Dog-Dog Aggression

R for Relief

Living with a dog that barks, growls, and lunges at other dogs while on leash, has trouble sharing with fellow canines, is unable to hang out with his own kind without conflict is not only stressful for their humans, but is also very stressful for the dog — not to mention it effects their quality of life.

We can help you address this and bring your dog’s behavior to a manageable level giving you the peace of mind you deserve! It really is possible!

Choose the growly dog program that best suits your needs…

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Choose the Leash Reactive Dog program that fits your need:

Leash Reactive Dog Day School

Imagine walks without having to jump behind parked cars to avoid an outburst. Being able to walk past another fellow canine in your neighborhood without fireworks. Ah! the peace of mind?

This program gives you the tools and techniques for peaceful walks in your neighborhood. It’s a great foundation to build the future training on. The program covers:

  • Understanding what your dog is communicating
  • Management Protocols to prevent the rehearsal of  current  behaviors you are seeking to change
  • Leash handling skills for the owner
  • Loose Leash Walking
  • Improved focus on the handler during walks
  • Emergency Exit to move away from a stressful situation
  • Self Control in situations involving neighborhood walks
  • Relaxation Protocol – teaching your dog to do nothing
  • Teaching an alternate behavior to barking and lunging
  • Balancing Physical Exercise and Mental Enrichment

Tuition:
Initial Consultation & Goal Setting (1.5 hours): $420
Program Investment: $6600
3-month intense training includes school days, weekly troubleshooting sessions, and private lessons.

  • Day School Days: 6 weeks @4 days per week
  • Board & Train Days: 4 weeks @4 days per week
  • One 60-minute in-person private training session per training week starting week 2 of the program
  • Free Enrollment in a Group Class that fits your goals
  • 3 months of ongoing support after the completion of the training program (call or email anytime you have a question!)
  • Life time access to a Leash Reactive Dog Support group to practice with other dog owners

Note:

  • This is “not” a Basic Manners program and only covers behaviors relevant to Leash Reactivity.
  • This program does not cover “Public Manners”. Dogs need to be okay hanging out with other dogs in a home setting.
  • The trainer will recommend a private coaching package depending on the skill set of the owner and difficulty of the dog. Some behavior problems will take more sessions to transfer over to the owners.

Leash Reactive Dog Foundations Group Training Class

Our class focuses on changing how your reactive dog feels about his triggers.

Walking the dog is supposed to be fun. Relaxing, even. But it’s hard to relax and enjoy yourself when your best friend is growling and lunging at every dog he sees. Our certified dog trainer will guide you and your group through fun, carefully orchestrated exercises designed to change how your dog feels about seeing other dogs while on leash—and how he behaves when he does, too.

Tuition:
$510 for NINE 60-minute sessions to be completed in 5 weeks.
FIVE 60-minute group class sessions and FOUR 60-minute Zoom sessions.

When & Where:

Mountain View – Now enrolling for June 24th 2023

Pet Sitting to the Max (map)

Class Sessions Saturday 2.00 to 3.00 PM
Weekly Zoom Q&A and Trouble Shooting Sessions: Thursday 6.30 PM to 7.30 PM

The FIRST TWO in person classes are “People Only”.

Leash Reactive Dog Public Manners Finishing Class

For Reactive Dog Foundations Class or Day School graduates — We take Leash Reactive Dog graduates about town.

Leash Reactive Dog Public Manners Class

This class is designed to boost your confidence and help your dog handle all manner of situations. Weekly trips to various neighborhoods, parks, and other appropriate settings let you and your dog practice your new skills in real-life situations. You’ll walk with a small group of fellow Leash Reactive Dog grads, guided by your training instructor. You will also be a part of our free Meet Up and Facebook group connecting you with other owners for additional help & support, if needed.

Tuition:
$500 monthly membership of FOUR 50-minute sessions. Can be renewed monthly.

When & Where:

This class is currently waitlisted. Please send an email if you’d like to join in August 2023.

Private Coaching for Leash Reactive Dogs

Our class focuses on changing how your reactive dog feels about his triggers.

  • With our trainer as your personal coach, learn the technicalities of teaching to change your dog’s association toward other dogs on the walks
  • Our trainer will share exercises with you during each session and leave you with practice work
  • Remember! The progress depends on how much you are able to accomplish outside of the 60-minute training session with the trainer

Tuition:
Initial Consultation & Goal Setting (1.5 hours): $420
5 sessions @250 each: $1250
10 sessions @240 each:$2400

Leash Reactive Dog Day Training

We work on calmness, confidence building, teach alternate behaviors to your dog and transfer the learning to you.

This class is designed to boost your confidence and help your dog handle all manner of situations. Weekly trips to various neighborhoods, parks, and other appropriate settings let you and your dog practice your new skills in real-life situations. You’ll walk with a small group of fellow Leash Reactive Dog grads, guided by your training instructor as part of your dog’s behavior modification program. You will also be a part of our free Meet Up and Facebook group connecting you with other owners for additional help & support, if needed.

Initial Consultation & Goal Setting (1.5 hours): $420
Foundation Leash Reactive Dog Day Training Program: $4200
3 training sessions and 1 transfer session per week for FOUR weeks
Public Manners Program: $5100
3 training sessions and 1 transfer session per week for SIX weeks

Why does he do that??

Our clients and students often ask us why their dogs behave the way they do.

When it comes to aggression, fear is usually the culprit.

What? He hardly looks scared, you say.

We know. He looks kind of scary doing all that barking and growling and lunging toward the other dog. But many dogs learn that when you bark and growl and lunge things move away from you. It’s really a pretty smart technique, when you think about it. Not a very socially acceptable one, though!

Okay, you say, but why is he so scared in the first place?

A lot of factors. Genetics, Lack of appropriate early socialization or even too much exposure overwhelming the puppy, Some learned etc.,

In the case of leash reactive dogs, in most cases it could be that the dog is upset, uncomfortable or frustrated being constrained by a leash as his ability to move away is restricted.

It could be lack of experience. Dogs who don’t grow up around other dogs during puppyhood often suffer from what we call lack of appropriate socialization. Think of it this way: If you kept a child away from other children until she was 7 years old there’s a good chance she’d have a hard time being socially polite. The barking, growling, snapping, lunging or just symptoms. To solve leash reactivity, we need to change your dog’s emotions.

So what can I do?

Our growly dog training includes two approaches: We teach your dog there’s nothing to be afraid of, and we show him new, more effective ways to behave when he sees or interacts with another dog. We also work on your body language to ensure that there is no conflicting communication between you and your dog.

This one-two combination is designed to get your dog feeling more comfortable around other dogs, and you feeling less stressed as a result.

Board & Train and Day School FAQs

Day School can be highly effective for teaching new behaviors and solving many problem behaviors, and is an excellent jumpstart for teaching alternate behaviors. At School the dog is typically exposed to the stimulus the dog is reactive towards, ideally at a low level of intensity (under the threshold). This helps you get the results in a fraction of the time.

Because the trainer is experienced, success rates should be higher than what the regular dog owner may attain.

You wouldn’t hire a lawyer to learn to argue your case and neither would you hire a mechanic to learn to fix your car’s engine. Why hire a trainer to learn how to train your puppy? Leave it to a certified professional to assist you in achieving your doggie-goals, while you focus on other critical things in your life.

At D For Dog, we understand and respect the human-animal bond and only use humane methods of behavior modification. We do not use methods that do not build mutual trust and respect or build a strong relationship.

The Day School program for Leash Reactive dogs builds a reliable foundation for your dog’s training by the way of teaching management protocols to you and alternate behaviors to your dog. It saves you time and effort during the initial learning, while making ongoing training much easier for you.

You will still have to do the homework and invest time working with your dog to ensure the learning transfers easily.

The trainer will share the the dog’s newly learned behaviors and daily homework practice. Investing 15-20 minutes a day in doing the homework gets you more reliable results.

Ah! We’re so glad you asked this question.

We can guarantee to give you the tools and the training needed to maintain your dog’s new learning when he/she comes back home. That way you can continue the learning knowing they have had that awesome start! Think of training your new behaviors as “learning to swim” or “learning to drive a car”. Training is a process and it involves doing the work alongside the trainer to maintain and build on your dog’s newly learned behaviors. Our training programs will install the skills in your dog but we need to partner with you to continue the practice on a daily basis and generalize in different locations and situations.

Guarantees by other trainers are just marketing strategies and often times involve using shock collars and other aversive training methods which work quickly but are not reliable. Please do your research thoroughly before choosing the trainer for your puppy.

Day School is not a quick, magical fix. Anyone promising guaranteed behavior in a few weeks’ time is most likely using less-than-humane methods. While no training program can guarantee that a your dog will be well-trained for life it makes the process a lot easier and often more fun. — it sure gives you a foundation you can build on. Training is a process. It’s important to do the work with your dog’s trainer and continue to build the behaviors your dog learns.

By simply seeing progress from one week to the next.

Is it realistic to expect a perfectly trained dog delivered to your door? NO! Is it realistic to see progress if you do your homework and work closely with the trainer? Depends on the severity of the situation. The trainer will discuss this during the initial assessment. It is ultimately up to you to continue implementing the training to maintain all the work done.

In order for the training to work for you and to make the Day School program successful, you must commit to follow through with the homework. This means, after being briefed on the dog’s newly learned skills and how to implement them, you will need to work with the dog to maintain those behaviors consistently and help the dog generalize to another environment.

It is important that you are involved in the training process otherwise there’s a possibility that the dog with just perform his newly learned skills for the trainer. Because of the fact that dogs learn at different rates and the fact that part of success depends also on the owner’s commitment, no dog guarantees can be made on the outcome of the program.

Your Content Goes Here

Our clients and students often ask us why their dogs behave the way they do. When it comes to aggression, fear is usually the culprit.

We know. He looks kind of scary, barking, growling, and lunging toward the other dog. But many dogs learn that when you bark and growl and lunge things move away from you. It’s really a pretty smart technique, when you think about it. Not a very socially acceptable one, though!

A lot of factors. Genetics, Lack of appropriate early socialization or even too much exposure overwhelming the puppy, Some learned etc.,

In the case of leash reactive adult dogs, in most cases it could be that the dog is upset, uncomfortable or frustrated being constrained by a leash as his ability to move away is restricted.

It could be lack of experience. Dogs who don’t grow up around other dogs during puppyhood often suffer from what we call lack of appropriate socialization. Think of it this way: If you kept a child away from other children until she was 7 years old there’s a good chance she’d have a hard time being socially polite. The barking, growling, snapping, lunging or just symptoms. To solve leash reactivity, we need to change your dog’s emotions.

Our growly dog training includes two approaches: We teach your dog nothing to be afraid of and show him new, more effective ways to behave when he sees or interacts with another dog. We also work on your body language to ensure that there is no conflicting communication between you and your dog.

This one-two combination is designed to make your dog feel more comfortable around other dogs, and you feel less stressed.

What Our Clients Say

“Our rescue dog Harley feared strangers and reacted to other dogs. We completed Basic Manners and Public Manners, and Harley has learned several important skills. We are in the leash reactive dogs class now. D for Dog is a great investment for anyone who wants to correct their dog’s problem behaviors, and Kaajal is wonderful to work with.”
DogNyasha O, Mom of Harley, a Boxer mix (Group Class Client)
“I needed help with my fear-reactive (barking/lunging) mini Aussie who is afraid of both strangers and strange dogs. Kaajal has not only helped me improve his confidence and reactivity, but she has also really been there for me emotionally. My pup is still a work in progress, but I’ve seen so much change in him in such a short time.”
r_behavAndrea Nysen, Mom of Max, a mini Australian Shepherd (Day School Client)