What Leash Reactivity Can Look Like
Lunging & Pulling
A reactive dog may always pull you around, looking for their catalyst. Or they might walk nicely on leash until the trigger appears and suddenly they're using all of their might to get there.
Unable to Calm Down
Once your dog has been triggered, they ignore everything: treats, pulling them away, toys. Even when you get them away from the catalyst, they may still refuse treats and be unable to focus or calm down
Stress When Leaving Home
Trying to go anywhere with your dog becomes an embarrassing ordeal, never knowing just when they'll go wild or if they'll take you out trying to get to another dog.
Keeps Getting Worse
As the months (and maybe years) pass, your dog keeps getting worse and more uncontrollable. Maybe, at first, they'd bark a little bit, but now they're barking and lunging and nearly taking you off your feet.
Fine When Off Leash
Your dog loves other dogs, critters, and humans...as long as there's no leash, fence, or window between them and the others.
Uncontrollable Barking
Once your dog sees their catalyst, their voice comes out. Whether your dog normally barks or not, suddenly they're a wild creature with a painfully loud bark.
These are all signs of emotional overwhelm based on fear, excitement, and/or frustration.
We help your dog learn how to handle these feelings so that you can have happier and calmer outings with your dog.
What does the process for helping my dog overcome Leash Reactivity look like?
Helping your dog learn to work past their reactivity and learn how to self-regulate and calm down takes time, but if you're consistent and work with your dog instead of against them, you can get to where you want and we can help you get there.
Determine Triggers
The very first thing we need to do is figure out what it is that is triggering your dog's overreaction so that we can figure out what we need to train around.
Manage Walks
We will immediately start to manage your walks, doing everything we can to prevent reactions until the training has started becoming muscle memory. That way, your dog is practicing the behaviors we want with (much less) practice going towards the reactive behaviors.
Begin Reactivity Training
Doggy Stars uses a Reactivity Framework that we will teach you, starting with an emergency response that you can use from the very beginning.
Counter-Conditioning
We will help teach you and your dog other ways to respond to their trigger(s), working our way up to being able to be calm even when around their catalysts.
The Everything (Reactivity)
3,012
After this, you'll be able to trust your dog again when it comes to leash reactivity. You'll also get immediate access to our online support group.
Valid for 12 months
Discount on buying sessions individually
Virtual Consult Included so you can get started right away
12 - Dog Training Sessions for up to 10 months of support
6 - Recorded video reviews
4 - Training Outing with your trainer
2 - Live Video Check-Ins for between sessions
Personalized Support: Session Summaries & Text Check-Ins
Solid Foundations (Leash Reactivity)
1,950
We can help you learn most of what's needed to handle your dog's leash reactivity. You'll also get immediate access to our online support group.
Valid for 8 months
Discount on buying sessions individually
Virtual Consult Included so you can get started right away
8 - Dog Training Sessions for up to 5 months of support
4 - Recorded Video Reviews
2 - Training Outings with your trainer
A Live Video Check-In for between sessions
Personalized Support: Session Summaries & Text Check-Ins
Starting Out with Leash Reactivity
1,350
After this, you'll be able to start seeing a difference in your dog's behavior and learn the basics of how to work with leash reactivity. You'll get immediate access to our online support group.
Valid for 4 months
Discount on buying sessions individually
Virtual Consult Included so you can get started right away
6 - Dog Training Sessions for up to 3 months of support
2 - Recorded video reviews
A Training Outing with your trainer
Personalized Support: Session Summaries & Text Check-Ins
Leash Reactivity Packages
These packages will help you meet all your needs while giving you lots of personalized support and a hefty discount!
Training Philosophy
(And why it matters!)
You want what is best for your dog and your life and so do we. Since dog training is unregulated, it can be hard to determine if a dog trainer will fit your values while helping you on this journey.
Compassion
Care and love center our training philosophy. We want your dog to learn to listen and be able to better regulate, but not at the expense of their personality or happiness. That's why compassion is an important part of how we train.
L.I.M.A.
LIMA stands for Least Invasive, Minimally Aversive. What this means is that we focus on humane training methods and what we want your dog TO do, but we are knowledgeable with a wide range of techniques and tools and will use what works best for you and your dog.
Science
We make sure to stay up to date on canine science and the most recent canine behavior research. And we want to make sure you can understand that, as well, to help you understand your dog and their needs.
Efficient
Dog training takes time, but we understand that both time and money are limited. So we make sure that we're doing everything as efficiently as possible so that you can get the most for your time and money.
Fun
If you enjoy something, you're more likely to remember it and your dog is the same! So we want to make sure that you and your dog are learning, but also able to have fun and remember everything we go over.
Customized
Every dog is different as is every life and home. We want to make sure to set you and your dog up for success. So every training plan and training summary is personalized to you. We customize everything so that you and your dog can achieve your goals.