Reactive Rotweiller Jed

Jed is a 2 year old Rottweiler that I visited in Bicester, Oxfordshire. His problem was severe reactivity, not just to dogs but to people, traffic, and pushchairs. Jed did not come from good breeding and almost certainly has an imbalance with his cortisol levels as his desire for food and his natural instinct to use his nose stops completely. Any positive reinforcement verbally triggered excitement which then sparked aggression.

The attached video is the second session we had, and this was after the owners had had the opportunity to start implementing other changes in the home. Believe it or not his reactivity in the video is already an improvement! My aim during this session was to help him unlock the ability to relax around his worse triggers in order for them to become associated with being calm. I did opt for physical corrections using a slip lead here simply because this was the tool that suited the situation best. Repetitiously allowing him to exhaust himself over and over again gave access to the part of him that we needed to pull out and gain permanent access to going forward.

As you can see in the video, he finally calms down to the things that triggered the bad behaviour and was able to experience calm which is the overall aim. Up until this day Jed had never been able to walk with or yet alone smell another dog. Nor had he been able to walk next to a pushchair. A lot of work is required with dogs like Jed, and it is important that someone with a good amount of experience work them to unlock their best potential. If you have a reactive dog that needs help then please get in touch.