Toffee Reactive Lurcher Cross

Toffee is a Lurcher cross with over 20 combined breeds in his DNA who was rescued from abroad, now living with his new owner in Highworth, Wiltshire. Nothing was known about his background, and pinpointing breed specific attributes in his behaviour would be very tricky.

As with all dogs I visit, much of what I need to know is provided within minutes of arriving at the family home. Toffee was not happy to see me and did not want me to enter the home. It was apparent that he was hugely protective of his owner, and as such she was his main trigger.

The safest way to start would be for the owner to bring Toffee outside on a lead where I could take him and create distance between the two. This would help Toffee to calm down and realise that I was not a threat to him.

Once this was achieved I then took Toffee back into the house where I kept him with me to reduce his anxiety and prevent a potential bite happening. With the best will in the world, particularly with rescue dogs, well meaning and loving owners can engage in behaviours that inadvertently contribute towards the development of unwanted behaviour, which was exactly what had happened in this case. 

As part of what I like to refer to as a “ripple effect”, Toffee had gradually become very reactive outside towards both humans and dogs. This had resulted in his owner effectively avoiding taking to Toffee to any area where there were likely to be a higher number of both.

After covering all elements of changes to be implemented in the home, we headed out to start working on his owners confidence by showing her signs to look out for not only with Toffee’s body language but also that of other people and dogs. Reactive behaviour is commonly attached to fear but can also be a result of positions of responsibility we give our dogs that they would rather not have.

As with every reactive dog I work with, no prong, or shock collars are used, neither do I use distraction techniques with food as I do not believe it secures longevity in the solution of behavioural instability.