"Touch" and the reactive dog

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"Touch" and the reactive dog

Posted : 2/15/2008 6:12:00 PM

Wohoo! After reading a few things online and the book Control Unleashed, I decided to try Touch with Lily before she started to react to strangers. So on our way out of the dog park, whenever people approached I told Lily to touch my hand. She did it! And the best part is that she didn't react to the people or other dogs at all!

Obviously this was a one time thing but I'm hoping that she'll get a really good nose touch to the hand because this is how a lot of people approach dogs. So, when someone holds out their hand to her, she will touch her nose to them and not be so afraid. Let's hope that it works!

Liesje

Posted : 2/15/2008 7:05:17 PM

This works with Kenya. For us "touch" is with the paw. I will point to whatever I want touched (unless it's an object she knows by name) or you can hold out a hand and say "touch" (touching with a nose is "here";). If she is being her usual aloof self, turning her head away from new people I tell them to ask for a "touch" or "paw" and it's like "Oh yeah I can do that! haha!" and the paw comes right out. It's also a great way for me to redirect the stranger away from reaching over her or grabbing her face. If they approach and look like they want to come in close I put her in a sit and say "she likes to shake!".

spiritdogs

Posted : 2/15/2008 8:36:08 PM

Glad that worked for you Jewlieee. You may want to try asking her to touch a bunch of familiar people before you try it out on someone not so familiar. But, I think you may have managed to short circuit the default response, at least in this dog. Hope it continues to work.