14/11/2025
Stop with the chopping and changing.
Stick with your plan✅
But, it may need tweaked,
Make sense? Not really, but let me explain a wee bit more.
You have a plan, thought about it, have a distance in mind away from the trigger to start with and you're aware of thresholds and keeping them under.
You've also worked out an appropriate place to do this work.
Your training pouch is full of high value rewards.
Perfect start!
You've been doing this for three or four weeks or longer and not much has changed.
They still react if their distance isn't respected.
That is completely normal. Completely.
It does not mean your plan it isn't working.
Progress with reactive dogs can be slow.
Sometimes painfully "snail pace" slow.
Why? Because emotional safety takes time to change.
Can some dogs change quickly? Absolutely!
Some dogs are incredibly resilient and a small amount can amaze us with their progress.
For the majority though it takes patience time and consistency.
You do it and stick with it "until".
However, there is always a time for tweaking your well thought out plan.
Though there is a very fine balance of tweaking it and staying consistent.
That's trickiest for most people to critically look at.
If you chop and change your approach or what you have been doing too soon or add in too much, your progress will be stalled or worse, lost completely.
The rules have now changed and your dog knows it.
They were just starting to feel better, small signs may have been there or they were just on the cusp.
Now, that safety and security they were feeling could be gone.
Don't change the plan unless you are sure it needs changed.
Maybe they are over threshold much more than you think they should be?
Are they stressed now in the same area you were working in?
Do they refuse the high value rewards?
Has their body language changed?
Are they more vocal?
More intense?
All valid reasons to reassess, but cautiously.
