Reactive Pocket XL Bully Gracie

Gracie is a 2 year old rescue pocket XL bully I met whilst working in Swindon, Wiltshire, I first met in April 2024. She had a few issues, but most notably fear of men and severe reactivity towards other dogs.

Arriving at the owners home, Gracie was not at all comfortable having me there and made her presence felt. The majority of reactive behaviour in dogs is a result of fear, and Gracie was no different.

Dogs can develop reactivity issues as a result of poor socialisation, bad breeding and environmental factors. The extent to which of these were potentially contributing towards Gracies problems be discovered through a process of elimination.

It was evident straight away that Gracie would need more than one session due to the severity of her reactive behaviour.

We started slow, putting in place changes for the following 2-3 months that would firstly help her confidence grow within the home, and make her more confident when the owners had visitors.

When I next visited in June 2024 the difference was already significant. Gracie was not only calmer with me entering the home, but also allowed me to give her physical affection which was a huge step up from where she was.

The next step was addressing her reactivity outside. We looked at this briefly in the first session, but now needed her owners to able to take her out where other dogs were present. This has been a slow and steady process, helping Gracie to realise that other dogs are not a threat to her.

The progress has been remarkable. Gracie has not only been able to meet dogs socially, but also have a one to one session with one of my own dogs. All of this is testament to the hard work and commitment put in by her owners, who’s commitment has been incredible.

I would like to add, that nothing in the process of rehabilitating Gracie has involved distraction techniques with food, prong collars, or shock collars, just a concise understanding of her psychology.