DOG REACTIVITY REHAB
At The Good Hound Company, we’ve helped hundreds of dogs overcome reactivity toward other dogs and people, and learn to feel calm and safe again!
We know how exhausting and isolating it can feel to own a reactive dog... Rocco, Vinny and Blossy all struggled with reactivity either to humans or dogs, or both. We know how walks become stressful, visitors feel overwhelming and how you begin avoiding situations entirely just to prevent another reaction or embarrassment.
But reactivity does not have to be permanent.
With the right training process, reactive dogs can learn how to self-regulate, think clearly and even learn to safely socialise again.
This is not about suppressing behaviour or distracting your dog with a million treats...
It is about true behavioural rehabilitation... changing how your dog feels, thinks and responds to the world around them.
1-ON-1 IN-HOME BEHAVIOURAL
ASSESSMENT & TRAINING
Every reactive dog starts with our Behavioural Assessment and Training session in your home.
This is where we identify:
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Why the reactivity is happening
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What your dog is feeling during reactions
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What patterns are reinforcing the behaviour
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How your leadership can change your dog’s emotional state
Most reactive dogs feel responsible for managing their environment. They believe it is their job to control what happens around them. This creates pressure, hyper-vigilance and overreaction.
During this session, we teach you how to become a calm, clear leader so your dog no longer feels responsible for handling perceived threats.
We also begin teaching your dog how to:
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Switch off and relax
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Self-regulate their arousal levels
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Look to you for guidance
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Remain calm under structured pressure
This creates the emotional stability needed for successful social rehabilitation.
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1-ON-1 IN-HOME
4-6 WEEK FOLLOW UP
Once your dog has developed the foundations of calmness, leadership and self-regulation, it's time to begin applying those skills around real-world distractions.
For many dogs, that may be other dogs. For others, it could be people, cyclists, scooters, cars or a combination of different triggers. Regardless of what your dog reacts to, the rehabilitation process remains the same... teaching them to remain calm, think clearly and make better decisions under perceived threats.
If the reactivity is around other dogs, then during your follow-up session, we'll introduce one of our calm, neutral dogs in a carefully controlled environment. This is usually Blossy, our English Bulldog, who has been rehabilitated and trained to remain relaxed, calm and non-confrontational, creating the ideal learning environment for your dog.
The objective isn't simply to expose your dog to another dog or force an interaction. Instead, we carefully control the level of exposure so your dog can remain calm enough to learn. When a dog stays below their reactive threshold, where theyre not having an adrenaline rush, they can process information, regulate their emotions and begin to recognise that they don't need to react.
As your dog practises self-regulation around our neutral dog, they learn an important lesson: this is not a threat, and no response is required.
This mindset carries over into everyday life, helping them become calmer around people, passing cars, cyclists, scooters and other situations that may have previously triggered a reaction.
Only once your dog can comfortably remain relaxed and neutral we progress towards a calm, natural greeting with our dog. This progression is never rushed and always occurs at your dog's pace.
By replacing repeated reactive experiences with repeated calm ones, your dog begins building new behavioural habits and greater confidence.
This stage provides the bridge between one-on-one rehabilitation and successfully working around multiple dogs, people and everyday distractions in our group classes.
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OBEDIENCE & SOCIALISATION
GROUP CLASSES
Once your dog is confidently and calmly greeting our neutral dog, they graduate into our Obedience and Socialisation Group Classes.
Here, your dog trains alongside 7 other dogs who are on the exact same journey.
This is where all previous work comes together.
Your dog learns to:
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Stay regulated in a social environment
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Work calmly around multiple dogs
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Maintain focus and obedience under distraction
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Build confidence through successful repetition
This stage creates real-world reliability.
It transforms dogs who once reacted out of fear, stress, or uncertainty into dogs who can confidently navigate social situations with calmness and clarity.
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