Socializing a Dominant Reactive Dog in Public

This lesson is about as real world as it can get. Max is my good buddy, Joey’s Akita. We’ve been working together since he was a few months old, but socialization has been a challenge for him. Those who know the breed, know this is almost always an issue with Akitas. They are dominant and don’t tolerate much. Joey has done a great job training Max, but there are some issues we’re working through. This lesson comes out of order from the Ultimate Puppy Series we’re doing, but I want to get important, impactful lessons out there for people who need them. It seems lessons on reactive dogs, aggressive dogs, unsocialized dogs and such are very important and that is what I want to deliver.

In this session we take Max to town for some real world engagement, walking, socializing and structure. You’ll see there are times when I correct and times when I don’t. You’ll see in the video lesson my logic. You must correct whenever you can, but safety of your dog, the other dog as well as people is a. top concern. Also, critical for your dog’s learning are:

1. A good experience
2. Don’t take the lesson too long
3. Don’t put your stress or any stress onto the dog
4. Corrections are fair, firm and unemotional
5. Keep the session short and end on a good note!

That’s about it. There’s a lot of information in this one session. Watch it a few times and take it in. The information in this lesson may not fit you or your dog, but it’s good to know. I’ve worked with countless aggressive, dangerous and reactive dogs, dominant and fearful – The very very few could not be helped. All others were helped with fair, balanced training and structure.

There will be more lessons like this coming. I’ve been happy to help several members and clients that were kind enough to share their learning experience with you and our member section.

Keywords for this lesson: socializing , socialization, corrections, leash walking, dominant dogs, aggression, reactive dogs, leash reactivity, dog aggression