Hi everyone,
My partner and I have a very friendly 1.5 year old dachshund and we became friends with another couple with a 2 year old dachshund (Spot) after they met and were playing together really well at the dog park.
We’ve known them for a while now, and they’ve watched our dog for a few days, so now we’re watching Spot for a week. Part of their instructions included a mention of how Spot might be reactive on leash, bark at the TV, outside noise, etc…
Well after having him for a few days it is much more severe than we realized - we cannot walk past another dog without Spot lunging, growling, and barking like crazy. Not even close to us, he’ll react as soon as he sees a dog even from a far distance. Our own dog doesn’t react in these situations, just mainly stands looking surprised, but Spot will go crazy and then be panting/whining afterwards (it takes a few minutes for him to calm down).
We’ve tried surveying carefully on walks to avoid any dogs, but we live in a very dog friendly area and it‘s impossible to avoid all of them. Spot is also not on any anxiety medication, and they didn’t leave us with any tips/strategies to help mitigate his reactivity (which I’m honestly annoyed about because I feel like they downplayed it).
What should we do to help him? I can imagine it‘s much worse because he’s in a new environment, so any tips/tricks you have would be so so appreciated. Also - is there a risk this could negatively influence our own dog? We worked really hard on exposure and leash training with her, and I don’t want her to come out of this experience being negatively impacted. Thank you!!