Beginning in Mid-February, The Winnipeg Humane Society (WHS) will offer a highly specialized class called Reactive Rover to help people train leash reactive dogs.
A leash reactive dog may be completely friendly off-leash, but when leashed they become reactive they may lunge, bark, or display other aggressive behaviour when seeing another dog. This can cause difficulty and inconvenience for the owner as they may need to walk their reactive dog extremely early in the morning, late at night, or may not be able to walk the dog on a leash at all. Having high leash reactivity may cause the normally friendly dog to be perceived as aggressive or dangerous by people they encounter.
Correction and punishment only makes leash reactivity worse, as they increase the reactive dog’s stress. This class will emphasize using new equipment, approaches, and techniques that are not based on punishment to overcome a dog’s leash reactivity.
The WHS is a leader in dog training in the province and has three Certified Professional Dog Trainers (CPDT) on staff. Reactive Rover classes will feature two CPDT trainers during each session to ensure all participants are receiving the best possible instruction.
The Reactive Rover class will be individualized for the needs of each dog and their owner, because of this class size will be limited. Classes are scheduled every Sunday for six weeks from Feb. 14 to March 6. Class time is 10 – 11 a.m. To register, click here.