Moose Springsteen: Life With A Reactive Dog

Tuesday was a good day; today was a bad day.

Tuesday, for the first time in almost three years, Moose successfully greeted another dog on leash with no reactivity whatsoever. It was the downstairs neighbors’ dog that he’s seen playing in the backyard many times, so it wasn’t a completely new dog - but I’m still chalking it up as a victory! 

My neighbor and I have talked pretty extensively about Moose’s leash issues, so she’s always been very respectful of how long it took for them to get to meet each other up close. When we first moved in, Moose and I would sit on our balcony while she and her dog played on the ground below. I fed Moose treats constantly for every moment that he remained quiet, and eventually he figured out that seeing that dog was a good thing and that he didn’t need to panic. 

We had just returned from a long walk and my neighbor and her dog were just getting home from the dog park as we met each other in the parking lot. As with any kind of training, it’s often best to tire them out a bit first. Because Moose wasn’t pulling at his leash at all - he was only making a tiny whining sound - I asked if it was alright to finally let him meet the other dog. As mentioned above, it went wonderfully and we stood in the parking lot while they played for a good 30 or 40 minutes. They sniffed politely and wrestled like crazy... to the point where they ended up tangled in each other’s leashes.

I was ecstatic and, though this sounds dramatic, I could hardly sleep that night. This was a HUGE step for him and a quick glimpse into what it must be like to own a dog without reactivity issues. What it must be like to be able to take your dog for a walk without being on constant high alert.

The universe thought I was getting a little too cocky, though. As it so often does, it decided I needed a reminder that Moose still needs help, and today we experienced a total 180 from what happened on Tuesday night.

I get home from work at 4:30 pm, which usually gives me enough time to get Moose outside and back in before the 5 or 5:30 rush of dog owners head out with their pups. When I park my car, I do a quick survey of the street to see if anyone is outside yet. If it’s safe, I bring Moose out immediately, but if there are any dogs or groups of people out we wait a few minutes. The coast was clear when I parked, so I brought him out right away.

For whatever reason, the street was suddenly a goldmine of his reactivity triggers* - multiple dogs and several people were now outside! I headed the other way, but he had already seen one of the dogs down the street. There was a little leash chewing but when we turned a corner, I was able to get him to focus again.

That didn’t last long when the new children that moved in downstairs were playing loudly on our rerouted path. He barked at them and they did what kids do - they started screaming (more so for dramatic effect than out of any kind of real fear, as children do), which stressed him out even more. When we finally made it around the building, there was another unavoidable person on the path and even though I pulled him off into the grass, Moose still barked and lunged.

Tonight we played some indoor training games instead of going for a walk. I deliberately chose the games and tricks that I know Moose is good at because both of us needed a win after this afternoon. It wasn’t his fault that everything that stresses him out happened at once and it wasn’t my fault that despite my every attempt to get him out of those situations, they simply couldn’t all be avoided. All we could do tonight was stay inside, de-stress, and hope tomorrow is a better day.

Tuesday reminded me of how far Moose has come and today reminded me of how important it is to continue to be patient - even nearly three years later - because just like people, dogs can have bad days and setbacks.

And that’s okay.

- Kenzie & Moose

*This section refers to trigger stacking. This is the concept that with each additional trigger, your dog is less and less able to focus on you or think about anything except what’s setting him off. In Moose’s case, the first dog set him off, meaning it was easier for the children to upset him, and then those twice-elevated stress levels led to him lunging and barking at the man on the sidewalk. Nothing I did could get him to focus on me because his brain was already in overdrive. When a dog has an episode with trigger stacking, it’s often best to call it a day and do whatever you can to help them relax for the rest of the evening.

Welcome back! After our introduction post, I thought I’d share how Moose came to me and a short history of his reactive behavior.

I first learned about Moose in the spring of 2015. My family had previously adopted a dog from a rescue in Indiana, and when Moose (then named Silas) came into their care, they contacted us thinking we’d be a perfect fit for him. Unfortunately, my parents already had two dogs and I wasn’t quite finished with college up in Green Bay yet, so despite how in love with him I was from pictures alone, I had to turn them down.

After I graduated in May, I moved to Madison, WI. Upon learning that I had moved out, the rescue contacted me again because this dog was still available. Several adoption inquiries hadn’t worked out for him and, most recently, one had fallen through when he became very aggressive towards the family’s dog while on a leash during a home visit. This was an immediate “no” for the family, so back to the rescue he went.

They asked me if this was something I was really willing to take on, because he had several other applications put in for him that they would move on to if his behavioral issues were going to be a deal breaker for me. I assured them that I was not worried about tackling his leash reactivity, and to be honest, I really wasn’t. I’d worked with dogs for a long time, both professionally and as an owner, and I wanted him so badly that there wasn’t much of anything that I wasn’t willing to help him work on.

After our conversation, my contact at the rescue told me “I think he’s been waiting for you!,” and I knew I had to bring him home. I had sworn up and down that I would wait until October or November to adopt a dog, but after moving to Madison on August 1st, I signed the paperwork for Moose on August 5th and drove down to Indiana to pick him up on the 22nd.

My first experience with Moose’s leash reactivity was the night I brought him back to my apartment in Madison. We’d spent our first few days at my parents’ house in southeastern Wisconsin where he played wonderfully at the dog park, as the rescue told me he would - off leash, he LOVES to play with other dogs! Apartment life, though, meant he had to be on a leash any time we were outside, and that’s where his issues arose.

We’d barely gotten out of my Jeep when he spotted another dog out for a late night potty break, and out of nowhere, the intense tantrum that would become familiar began - complete with thrashing, leash biting, and the first time I’d heard his booming bark. At 10 pm, nonetheless! He sure made an impression at the apartment complex.

Indoors, he was nearly the perfect dog. He slept in my bed from day one and was bonded to me immediately, needing to be by my side at every moment (I’m still not allowed to pee alone, nearly three years later). I also quickly learned that he was the most food motivated dog in the world, which made it easy to teach him tricks and commands indoors. Outdoor training was a different story.

I live in one of the few dog-friendly apartment complexes in the area, which means just about everyone with a dog in town lives here. Every potty break was like a spy mission - I had to creep out the door first to make sure nobody else was letting their dog out and our walks could only take place late at night when the chances of running into anyone else were slim. I still do this sometimes - it’s never a bad time for a peaceful evening walk.

For the first year, every outdoor on-leash adventure was like walking on eggshells. I was a constant ball of anxiety and feared running into anyone, human or canine. Moose would never hurt a person, but as a “frustrated greeter” he still barked and lunged because he simply didn’t know how else to say “Hey, look at me, look how cute I am, why aren’t you petting me?!” He’s a big boy with an even bigger bark, so to strangers, I completely understand why this might feel like a dog wanting to attack. (Maybe I should’ve made business cards to throw at them from five feet away stating that “I promise he’s a good boy, he just has a lot of feelings”?)

Our sidewalks here are pretty narrow, so running into another dog on a walk was my waking nightmare. At the end of the day, it often resulted in me pulling him off as far into the grass as we could go, then yelling “Sorry, sorry, sorry!” at the other owner as they passed with their well-behaved dog while my 70-pound mutt tried to pull me over. I usually went home and cried after those walks.

I met with two trainers before I found a third that I loved. The first was nice but I didn’t feel a real connection to her, and her training felt a bit impersonal. The second wanted to charge me something like $1400 to use a shock collar on him, so we never went back. It wasn’t until I met the third trainer in the summer of 2016 that I finally began to feel like there was hope for Moose. He came to my apartment and taught me the force-free, positive-reinforcement based techniques that I could use to shape Moose’s behavior into more desirable actions. I’ll be sharing some of those with you here on this blog in later posts. That trainer is why I urge everyone struggling with a reactive dog to find a professional that works for you. No dog is going to be completely changed overnight (I’m avoiding using the word “fixed” here - your dogs aren’t broken!), but I think that if meeting with a trainer can bring you even a little bit of hope, then it’s totally worth it.

Today, Moose attends doggy daycare every Monday where he plays with his canine friends all day long. He has a best cat friend named Mochi (my sister’s Maine coon who tolerates his antics) and he has two doggy cousins named Fergus and Jameson that he gets to visit and wrestle with all the time. I’m lucky enough to have a job that allows him to come to the office with me on occasion so that he gets some practice in politely receiving attention from my coworkers. Just this last week, he walked up State Street and visited the Wisconsin State Capitol Building for the first time and was polite to every single person he met. He even went to the outdoor mall and into a LUSH store! (His mother may or may not have a crippling bath bomb addiction.)

We still struggle when we run into other dogs (and sometimes even people), but as Moose’s advocate, it’s my job to avoid putting him in those situations and it takes a lot of quick thinking to get him out of them. The whole reason for this blog is to share the things I’ve done to help him get to this point and to keep sharing what we’re working on right now. Moose may never be a dog that can go to Madison’s many dog-friendly breweries or the Memorial Union Terrace - and that’s okay. We’re taking it one day at a time and never push him beyond what he’s comfortable with.

The best thing you can do for your dog, even if they aren’t severely reactive, is to identify their triggers and signs of stress. As soon as either one makes an appearance, you work to refocus the dog on you - and if that doesn’t work, you leave the situation as quickly as possible. It can (and very likely will be) a long and frustrating process, but all training needs to be a positive experience for your dog. They get frustrated too, and constant exposure to stressful situations never helps anyone. Even the smallest steps can lead to victories for both of you.

I love my dog more than I’m ever going to love anything or anyone, reactivity and all, but there were definitely times when I didn’t feel that way. The first step in helping your reactive dog is to change the way you think about them. In my first post, I mentioned that I learned to stop treating Moose like a “broken” dog. He’s not broken at all - he’s just like any human that needs a little extra help learning how to be social and to control his impulses. Helping your reactive dog is all about setting them up for success and teaching them to make the correct behavioral decisions in whatever way works best for them.

I’m sure I’ll say this once every blog post, but again - every dog is different. I have many friends that have dogs that are severely fearful in addition to being reactive, so I count my blessings that so far, the only thing Moose seems to be afraid of is the dishwasher. (He’s also not a fan of the spray bottle that I use to spritz my cockatiel, because I have the only Newfoundland in the world that doesn’t like water.) His reactivity is much more manageable these days and while we definitely still have our rough times, he’s miles and miles ahead of where he was when he first came to me and he’s getting better every minute.

Hi there! Welcome to our blog - we’re Kenzie the human and Moose the Newfoundland/border collie mix. We make our wonderful little life in Madison, WI and that wonderful little life happens to include learning to live with Moose’s leash reactivity.

Since adopting Moose in 2015, I’ve tried to be very open about his reactivity - and, to be honest, I’ve probably been a little too candid about the frustrations that came along with it. Since then, I’ve received a lot of questions from friends and Instagram followers (visit us at @themooseandmochishow) about how I work with him to curb his tendencies and help improve his quality of life. I decided to start a blog to share those experiences.

I’m not yet sure of the format this blog will take - it’ll likely be a mix of posts about my training methods, favorite products (training treats, toys, leashes, etc.), and some regular “check in” posts about what we’ve been doing recently. Sometimes it may just be cute pictures of him, because hey, he’s a handsome boy! I’m incredibly proud of how far Moose has come and I want to share that success with others, especially those that are in the same boat with their own dogs.

Before we continue: above all else, please remember that every dog is different! What works for Moose and me may not work for you and your dog. I’m not a trainer, nor will I ever claim to be one - I’m simply here to share our story in hopes that it’ll help other reactive dog owners feel a little less alone. If you are struggling with your reactive dog’s behavior (or even if you just want a little extra help), I highly recommend meeting with a force-free trainer.

For a full year I blindly tried to tackle Moose’s behavior issues on my own because I didn’t want to acknowledge that I needed help (that’s being 22 for you), and as a result, I ended up feeling very isolated and hopeless. I was returning from walk after walk in tears because my furry best friend couldn’t handle seeing another dog without going absolutely ballistic, then crying some more when he would bark incessantly at anyone who passed our window at all hours of the day. It was frustrating to me that I couldn’t simply love the issues out of him, and I often wondered what I’d gotten myself into by adopting him. Meeting with a trainer taught me incredibly valuable skills in helping Moose focus on me instead of his triggers, and from then on, helping him live a calmer (and happier) life became a lot easier. Most of all, I learned to stop treating Moose like he was broken - he just needed a little extra help in experiencing the world!

On this blog, you won’t read anything about any training methods that include pain, shock, or anything of the like. What you will find are my “tips and tricks” for using what motivates my dog best to achieve the desired behavior and live his best life. The most important thing I’ve ever learned about working with a leash-reactive dog is to work with them, not against them. In Moose’s cases, this means TONS of yummy cookies whenever he does a good job!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by. I hope you’ll join us here regularly and maybe even be willing to share your own story with us! To contact me directly, even if you’re not on Tumblr, you can email me at [email protected]. I’m happy to chat about just about anything, but remember - I’m not a trainer, and while I’m happy to be a sounding board, I will most likely (almost always) suggest that you seek out professional help. That’s simply what helped me best!