Owning a reactive dog with dog aggression was one of the most stressful times of my life.
I thought training Rosie was going to be simple. After all, I was already a trainer. I had trained Tiggy to be super impressive. So, how hard could it be?
Follow the usual advice: work on obedience, engagement and play. Go to your local park. Perfect training buddy, right? Wrong.
Rosie had perfect recall. She could walk past any dog on a lead. But she wanted to attack any dog that ran over who she didn't know. I tried building even more focus on me, and went even harder on breed fulfilment.
But the second I gave her any freedom to interact, she'd flip out. And I couldn't risk her having a toy because she would resource guard.
My world became extremely small.
We could only do street walks. We would have to cross the street if we saw another dog. And we couldn't enter a park unless it was hammering with rain.
I was embarrassed, anxious and hated every single day. I regretted ever getting a second dog. On top of this, I had a toddler, so I couldn't walk them together because I would have to stick to the pathways with the pram, where everyone else walked.
It wasn't about her playing with other dogs. It was about her not attacking every single one that approached.
So I ditched everything I ever believed and started training completely differently. I created a training plan that went far beyond neutrality.
I wanted a dog who could handle any dog who approached, where I could ditch the muzzle and enjoy gundog training without any concerns if a dog came over.
The best way to train a dog is to get out of your comfort zone and spend years of trial and error figuring out what works and what doesn't. But thankfully, you don't have to, because I've already done it for you.