I finally created a system where I can walk both dogs at once and not have to worry about them getting into a fight. I really enjoyed this walk and so did my dogs.

This is a PVC pipe that keeps them out of biting range.

i’m beyond happy, my dog has bitten other dogs in the past, and we’re trying to introduce him to calm dogs right now, he went from having 3 dog friends to having 6! 🥹

he’s only reactive to stranger dogs, he loves his friends, he loves people, but he doesn’t know how to properly handle the first seconds of an encounter with dogs, he doesn’t properly introduce himself and can’t interpret other dogs’ body language correctly, so i think socializing with calm dogs he’s never seen before is going to do great things

Yesterday was the first day since we adopted Kimber on Oct. 19 that we were able to go on walks all day without her lunging and barking at another dog!

Kimber came from West Virginia and is still getting used to the city sounds and smells and overstimulation, but with the help of decompression walks in the woods and a LOT of hot dogs she has grown so much. Even when a dog walked up behind us yesterday and I only had 5 feet to get her to the side of the sidewalk and get her to focus on me and the hot dog, she did so well (as did the other owner who kept they dog at a heel on the other side of them to give her space, seriously I could have hugged her)

We also were able to open our blinds all day yesterday with no barking (when we got her she barked at every little twig snap outside)

Everyone say great job, Kimber!!!

if you’ve been considering moving out of the city for your reactive dog, take this as a sign.

the commute sucks i’ll be honest. but i was at my wits end after 2.5 years, $4k+ on behavior consultants and veterinary behaviorists, multiple level 2 bites, so many meds, and still he reacted to any sight OR smell of another human being, hadn’t made a new human friend in almost 2 years, became suspicious of windows and doors and reactive to all unexpected visual stimulus. in a huge empty park, he was still scanning for threats. he couldnt coexist with roommates but i couldnt afford my own place, especially not with a yard. i felt absolutely hopeless, i couldnt see a future for him, i was so depressed and with each terribly anxious walk i resented him more and more.

and then i found a basement studio on 55 acres of land, 45 minutes away, for the same price as all the cheapest smallest studios in the city.

now every day i get to see him happier and more relaxed than all his previous best days combined. he gained weight right away despite hiking all the time because he was finally relaxed enough to digest his meals. he chews and digs and plays and all the other dog things he was too anxious to do before. and he’s making friends again!! after 4 sessions with his BC in the city and they still could barely make eye contact without a reaction, but within the first session in our new yard he was doing tricks for her. he finally got to meet my mom a couple months ago, we spent a weekend together and now they’re best friends. my partner finally got to come over and he sat on their lap only the second time they had met! soon i might be able to go out of town for the first time in years!! he is getting less and less reactive to seeing people on the property too. he hasn’t been back in the city much, but once he makes some more friends i wanna start bmod again to see if we could eventually move to a quiet neighborhood that isn’t so far away.

but for now he’s just so happy, and it’s the most absolutely worth it sacrifice i have ever made for anyone. i get to love him again, like actually just love him without feeling trapped and burdened by him. my biggest problem with him now is muddy paws (and face, as you can tell), and i feel so so lucky for that.

Two weeks ago we were walking the same trail and, as expected, there is usually a lot of people with their dogs and she was reacting to every one of them. Went today, was less people and dogs but we still passed a couple of them without reaction so I am super proud of her today. We still have a lot of work to do since she came to us 2 months ago, but baby steps to success. 😊

I'm not here to be judged because that's not what I need. I'm 28 years old and I know very well what I do right and wrong with my dog, but in the end, we're all human, living life day by day, and we can't do everything perfectly.

I have a 3-year-old rescued male dog. He's purebred and reactive towards some unneutered males. We're really working hard with him, and he's a sweetheart with people, women, children, and even other animals.

But we have this problem with males, and I try every day to train him as best I can. On walks, I'm always alert, and even if the dog coming towards me is far away, I'll step in front of him as soon as he gets close, even if mine doesn't react.

I'm fearful and quite cautious, even though my dog ​​doesn't bite. The thing is, today, as I was leaving my friend's building, a woman was walking by with her Yorkshire Terrier, and both my dog ​​and the other dog got scared and started barking. I reacted very quickly and immediately went back inside to let the woman pass. The woman, very angry, picked up her dog and walked past. I let her walk a few meters so I could follow her, since that's the way I had to go; there was no other way to my house. I was in a hurry, but even so, I waited a long time. The woman started yelling at me and telling me my dog ​​should be wearing a muzzle. My dog ​​was right behind her; he wasn't even looking at them, just sniffing around. Meanwhile, her dog wouldn't stop barking.

I let her walk several more meters, and she said to me, "You're following me, leave me alone." I immediately told her no, that my house was right on that street. Then she threw her flip-flop and a water bottle she had in her bag at me. It hit me on the forehead near my eye. He didn't seem to be quite right in the head, but it hurt, so the rage I felt inside made me cry. I got home devastated. The most surreal thing was that he said, "I'm going to call the police," when I had every reason to. The thing is, I got home trembling with rage and crying, and that hadn't happened to me in a long time.

Sometimes I think everything I do is wrong and that I'm not doing things right with my dog. But he can't always be perfect either. At that moment, I wanted to throw the plastic bottle back at him, but I didn't want to stoop to his level.

Thanks for reading 🫶

I took my dog reactive 4 yo pit bull to the vet today. I adopted the girl from a shelter where she had been returned several times. There was a new vet that saw her and read through her notes that described her as combative, growling aggressive and needed to be muzzled. He took the time to play with her and give her treats.

My girl really showed off and listened plus explored the room. She stood up to do things and opened things with her paws and nose including the door. I didn’t have to muzzle her. She exposed her belly to the vet while he was looking in her ears.

The vet after watching her said that I had done a master class job of rehabilitating a dog of unknown life experience over the past 1 1/2 years. He said she was a sweet intelligent dog but sometimes you can’t train out genetics.

I apologize for bragging but he gave me something to hold onto in difficult times. I absolutely lost it and wept. He took the time to document everything in the notes about what she accomplished while in the office. I felt such an overwhelming sense of relief that I had not failed my dog. Well onto another walk with my still over reactive dog but with a new found sense of confidence that I didn’t have before. I am so proud of her! I really hope this encourages someone.

I wanted to share B's (our 5-year-old male German shepherd/border Collie mix) story to spread some optimism.

Context:

I adopted B during the pandemic. He was a 'return' - a family had adopted him as a puppy and returned him because he was "too much". I adopted him at about 5-months old and he definitely was more than a handful, but he quickly became my best friend. He has always been very protective of me and I tried doing classes and training to prevent him from becoming aggressive. He didn't start showing major signs of reactivity until 2-years old and it progressed from there. He nipped a strangers hand who tried to approach me, lunged and barked at strangers walking toward us on walks, and even jumped on a delivery person at our front door - so that kind of stuff.

He was especially reactive toward children. He has never bit or jumped on a kid, but would bark at them passing by, and we had to stop going to dog parks because so many people bring young children and he would jump around and bark at them. When my brother had a kid, he lunged at him once when the kid came up to me and since that moment, although nothing happened, we have had him muzzled around kids. Even on walks kids walking by us he will tense up and if they start coming toward us he will lunge and bark. We have to actively avoid parks and schools and occasionally use the muzzle on walks because we are so paranoid a kid is just going to run up and want to pet him - and they've definitely tried.

Because of this we were so scared to have kids. And when I found out I was pregnant last spring, I started getting really anxious. We ended up consulting with a behaviorist who offered guidance and comfort, but we were worried, and everyone kept making comments about being prepared to rehome him. I had a gut feeling that B would love the baby like he loves me because we are so connected, I call him my soul dog , but people told not to get my hopes up and that I need to be realistic. As a result of all the negativity and horror stories that were shared, I started having nightmares about B hurting my baby, and it led to a lot of prenatal anxiety.

B and the Baby:

Fast forward to today - B loves this baby like his own. We call him nanny B. Although it took a week to adjust, B quickly became attached to the baby. He licks his little feet, hangs out for tummy time and baths, lies by his bassinet and crib when he is sleeping, lies at my feet when he is feeding. He never shows signs of aggression or stress (e.g., no lick lipping or whale eye). We even setup a playpen and B will come lie by the mesh and watch the baby play and rest his head, and he looks so happy and content. He is still his goofy self, lies with his belly in the air around the baby, and even brings him toys. 9 weeks in and B and the baby are thriving.

Of course we can NEVER get comfortable, and will always be on high alert and take extra precautions as you should with any dog - but all the stress we held onto for so long wanting kids has just washed away. We don't feel like we have to think about rehoming our special B and can just enjoy both our babies ❤️

I’m not sure the best way to post an update, but I recently posted about our reactive dog responding positively to our baby. Summary: we have a reactive dog (B - 5 year old German Shepherd/Border Collie) and stressed for years about having children because we could never imagine parting with B. We went through extensive training before deciding to finally have the baby. Many people in our lives warned us to be ready to say goodbye to B… but as soon as we brought baby home, B was so gentle with him. We even call him nanny B.

Several Redditors warned us about when baby starts crawling/moving around and I said I would update. Well…baby is crawling all over and very grabby with our dog, and he is still so calm with him!

We are still very VERY cautious with how they interact and will NEVER leave baby alone with B. Our motto: we should always be able to get to baby before B.

BUT it’s been such a positive experience after years of being told we better be ready to re-home B or put him down after we have children. Instead B seems to actually genuinely enjoy having a baby around. He does everything with baby and still lies next to his bassinet when baby is sleeping or next to the play pen while he plays.

Of course every dog is different, but with a lot of training and patience, there is some hope!

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/reactivedogs/s/L1CgdaIyRW

We just avoided Remy getting a murder charge. We went down into the alley for a potty break and he normally just goes out on a collar and a leash for his late night potty, no muzzle bc we normally don’t need it. Well our neighbor was on the other end of the alley with his dog who started walking towards us and I realized his dog was off leash, cute little happy yorkie. He starts running/trotting over to us. Dad is calling him but the dog is blowing off his recall, took until he was halfway to us for him to start walking up to get to his dog (walking, not running and attempting/failing to recall his dog the whole time.) Mean while, I walked back a couple steps with Remy and grabbed his collar. I did not want to completely walk away and encourage the dog to chase us for our sake, and for the sake of the dog not getting loose into the streets. I grabbed Remy’s collar and stood in front of him and told him “I got you” (our cue for him to know that I’ve got this and I’ll protect him.) I started calling to the dog telling him “go home, go away, go to your daddy, this dog does not want to be your friend.” The dog didn’t go away, but he stopped like 6-8 ft away from us. At that point Remy gave a couple growls and tried to go toward the dog for a couple secs, but settled behind me, not a big reaction by his standards. The little dog tried to go around us, maybe to escape, probably to sniff Remy’s butt, and was only like 4 ft away from us. I told him “no, go home,” and he went back to the place he was standing before. Dad finally walks up and continues to try to verbally command his dog to come back/go home. After like 6 more attempts, the dog left pausing to stop and stare at us multiple times. When the dog first started walking away, I had Remy sit, he was calm enough to respond to me right away and even look at me for a check in so I told him a good boy and that he handled that well. We waited for the dog to go inside completely before continuing our walk and Remy was super chill! Not really phased by the interaction. Anyway, super proud of Remy for handling that so well, I didn’t know he could handle something like that so well like so proud. And super proud of me for staying calm (I think that helped Remy be calm too) bc the last time something like this happened I totally panicked and Remy flipped out understandably.

i adopted aggie back in july, and she wasn’t too bad when she first arrived but she became increasingly reactive until we were unable to pass any dog even at a distance. she would freeze, bark, lunge, etc. she never showed actual signs of aggression, just a lot of fear. i know her reactivity isn’t the worst, but i’ve been told by her behaviourist the methods i’ll list below usually help.

she got so much worse after she got attacked by another dog (the full details are in a previous post i put on this sub). she started showing signs of actual aggression and it would go on for ages. she would bark, lunge, growl, bare her teeth, and even snapped at one or two. walking her was a nightmare because it’s so busy around where i live. i had to start walking her in the early hours of the morning. she couldn’t even smell another dog without growling.

after a lot of training with her behaviourist, she’s now able to pass (most) dogs without even freezing now! she still doesn’t like it if they’re too close to her, but we can walk again! we passed about 8 dogs today and she only barked at one. in her defence, the other dog barked at her first. she’s exhausted after every walk because of the below games we play.

what i did (generally):
1. bowl game - i would drop a treat in a bowl, swirl it around, cover it if she tried to go for it, and said ‘yes’ when she looked away. it can’t be her food bowl, so i have a dedicated aggie bowl now. the behaviourist said this is called disengagement.
2. mouse game - i also did the same with just my hand. i would hold the treat in my hand, wait for her to look away, ‘yes’ and then give her the treat. i do this while walking randomly.
3. practicing ‘yes’ at home - get a relatively high value treat and at home, throw the treat a little bit away. when she eats the treat, i say ‘yes’ and when she comes back to me, i give her another treat. this helps really strengthen the ‘yes’ when we’re out. make sure you’re behind your dog when you do this, the idea is you want them to know ‘yes’ means they turn around.
4. ‘this way’ - stop, say ‘this way’, as soon as she turns around, i say ‘yes’, i give her a treat and keep giving her treats as we trot along.
5. touch - just the regular nose touch. i do this while walking randomly.
6. focus - when we’re out, i say ‘aggie, focus’, stop as soon as she turns around and give treat, give treats every few seconds she keeps staring at me.
7. less exercise - this is specific to old dogs, but i learnt i was overexercising her. she is a lurcher (greyhound, staffy, collie mix) who is 10 next month. i used to take her for two 40 walks a day, and it turns out a bit of her reactivity came from her being sore. i now do two 20-25 minute walks, sometimes 30 if she’s particularly energetic. i focused on quality over quantity.

i played every game at least once a day, for about 2 minutes at a time. i spread it out throughout the day because shes old and gets tired easily.

after she got all of this down perfect -

8. while walking - as soon as she spots a dog even from a distance, i say ‘yes’ and give her a VERY high value treat (i use boiled chicken breast). initially, i would keep giving her the treat until she forgot about the dog or they disappeared while repeatedly saying ‘yes’.

after she learnt that seeing a dog meant chicken, i would say ‘yes’ when she spots a dog, give treat, wait for her to turn back around, say ‘yes’ again, she would turn back around, give treat. i would do that repeatedly.

eventually, she stopped turning back around to look at the dog to just keep staring at me and she keeps walking after one or two treats. as soon as she hears the little ziplock bag even without seeing the treat she’s now fully focused on me.

i also reduced her meals just to make sure she doesn’t get too chubby.

i just wanted to share a success story. like i said, i know she’s not the worst, but her reactivity was starting to really upset me. shes great with people, and we don’t know her past so no idea about her bite history. i would be shocked if she’s ever bitten anyone/another dog though. i’m so proud of her and we’re enjoying our walks again. i’m sorry this post is so long, but i thought these tips could be good as it has worked so well for me.

edit 1: for extra details and typos

edit 2: this post has gotten a decent amount of attention, if anyone needs clarification on the games i listed or even want a video demo, please drop me a message, i am happy to do this with aggie to show what i mean. she’s still not perfect - i didn’t notice a dog bc they came out from behind a parked car and she came face to face, so she barked/lunged like she did before. i believe we can get to a point where a dog near her won’t set her off. i believe in all of your dogs!!! i hope the best for everyone.

edit 3: correcting displacement and disengagement

After months of patience and training, our 11 month old frustration-reactive rescue pup, Bandit, made his first friend. I’m so, so proud of him.

When we first passed by Cleo (GSD), shortly after we adopted him, he would lose his mind. Shrieking, lunging, the whole show. We slowly started walking at a distance from Cleo and her owner. After a few times of walking across the street in parallel, he stopped reacting as frequently. Then, not at all.

We closed the gap more and more each time. We did this a couple of times a week, until one day we noticed his excitement turned into wiggle wags and whimpers. We decided to let them interact off leash, with him muzzled at first, just in case. They hit it off!

Yesterday, they had their second playdate. Today, we went to a park and walked for over an hour. We saw countless dogs of all sizes, and didn’t react to a single one.

I had to pop my dog into the vet because his boy parts are grosser than normal. They took him into the next room to do blood work and other tests while I hung out in the exam room so as not to be in the way.

I couldn’t hear everything, but I was able to pick up a few of the louder voices and they were talking about my dog. They were saying how he had made such amazing progress over the last few years, how he was the sweetest once he got past his initial announcements (he barks when he goes in and I gave up trying to break the habit), how he is so easy to work with even when he’s uncomfortable, and that they just love him.

Between this latest issue and having a rough week with readjusting to the warmer weather bringing more dogs, it was such a lovely thing to overhear. While they say similar things to me as well, there’s something extra special hearing it when it’s not being said for my benefit, if that makes sense.

So I am guessing that we are all here because we are dealing with difficult behaviour, reactivity etc at various levels.

Because we are here I assume we all want the best for our dogs. It can be really difficult to focus on the positives when you are being challenged every day so I wanted to give everyone the chance to share and celebrate something they love about their reactive pal.

I’ll go first - Basil is the most emotionally intelligent dog I have ever come across. He is cuddly, loving and gentle. He loves his family, his littermate sister and dog friends fiercely. He gives great cuddles. He sings when he wants something and he is slowly but surely learning and improving. He is best pals with my sister’s corgi and their relationship is so sweet and gentle. He is my soul dog ♥️

If you wish to, I’d love to hear all the things you love about your reactive pal.

Just wanted to share a little milestone: my dog just turned two, and what a journey it’s been.

She’s my first dog ever, and she turned out to be very reactive as early as nine weeks old. We’ve been through a lot together, but two years later we’re in such a good place. She’s happy, I’m happy, and we genuinely enjoy our walks now.

So much has changed for the better. And for anyone who’s currently in the thick of it, where reactivity feels like it’s at an all-time high: this didn’t improve in a few weeks for us. It took two full years of training and patience, and I also was privileged to be able to afford a good trainer😊

I adopted this poor mistreated guy at 18 months now 2 years old from a rescue organization. He is an absolute sweetheart at home but I was totally blindsided by his severe reactivity to all new dogs and some new people. I've had dozens of dogs in my care over the last 40 years but I'd never come across a truly reactivity dog before. I've tried multiple trainers, vets and drugs and all sorts of advice and now I've come to the conclusion that sometimes it's just who they are now and through no fault of their own. So I've invested in the Big Snoof muzzle with the advertising, I'm through apologizing and we're just going to manage it for the next 15years or so!

A couple of months ago, I asked this sub for some advice on our first meeting with a Rover sitter. Everyone on here said it probably wouldn't go well. They were all absolutely right lol. The lady had said she was experienced with reactive dogs, but did basically everything wrong during our meet and greet. It went horribly, and my wife and I were freaking out because we had a trip we had to take.

Eventually we gave in and said let's try a boarding center. Our girl had never been and we were so anxious. We did a one night trial run and everything went well. Ok cool. So we set her up to stay for the five days we'd be gone. She had her own little room and individual play times.

She CRUSHED it.

We went to pick her up and as soon as we said her name, every staff member there started gushing about how sweet she is. She's not always great with men, but one guy said she curled up fell asleep on his lap during their individual hang out time. We were gobsmacked and literally cried on the way home.

She's always been pretty good at the vet and we figured it was because they are pros. Turns out that was the case with these folks, too.

Just wanted to share because this is basically life changing for us. We can actually take a honeymoon without having to drive cross country with her and get an expensive Airbnb we got soley to accommodate her.

Moral of the story: Trust all the work you've done and give them a chance sometimes! I've been so protective for these five years, and she paid it back in full when we needed it most. I could not be prouder.

Here's my Armenian Gampr NOT exploding at the fenceline!!

We were attacked by a loose pitbull in our neighborhood six weeks ago. My guy handily beat back the attacking dog but every bit of his 14,000 year old guardian DNA was activated. We have been using industrial parks after hours and Sniffspots since then to reset his cortisol while waiting for his custom BigSnoof muzzle to arrive.

We booked his favorite Sniffspot yesterday which has a hillside and boulders and trees and dirt to dig in. We've never even heard other dogs there. And the Sniffspot listing says there are no dogs visible from the property .But yesterday was different, July 4, and the neighbors were having a pool party. And their guests brought dogs.

My guy was up at the top of the hillside when he saw dogs in the yard next door. He came flying down so fast I thought he was going to hit the fence. And of course the neighbor dogs charged.

Then .... nothing happened.

Everyone politely sniffed each other and then my magnificent boy turned his back and trotted away!!!

I CRIED.

And I realize that no one has to keep or work with a reactive dog but you kind folks do & are.

My lil chis will NOT be running over to bark at your dog either.

You’re doing a good thing by putting in extra time work effort and emotions to keep & honor your commitment to your pet & I respect that in you.

this is my boy jasper - he is a 2 year old border collie. he has a history of really bad abuse when he was a puppy, which we didn't know at first. last year he started showing reactive behaviour and even has had a fight with our dogs. it terrified us and since we have been doing loads of training with him (especially crate training which was a game changer! he absolutely loves his crate). he is particularly reactive to my older male cockapoo, and they used to get quite snarly with each other. my cockapoo will growl as a boundary and jasper would stalk and snarl. it was horrible. now, when my cockapoo growls, jasper gives him his space and goes into his crate or under the table and chills out!!! instead of reacting!!! i'm so proud of him and we still have a long way to go as we are also crate and rotating him with my other dog. it's a bit of a mess but they are so so so much happier and healthier than before. it's been so hard as i worry all the time that i failed my dogs. but i have to remind myself of how far he's come. well done my jasper !!!

I wanted to share this in case it can help other dogs and their owners.

I walk dogs as a side gig, and unfortunately, many of the dogs I work with are reactive. About three months ago, I had to stop walking one of my regulars because they were having recurring episodes of vomiting and diarrhea. I finally encouraged the owner to make an appointment with a board certified veterinary internist.

The internist started the dog on a prescription hydrolyzed diet and prescription probiotics.

I walked this dog today for the first time since the change, and I honestly couldn’t believe the difference. They were a completely different dog. Zero and I mean ZERO, anxiety or reactivity.

Before this, the dog was extremely reactive and difficult to manage. I would honestly dread walking them because they were so anxious and reactive.

The owner is friends with several of the other dogs I walk, and some of them are reactive as well. She encouraged their owners to see the same internist, and they decided to give it a try. They’ve now started slowly transitioning their dogs onto the prescription hydrolyzed diet and probiotics.

The results so far have been really surprising.

Four of the dogs are already noticeably less anxious and have had very few reactive episodes, even though they have only just started receiving probiotics and small amounts of the hydrolyzed food. With the other five dogs, the reactivity hasn’t disappeared, however it is noticeably less intense.

I am honestly flabbergasted by the difference I’m seeing.

This experience has made me wonder whether, in at least some reactive dogs, underlying gastrointestinal issues or other health problems causing pain could be contributing to anxiety and reactivity.

I’m certainly not saying that every reactive dog has an underlying medical condition, however after seeing these changes firsthand, I think it’s something worth discussing with a veterinarian, especially when a dog also has digestive symptoms.

Recently, I’ve also started giving only hydrolyzed treats to all the dogs I walk.

I’m sharing this simply because I had never considered the possibility that digestive health could have such a noticeable connection with behavior, and I thought other dog owners might find the experience worth discussing with their veterinarian.

Dear reactive dogowner

No matter the reason why your dog is reactive. Reactive dog owners are likely the most loving and persistent dog owners out there. Those 4 am walks so your dog can go out with the least triggers and the least amount of stress. The amount of training and money put into helping hour dog. Not to mention all the nasty comments people without reactive dogs give to you. You are there for your dog when most would rehome and BE. It’s tough and it’s a lonely path and yet you are still here doing your very best.

Remember that you are learning. You can’t do everything perfect every single time. But your consistency WILL make a difference. Give it time.

Your dog is lucky to have you!

Thank you for your empathy, your kindness and your patience with your dog.

You are A GREAT DOG PARENT.

Edit: Thank you for the award!

Edit 2: This got way more attention than I thought it would! I am so happy I could give a little to those of you who needed this. Love to you brave dog owners!

After 6 weeks of a reactivity training class Primrose graduated! She has gotten so much better at managing her reactivity with other dogs. Capturing calm during triggers is a huge win for her. After she turned one she would react to every single dog we would see on walks, in the car etc. She now checks in with me when she sees a dog, knowing she will be rewarded for being a calm sweet puppy. I am so proud of her and couldn’t be happier with the results from this training course!

My first dog grew up at parks and at a daycare. She did great with other dogs, but once she hit 8 months, she suddenly had to stop going to both.
She completely lost interest in other dogs, and on leash growls and lunges like a maniac any time she sees another one. I love raising dogs and was volunteering for an adoption event, and fell in love with this little guy. I wanted to get a second because I work from home, I'm financially able, and would've been able to separate them if needed. My expectation was: maybe they would get along after a few weeks, likely they would only just tolerate each other, and chance that they needed to be separate their entire lives. I kept them separate on day one, but decided I would try to see how it would go on day two. They've been basically inseperable. They play for hours on end, cuddle with each other, and ! haven't seen any aggression from my older one.
Shes even sharing toys and all of her space, which I find baffling. Now I'm sort of wondering if this all could have just been leash related? Shes gone at other puppies before so I dont think its just the age. Also worth noting my first is extremely friendly and outgoing with adults.
Mainly posting this because:

1. I want other leash reactive dog owners to see this story
2. I wonder how I should move forward with her and other dogs

My reactive GSD isn't reactive anymore! All the hard work and training has paid off and now I have a beautiful well trained 2.5 year old GSD. But my god it was hard work. There is hope guys. Just got to be consistent! And keep up that good work ❤️