Many dogs with behavioural issues are also noise reactive in their own homes. If they are reacting to every sound they will not get sufficient rest. Lack of rest can cause hyper-arousal and hyper-arousal means insufficient rest – it’s a vicious circle.

With mindful practices we can help them to both reduce the reactivity and at the same time induce more rest – the two go hand in hand. This is the foundation for healing other issues. Dogs cannot learn anything new if they are not in a mental state that supports learning – this requires a calm focus and a feeling of safety in the environment.

This foundation work takes place in the home environment – in the household and then in the outdoor space. Until this is phase is complete it is pointless attempting to attend to other issues such as separation anxiety, dog or people reactivity etc.

People tend to have a fix it now mentality – they want to get straight to the issue which is causing them the most distress, but unless they are prepared to build a solid foundation in the home environment first, they are going to struggle to make progress.

At the same time we need to be aware of how the human side of the partnership is feeling.  People with noise reactive dogs soon become noise reactive themselves as they brace themselves for the dog’s reaction – another vicious circle.

The first step is to help the person be neither reactive nor judgemental towards the noise or the dog. Next is to understand that the dog’s reactivity is simply an expression of how they feel;  then to create a peaceful environment that enables uncomfortable emotions to be transformed into feelings of peace and safety. Time invested at this stage will pay dividends later because you always have something you can return to when things go off track.

Now you have a solid foundation from which you can begin to support your dog with other challenges.

Many people find the training experience stressful – whether it is correction based or reward based because either they and/or their animal are not in the right headspace for learning. Once you can create a feeling of peace and safety, learning can begin.