instagram posts (and later, many articles on this blog) centered on Scout’s fear-based dog reactivity. I remember:
Getting home from every outing and detailing exactly how many dogs we saw. From what distance? How did she handle each one?
Processing every overreaction she did have. At length.
Sharing multiple IG story slides each day about reactivity alone.
While I still post big wins and hard moments, our cattle dog’s fear is no longer my main focus. There was a gradual shift as our life got bigger and my thoughts got broader. I moved our goalposts, adjusted to a new normal, and prioritized different things.
Here’s a deep dive into why I’ll be happy even if we never make another ounce of dog reactivity progress.
Where is Scout today?
On average:
Scout still doesn’t want to interact with other dogs. She’s never shown interest in playing and only rarely shows interest in sniffing.
She gets nervous if another canine approaches us directly (and needs us to advoc…
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