Why I Choose to Ask for and Reward Disengagement as the Answer for Leash Reactivity

Leash reactivity can vary in motivation and severity but most of it can be improved via teaching disengagement from the "triggers" that the dog reacts to.

I see A LOT of clients who come to me for “leash reactivity” and a large majority of them have either seen multiple other trainers already and/or have done a lot of research and tried a lot of commonly known techniques on their own. But they still make their way to me, anyway.

“Leash reactivity” is an umbrella term for any dog who lunges, vocalizes, etc on the leash towards a specific stimulus (other dogs, people, things with wheels, etc). The underlying motivations for this behavior could vary and include fear, frustration, predatory behavior, or even a dog truly on the offense.

There are a lot of common ways to go about addressing this behavior and I find some major flaws in each one. All of which, have led me to consistently choose teaching “leave it” (i.e. disengagement) as my go to. I’ll address the most common techniques people try to use and why they tend to not work for most cases, below. Some may not even scratch the surface of alleviating the reactivity and some can actually make the reactivity worse. Get prepared to read because this is going to be a long one, hence parts 1 and 2!

🚫 Using “Watch me” as the stimulus passes by: When something in our environment bothers us, we want to keep an eye on it to feel safe. If we are unable to do so, that can cause more stress and anxiety. So asking the dog to not look at the upsetting stimulus at all, can make the stress of the situation worse. Also, most people give the “watch me” cue well before their dog has even seen the stimulus. This is distraction. And distracting the dog can do a disservice later on as the stimulus gets closer and they get startled or surprised that it’s there. Finally, the “watch me” cue dismisses so many other rewardable behaviors. The very specific criteria is unfair to the dog, in my opinion.

🚫 Distracting the dog with known cues in the presence of the stimulus: Some people will try to keep the dog “busy” with all their known cues while the stimulus passes. This is also not teaching anything useful to the dog, nor does it teach an end goal behavior that the dog can do on their own. We also have the issue of distracting the dog can cause them to startle and be surprised as the stimulus gets closer. Distracting is ok for occasional emergency use, but not for long term behavior modification.

🚫 Putting the dog in a “stay” as the stimulus passes by: Asking the dog to sit still and not move while something that upsets them passes by definitely increases stress and tension in the situation and is also unfair in my opinion. It places the dog in a vulnerable position. It also allows the dog to continue to stare, which typically will escalate to reacting.

🚫 Scattering treats on the ground in the presence of the stimulus: If this is done before the dog has seen the stimulus, then it’s distraction and has the same issues as described above. At some point the dog looks up and bam the stimulus is all of the sudden right there. If this is done after the dog first initially sees the stimulus from far away, the same startle response could occur. If this is used once the stimulus is passing or has passed, and the dog already acknowledged its presence, that’s totally ok in my opinion. This can also be used in emergency situations, but not for long term behavior modification.

🚫 Using one long food lure or continuous feeding to pass the stimulus: While yes this can be helpful in certain “oh crap” moments like tight apartment hallways or having multiple stimuli on both sides of you, long term we also don’t want to rely on it. It could end up being distraction work only. The lure could also just not be motivating enough to follow for the entirety of passing by. And while continuous feeding can be helpful for doing straight up simple counter conditioning, not all dogs will benefit from that as it does not resolve all of the underlying motives.

🚫 Marking and rewarding the dog for looking at the stimulus: This can work well if the dog’s motive is fear, however for dogs that are frustrated or truly offensive, I find that this encourages too much staring and can make the reactivity worse.

🚫 Using a verbal cue or “no” + a leash correction when the dog looks at or reacts to the stimulus: This one really gets me going. The first part is that, ok… what does “no” mean to the dog? I will also see people pair “leave it” with a leash correction. What does “leave it” mean to the dog? What is the dog suppose to do instead? We need to give the dog guidance and direction into what they should be doing. Next, if the correction is given while the dog is looking at the stimulus, you risk building a negative association with it, because when it appears, something bad happens. And as discussed previously, we all naturally want to keep an eye on what is bothering us in the environment, not allowing the dog to acknowledge what’s bothering them is unfair. And when the correction is given AFTER the dog reacts, nothing is being done preemptively or proactively. The handler is just as reactive as the dog is. And by that point, the dog might be too stressed to learn and retain any new information, anyway.

🚫 Any other form of correction or punishment actively paired with looking at or reacting to the stimulus: Again, it’s not fair to not allow the dog to look nor is it appropriate to wait for the dog to make a poor choice or reach that level of arousal and agitation intentionally. And pairing the stimulus with something unpleasant can cause an ugly cycle of the dog needing to look because they associate the thing with something bad, and then the bad thing occurs, and then they look again to protect themself, and it repeats, etc. This is the worst way to address leash reactivity in my opinion. It just straight up creates a negative association with no guidance.

So what is there left to do instead?

What do I focus on teaching that is different from the above techniques?

I choose to teach the dog to acknowledge the stimulus (i.e. glance at it) and then to look away from it by using a “leave it” cue, followed by a reward. In addition, I also focus heavily on rewarding the dog any time they look away from the stimulus voluntarily.

Here’s why.

✅ We are giving the dog clear direction: here, do this. “Leave it” in this case means “look away from whatever has your attention.” I mostly use luring in the beginning stages. Just as you teach sit or down with a food lure, you can also teach “leave it” with a food lure.

✅ We are preventing escalation. The whole “Ladder of Aggression” typically starts with staring as the first rung. The longer the dog stares, the more likely they are to react. We want to turn the dog around and get them off the ladder or at bare minimum to start, keep them at that lower level.

✅ It’s a coping skill. Any dog who is being reactive is having a hard time dealing with whatever underlying motivators are present in the environment. As discussed previously, when something is in our environment that makes us uncomfortable, we do want to keep an eye on it. That helps us feel more safe and in control. Therefore, I want the dog to learn to glance, see that the stimulus is there, then look away, and be rewarded. And then I want them to glance again, see that the stimulus is now over there, and then look away again. We repeat this sequence as many times as needed to pass the stimulus (later on we have the option of building duration if needed but most times it’s not). Acknowledging it’s there and looking to see where it went is totally ok. Staring, is not. Staring is what gets you into trouble.

✅ This skill can be used for more than just what the dog sees. It can also be used for anything the dog fixates on or alerts to that is a sound or scent as well.

✅ “Pavlov is always on your shoulder,” so there’s still counter conditioning happening here if the dog does actually have a negative association with the stimuli. Even though the focus of the exercise is an operant behavior, the positive associations are along for the ride.

✅ And even if the dog doesn’t have a negative association with the stimulus, the choice of doing an operant behavior as a coping skill covers all our bases for all the underlying motives.

✅ A variety of rewards can be paired with the “leave it” cue. High value food is the easiest thing, but we can also use sniffing, space, free time, toys, play, movement, and more as rewards IF the dog is not as interested in food.

✅ Finally, this is a skill that ultimately, the dog can learn to execute on their own. The end goal is to have a dog who notices a potential trigger in the environment, moves on, and minds their own business voluntarily without us having to micro manage forever. The beautiful thing here is that it leaves us the room to reward the dog each and every time they glance at the stimulus and then look away from it. Most “reactive” dogs actually do this already, it’s just not in the owner’s awareness to reward. And the dogs will absolutely catch on and start doing it on their own for the reward, before the owners can even spit out the cue, because they are much faster than us. It’s common for people to miss this part or skip it, thinking that the dog is doing “what they should be doing.” But, that’s not how the dog is thinking. So we absolutely need to reward it. This includes giving at least one reward even if the dog completely ignores the stimulus while passing. If they choose not to acknowledge it at all, on their own, that’s also a win.

Now of course there’s way more to this including leash mechanics, set up, working with the environment, etc. And yes of course every dog is an individual and there will be occasional dogs that just don’t do well with this. But, this component truly is the most effective for the largest majority of dogs in my opinion and experience of thousands and thousands of these cases. By allowing the dog to acknowledge what typically makes them upset and then rewarding disengagement (either via a cue or voluntary behavior) it really covers all the bases and empowers the dog to be able to cope and eventually work through the big feelings.