Leerburg Dog Training Podcast My 3 Year Old Spayed Malinois is Fear Reactive
Sep 17, 2025
A Malinois owner grapples with fear-reactive behavior lurking in her backyard. The trainers stress the importance of strict environmental control and supervision to curb these reactions. They discuss how allowing reactive behavior reinforces fears, ultimately undermining training efforts. Timely corrections and preventing practice are crucial for making lasting changes. This insightful conversation sheds light on effective strategies to help dogs overcome fear while ensuring both safety and progress.
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Home Practice Reinforces Reaction
- Allowing reactive practice at home teaches the dog that barking or lunging 'works' to make threats go away.
- That self-reinforcement undermines outside training and maintains the problem.
Control The Environment Completely
- Control the dog's environment 100% when treating reactivity problems.
- Only allow unsupervised access with a leash or long line to prevent practice of reactive behavior.
Use Repetition And Effective Corrections
- Expect many short, repeated training sessions to change entrenched reactive behavior.
- Use effective corrections when needed so the dog remembers the lesson and stops repeating the behavior.