Alot of us trainers have probably been hit with this line at some point in our career. Either from the keyboard warriors or people who generally dont agree with our advice.
But to cut a long story short alot of us became dog trainers because of our reactive dogs. To help people out there who have a story like us.
Each individual owner and individual dog will have a way of dealing with things. Some prefer management, some prefer training. This doesn't mean we dont know what we are on about, and certainly doesn't mean we aren't good at our job.
Every single dog will have a different technique which works best for them, a way of coping and learning how to deal with whatever triggers they have. Some dogs generally will never be able to be fixed, there is no majority or minority to what will be fixed.
We do not know what every dog has been exposed to, there will be rescues that we will never know what they have experienced in life and we can only ever guess what they have been to.
We all have a reason as to why we have started our journey on wherever we are going.
Football managers can run a club without ever having played the game, but they know how to work a strategy. Knowledge is key, but so is experience. Having owned a reactive dog means you can relate to those people that you are helping.
No one will ever understand what its like owning a reactive dog unless you own one. Its one thing working with reactive dogs all day long, and going home to a confident happy go lucky dog. But to go to home to a reactive dog is a whole different story. You feel for those clients because you know how painful and stressful it can be. Knowing that the dog with those reactions really isn't your dogs whole personality. But those who see your dog out on a walk will never know who your dog truly is.
Some of us may choose to manage our dogs reactivity, some of us may choose to try and fix it. But there is no timeline. Some dogs may take days, months or years to over come it. Doesn't make you any less good at what you do.
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