As a novice dog owner, there was a lot I didn’t know about bringing a dog home. I knew adopting a rescue dog and a senior one, at that wouldn’t be easy, but in no way, shape or form were we ready for the intensity of dog reactivity.

Initially, I wasn’t sure if I should write about this, as I didn’t want to put a negative connotation on adopting a senior rescue dog. We are entirely in love with Tegan and are committed to helping her. But having spoken to other reactive dog owners, I felt it only fair to cover the good, and the bad sides of dog adoption and why adopting a reactive dog isn’t as bad as you might think it is. Hard work, yes but not all bad.

When going through our application for Tegan, it was suggested that while she didn’t like other dogs, she tolerated them and didn’t show aggression. Since her time with us, we have found this to be completely the opposite; as such, we were caught on the back foot when approaching it correctly.

I have to state that Dogs Trust has been and is continuing to be a great source of help, as are dog trainers and behaviourists on Instagram too. Tegan has her own dedicated dog account where I can share doggy life and follow other dog accounts without diluting my main account. You can find her @onefrazzledbeagle (obviously). I find it easier this way.

But on the topic of dog reactivity, it is typically thought of as the dog being particularly bad or the owners being lazy. And at first, that was my presumption too. However, as we move through our reactivity journey, we have found it far from the case and much more complex than simply a badly behaved dog.

Many factors can spark dog reactivity, from a terrible experience with other dogs to poor handling and training, the wrong type of dog socialisation and more.

This post isn’t meant to provide advice, and nor do I profess to be an expert on the subject of dog reactivity; however, as a dog owner living through this each day, I do have an insight into the day to day life of a reactive dog and discovering what the root cause of her issues are. If you are concerned about dog reactivity, please consult a trained behaviourist or dog trainer to help you address this. I am currently signed up for Southend Dog Training for tips on training and dealing with reactivity in and outside the house.

Tegan’s Dog Reactivity Behaviours

As I mentioned, we were utterly oblivious to dog reactivity and dog anxiety on the whole. As a rescue dog, it is only natural for Tegan to require some time to settle in. She was showing signs of stress from day one, and despite the information provided to us, some of them were too subtle for us to pick up on. 

As a previous breeding dog, there was little information about her background. Did she live as a pet, or was she boarded in kennels only brought out to breed and not allowed to live with her owners?

We will never know at this point. All we can do is address her current behaviours and state of mind.

Tegans behaviours and tells so to speak were and are still inclusive of the following;

• Poor/lack of appetite
• Upset stomach issues
• Separation anxiety
• Restlessness/poor sleep
• Visible limb shaking
• Body shakes
• Head shakes
• Food aggression and resource guarding

Over time, despite our best efforts, this progressed to a point where Tegan shut down and became completely unresponsive. Her whole body was violently trembling, and a vacant look in her eyes.

With repeated vet visits and interventions from Dogs trust, we were finally assigned a behaviourist consultation to work through her issues.

At this point, Tegan was going on 3 walks per day, and her appetite was up and down. She would follow me all over the house and show aggression to us if we came too close to treats she was in possession of. She would attack the brush and vacuum and generally exhibit poor behaviour.

We later learnt this was due to a build-up of cortisol from “fear stacking, ” which overwhelmed her. Once we knew this, we were able to work on reducing her stressors and trying to implement a better routine to help keep her calm. Reducing her initial levels of cortisol was vital, and then working to keep them reduced would be an ongoing effort on everyone’s part.

Tegans’ Reactivity Stressors

It seems that her stressors are completely environmental and potentially due to the massive upheaval she has experienced after being with her previous owner for 10 years.

As beagles typically have high food drives and an impressive ability to keep on eating, the fact that Tegan won’t eat or drink outside the house is a massive sign she is under stress. Her vocal and physical reaction to other dogs, even from a far distance, indicated a negative emotion to all dogs, although it seemed worse with smaller, white dogs for some reason. Buses driving past, motorbikes, loud noises such as car horns, quick movements she was expecting, being surprised. The list goes on and on.

Learning more About Dog Reactivity

The more we learn about reactivity and dogs, their triggers and how it affects behaviours and mental health, the more I am confident (and confidence when dealing with these issues is a must) able to help Tegan work through her problems.

The lovely behaviourist from Dogs trust suggested stopping or limiting her walks until we get her anxiety under control and work on getting her to take treats or food outside of the house. To start immediately from that session. As we had just come back early from a walk involving a stupid (yes, I mean stupid) dog owner who let a puppy GSD off the lead with no basic commands, obedience or recall, it was a relief to not have to take her out.

She also devised an intensive training plan to help move things forward. Now we have to remember Tegan is 12, and any progress would be slow due to this, her learnt behaviour and her anxiety levels. But not altogether impossible. Which was comforting.

We are currently playing more enrichment games with Tegan in the house. One of her favourites is the muffin tray game where you cover food in a muffin tray with tennis balls, and she has to remove the tennis balls to find the food.

Next up is reconditioning her to the environment. It is slow progress, but it is progress, and all progress is good. This is where we are.

• Finding treats Tegan will take

Complicated due to her highly fussy tastes and the fact that she is inconsistent with the food she likes from one day to the next.

• Getting Tegan to take treats from me

She associates taking food off me with having medication put into it, so building up a trust to get her to take treats from me consistently was required.

• Using treats randomly around the house

This works on and off, and sometimes she isn’t in the mood. Typically I start in the kitchen and either move to the front door or open the back door so that she can hear outside but still be safe in the house.

• Treats at an open door.

We live on a main road, so the issue was to get her taking treats at home inside our railing but still exposed to the environment.

• Taking treats on short walks

Building up to her threshold, when she stops taking treats, we move closer to her safe zone and keep reinforcing the behaviour. If she stops altogether, we go inside.

• Treats in the car

Next up is taking treats in the car to keep her calm (she is excellent when driving but still refuses food and water in the car).

• Treats around other dogs

All of the above with calm dogs at a distance before reaching this.

• Treats all the time anywhere

Exactly as it sounds.

Tegans Progress So Far

Dog reactivity and treating reactive behaviour is a science, but it isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. There are countless reasons a dog would behave like this; for Tegan, it is fear. I can comment on how I think she was never exposed to the outside world, but I have no way of knowing if it was true. So reducing her fear levels is vital.

But that being said, she is making massive progress. She is sleeping better. We have discovered healthier dog treats she enjoys to mix in with chicken and ham. We have finally (after 5 months of trying) found a dog food brand she is willing to eat voluntarily and not have us “encourage” her. 

She is doing really well taking treats in the garden and at the front of the house as well as outside the railing and along our row of houses; this is where it stops.

The trick is not to go too far too soon and risk undoing all of the excellent work. To reinforce her activity levels, we do some basic command training, but beagles are notorious for selective hearing, and as such, she sometimes pretends she doesn’t know what we said.

At this time, she barely goes on any walks to reduce the risk of stressors, and we take her to a private field weekly. Dogs Go is a bark park that allows you to book private sessions for dogs, or you can join in their doggy meet-up social and daycare. I’d love for her to participate in a beagle social, but she is far from that.

All in all, she is making excellent progress. I hope to update on another post exactly how we are treating her reactivity in a more detailed post, along with different tips and tricks that work (this post is already super long). But for now, I wanted to give an honest update on our dog adoption journey 5 months in.