As we already mentioned, Reactivity is an abnormal or escalated response to normal things in the environment. It is an emotional response the dog displays without even thinking about it. It can be equated to slamming on the breaks in your car because a car pulls out in front of you. You don't even think about this, it is purly a reaction. A reaction that may have saved your life on more than one occassion.

Fear and Reactivity are normal responses that all animals have. They are inate responses that in many situations can keep us alive. If we are not afraid of certain things, we may not live long enough to reproduce and pass on our genes to the next generation. Therefore, a healthy sense of fear is a good thing.

What is really happening behind the scenes?

When we are faced with something scary, alarming or even emotional, our hormone levels begin to change to prepare us for impending doom, otherwise known as Fight or Flight.

This process is the same in our dogs as it is in us. When we are faced with something we deem scary (that is in the eye of the beholder), our body chemistry changes to prepare us to fight or flee from the situation. This process has been perfected over thousands of years in both our ancestors and those of our dogs. Fear response is part of the Sympathetic Nervous System. Meaning it is an involuntary response and NOT something that your dog can control.

Hormones including cortisol and adrenaline take over our bodies readying that process. Our bodies slow our digestion as that is not a necessary task at the present moment. This may be part of the reason your dog has no interest in food when in the face of their trigger.

You loose some fine motor skills. Try to write in your best penmanship when something just made you really angry. This may mainfest in your dog taking treats harder than usual and/or getting your fingers while taking them.

We are also not in the mindset to think through things clearly. If an armed person is chasing you, I am not sure you care what 5 x 6 is. For your dog, this may mean they are not able to process simple "known" cues. You say "sit" and your dog doesn't sit. More accurately they CAN'T sit in that moment. If they even hear your cue, they are not in the state of mind to process it, let alone execute. it.

This is why training alone will NEVER fix fear, reactivity or aggression.

Your dog is afraid and the only way to make them stop reacting this way is to eliminate the root cause of that fear through a carefully scripted process of management, training & behavior modification.