u/Boobleplex

Image 1 — Reducing Reactivity
Image 2 — Reducing Reactivity
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Image 5 — Reducing Reactivity
▲ 89 r/Basenji

Reducing Reactivity

Our precious little man just turned 3, and we've been having trouble with some reactivity for a while now. I'm hoping someone on the subreddit may have had a similar experience and was able to resolve it! I am looking into behaviourist options but they are incredibly expensive where I live and I am yet to find one with any Basenji experience.

It started with a little dog that would bark incessantly through the fence at him and it got to the point where he started to bite at the fence panels trying to get to the dog. To reduce this, I have covered the fence so he can no longer see the shadow of the dog moving and used pet fences to create a gap between him and the fence. This has worked quite well and isn't really an issue anymore, but it seems the reactivity has now transferred to walk time.

He is getting very triggered walking past any fence with a dog, and if they bark at him he loses it trying to get to the fence. When he realises he is on a lead he instantly whips around and starts biting at the lead. He is very difficult to calm down in this state and a couple of occasions has resulted in him drawing blood when he has accidentally caught me with a tooth when going for his lead. Often I have to pick him up and restrain him until he calms down to prevent him destroying the lead.

He also now knows where the problem fences are and starts to get triggered when even approaching those spots. Its becoming very difficult as we live in a dead-end street so if we want to walk locally we have no choice but to walk past these places.

Aside from the above he is normally very well behaved. At home he is cheeky but never aggressive or dangerous outside of when he used to be triggered at the fence. He is not aggressive towards people and is well socialised - he plays regularly with other dogs and has a sister he is permanently attached to.

Sorry for the novel, but thank you if you have read this far! Any suggestions would be appreciated, we are doing our best and just want him to be happy and stress free!

TLDR; reactivity on walks, help!

u/Boobleplex — 2 days ago