Understanding Your Reactive Dog
Reactivity is one of the most common behavioral struggles owners face, and something that most of the dogs that I work with come my way to solve. It can be frustrating, embarrassing, and even scary. Before we begin training, it’s important to understand why dogs react the way they do. When we recognize the motivation behind the behavior, it’s easier to approach training with empathy, patience, and consistency.
What Is Reactivity?
Reactivity simply means an exaggerated response to a trigger. That trigger could be another dog, a person, a car, or even a sound. Instead of calmly observing, your dog might bark, lunge, growl, or spin up in a way that feels “out of control.”
While it may look like aggression at times, reactivity is usually driven by underlying emotions or unmet needs, not a desire to be “bad.” While most reactive dogs aren’t reacting out of a place of aggression, it’s important to note that reactivity can escalate into aggressive incidents if not addressed. I’ve seen so many cases of well meaning, over excited, or very afraid dogs pushed into fights or bite incidents because bad decisions are made when tensions are high. So while most reactivity is not coming from aggressive intent, it’s important to address it so our dogs can navigate life with a clear, level head.
For the sake of simplicity, we’re going to leave out truly dog aggressive dogs in this handout and cover them separately. This applies to the majority of reactive dog cases, however if you are unsure of your dog’s motivation, it’s best to have your dog assessed by a qualified trainer in person.
Types of Reactivity
1. Fear-Based Reactivity
Many reactive dogs are actually scared. They see a trigger and their body says, “This could be dangerous!”
Motivation: create distance and keep themselves safe.
Typical signs: barking, lunging, growling, hackles raised, pulling away if the trigger comes too close.
Key insight: these dogs aren’t trying to start a fight, they’re trying to prevent one by making the scary thing go away. When fight or flight kicks in, logic goes out the window. The dog’s reaction is a symptom of a bigger issue, not an obedience problem.
2. Excitement-Based Reactivity
Some dogs react because they’re overly social or overstimulated. They desperately want to say hello, chase, or play.
Motivation: gain access to something they’re excited about.
Typical signs: whining, barking, pulling toward the trigger, bouncing or wiggly body language.
Key insight: these dogs aren’t angry; they’re frustrated that the leash is preventing them from getting what they want.
3. Barrier Frustration / Leash Reactivity
The leash, a fence, or even a window can amplify frustration. Without the ability to approach or move away, dogs escalate.
Motivation: release the tension or get to the trigger.
Typical signs: explosive barking or lunging the moment they feel “trapped.”
Key insight: many otherwise calm dogs show reactivity only when physically restrained. Blocking them with your body, shortening and tightening the leash, or attempting to pull them away often makes the issue worse in the moment.
4. Learned Reactivity
Oftentimes, what begins as one or a combination of the above categories of reactivity is unintentionally reinforced. A dog barks at another dog, and the other dog leaves. To the fear reactive dog, that feels like a win. On the other hand, a dog with excitement based reactivity barks and pulls toward other dogs, every now and then, their owner gives in and lets them say hi. The dog learns that sometimes when they try really hard, their reactivity gets them what they want.
Motivation: repeat what “worked” before.
Key insight: behavior that is occasionally rewarded (even accidentally) gets stronger over time.
Why Do Dogs React?
At the root, reactivity comes down to emotions and unmet needs. Genetics play a very large role in which dogs are more likely to become reactive, and so does each individual dog’s individual experience. If your dog is reactive, this does not mean that they will be that way forever, that you’ve failed, or that you’re a bad dog owner. A reactive dog is usually:
Anxious or uncertain in new environments
Lacking clarity about what’s expected
Overstimulated and unable to self-regulate
Practicing a behavior that has worked for them in the past
Understanding this helps us shift from “my dog is being bad” to “my dog is struggling.”
Why Training Matters
Reactivity doesn’t go away on its own—it requires structure, consistency, and clear communication. That’s why in our training we focus on:
Structured routines to lower stress and create predictability for your dog. Structure is something that can be slowly phased out to a degree depending on each dog, but it’s critical to remember that the dog sets the pace. We all understand that some kids can be trusted to be home alone or go outside unsupervised at young ages, but others need a lot more micro-managing than their peers. As humans, some of us tend to expect our dogs to all follow the same exact timeline. Just like children, if we try to give our dogs too much freedom to make decisions on their own very early on, bad habits can form very quickly!
Clear expectations and marker training so your dog understands exactly what earns praise and what doesn’t. Our dogs don’t speak English, and while it may seem like they understand us, they rely very heavily on reading our body language and emotion- which we’re often inconsistent with if we’re not careful. It’s important to ensure that our core cues, the ones that we need to be reliable and meaningful, mean the same thing 100% of the time. Imagine living with another species that doesn’t speak your language- some of us might find that pretty daunting on its own!
Tools and strategies (leash work, place training, decompression) that give you control without adding conflict. The less we have to be frustrated with our dog, get mad at them, or physically restrain them, the more our dogs will trust us as partners rather than opposition.
Confidence building so your dog learns to trust you instead of reacting for themselves. If your dog can trust that you’ve got their back and will guide them, you’ve done most of the work. Secure dogs are much less likely to react, meaning that you can spend less time trying to manage them through obedience.
The Bottom Line
Your dog’s reactivity is a behavior pattern that your dog has learned to use as a coping mechanism or to their benefit, but it can be reshaped. It is not a reflection of your failure by any means. With structure, patience, and the right training approach, your dog can learn calmer, more controlled ways to handle the world.
Reactivity is your dog communicating: “I don’t know what else to do.” Together, we’ll teach them a better way.
Roach, my Belgian Shepherd, barking while he guards a decoy in training for protection sports. His intense genetic predisposition for reactivity is ideal for my goals for him and what his breed is made for, but would make him very difficult to own as a pet.
For many dogs, reactivity, the predisposition to bark, have big emotions, and even be suspicious of new things is actually bred into them! For me, since I gravitate toward Malinois, I expect that I will deal with and have to address reactivity and a certain extent of aggression with my dogs. The problem with this is that many popular breeds (any kind of shepherd, many of the breeds that make up our average shelter pit bull mix, corgis, cattle dogs, dobermans, I could go on!) were originally bred with the intention of producing dogs with those traits. This can make them tricky for the average pet owner to handle, but if those dogs aren’t carefully bred, we often end up with dogs who have all of those traits and lack confidence. Fear and big feelings can be a recipe for disaster if left unaddressed.
When addressing fear based reactivity, it’s especially important that we build the dog’s confidence, trust in us, and maintain clear communication with them. Simply punishing or stopping their reactive outbursts may solve our problem short term, but the reactivity will come back if we don’t work to address the root of their behavior. This is where play, impulse control, and tailoring a training plan to the individual dog with long term follow up is important.
