Staffy & Doodle
When Jason & I met, I already had an American Staffordshire Terrier and he had a Labradoodle.
When I adopted my girl from a rescue, it was after a very traumatic time in my life. I didn’t just rescue her, she ultimately rescued me from grieving a substantial loss. Never in a million, trillion years did I ever think I would be in another relationship, so the obstacles of having a reactive dog never even crossed my mind. Fast forward and Jason and I are living together with my reactive bully and his submissive doodle. Our relationship was seemingly doomed from the beginning, when my dog bit his dog on the nose, but he was a trooper and understood how my dog’s prior trauma created her reactivity. She has attempted to physically attack her at least 3 more times. Now, don’t assume that my girl is mean, because she isn’t, only to other dogs. She loves people, but someone in the crossfires could also get injured, so we take radical steps to prevent that. Our poor doodle just wants to play and be friends! I don’t listen to comments about how I shouldn’t have mine and how I should rehome her or euthanize her, etc… you get the drift. She was a one and only and didn’t ask for another dog to be brought into her home territory. She didn’t ask for the trauma she endured in her past. She’s the sweetest, most loving, and goofy girl, but she absolutely does not get along with, nor want to be around other dogs. Heck, I don’t even think that she believes she IS a dog. We are determined to make our relationship work WITH the 2 dogs, so we have a lot of tools in our toolbox. Both are happy and thriving and that makes for a peaceful home.
Gates are essential!
First and foremost is safety. Safety at home and safety when traveling. We use crates, gates, e-collars, territory discs, safety leashes & harnesses, and everything we can think of, but I’ll focus on gates and crates today. We use gates at home and in the RV. All of our entries are doubled, meaning there is always a double gate barrier between the dogs. Yes, it seems like a lot in the beginning, but to us it’s just a way of life. We love our dogs, both of them. Of course we wish they could get along, but the reality is that they probably never will. So, we have created a routine for them and us. Solo is nine years old and Bella is seven, so we have a long way to go with them
My dog’s reactivity is mostly territorial personal space, so she doesn’t attempt to jump the gates. We rotate them every hour to 2, so that they each get equal attention. They know the routine so well that when they hear the timer, they automatically get up and head to their personal space and then we rotate them. We do this both at home and in the camper.
When we leave the dogs home alone, we rotate them so that they each get a turn being out while we are gone and in addition to the gates, we close the door on the room one of them is in. Our routine might not be ideal for everyone, but it certainly has worked for us. We like the safety gates because they are easy for us to open and swing in both directions. They also have a safety latch at the bottom so that even if the top lock is pressed, the gate won’t swing unless the bottom latch is also unlocked.
We use a mesh screen gate at the French doors which keeps the dogs from being able to see each other when one is outside and the other is inside. It keeps them from being able to jump up and inadvertently hit the door handle so that it doesn’t open. Yep, that has happened and was almost catastrophic.
Crates! And alot of them!
We have crates in the house, crates in the Fifth Wheel and crates outside the RV, when we are camping. That’s the only way we can have both of the dogs in the same space with us at any given time. It’s also how we rotate them inside the camper. Inside the house, we use e-collars & discs to provide boundary reminders when we have them in the same room. We do have to crate one of them when they are in the same room, so we just rotate them the same way.
The e-collars and discs just help us remind them to avoid the one in the crate. Yes, we are aware that they are frowned upon, but coming from someone that has tried 4 different trainers, they are necessities in our lives. Each and every dog reacts differently to certain stimuli. We have found what works for us and for our babies.
They are both happy and trust us with their safety. We also use “playpens” attached to their camping crates when outside. They each have their own space and can both be outside with us at the same time. We have a nice furniture style crate that we use as a sofa table, wire crates that we use inside and outside the RV, and I had even used the heavy duty metal crate in the beginning when first training her. She had severe separation anxiety and chewed completely through a wire crate. Once she settled in and realized I wasn’t leaving her like everyone else did, she was able to move back to a wire crate. She feels safe, like it’s her den. We didn’t like the look of the wire gate in the living room, so we opted for the furniture style in there.
We are absolutely not professionals, but we know what works with our dogs. All of the links below are items we use. We hope that some of our lessons and insights help you or someone you know. Living with reactive dogs is possible.
Hugs for now,
Valerie
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