All behaviors serve a purpose. That's one of the guiding truths of positive dog trainers: dogs do what works for them.

As dog parents, many of us spend our time trying to get our dogs to stop certain behaviors that we don't switch perspectives and really understand what's behind our dog’s behavior.

If you could decode your dog's body language before and during a walk, for example, you might find your dog's thoughts, feelings, and behavior translating into something like this:

"Oh boy Oh boy, Mom’s walking toward the exciting things hanging by the door….Could it be? Ohhh it MUST be true, she just picked up my harness and the brown leash thing that ties her to me….It’s WALK TIME!

So many things to discover, so many smells to sniff, AND I have prepared myself for when I see my scary frenemies. Uh-oh….there’s Jerry the in-your-face Pomeranian coming our way. No telling what he might do to us. Sometimes he wags his tail, but I know it’s just a ploy to get me to let my guard down...Not this time, Jerry. I run to the end of my leash and I tell Jerry politely he needs to back off. I show him I mean business by giving him the stink eye. Jerry doesn’t ever listen. He just keeps walking right toward us and I'm forced to act scary-crazy and raise my voice: 'JERRY, YOU FLUFFY MEANY! LEAVE US ALONE OR I’LL STEAL ALL YOUR TREATS AND HAUNT YOUR DREAMS!'

And just like that, Jerry scurries past us like the scaredy fluffer he is. Phew, we made it, Mom. Scary, but we did it. We are safe!"

That kind of inner dialogue and more is likely happening with our dogs in their own individual ways whenever they show us what we humans call reactive behavior. To them, it's just a dog's natural instinct, their way of dealing with whatever is happening around them to make scary things disappear.

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If all dog behaviors serve a purpose, why is your dog being reactive?

Reactivity typically stems from either fear or frustration. Dogs behave in this "reactive" way, as in the example above, to get the other dog or any threat to go away so they can feel safe. Your dog starts barking and your dog lunges at threats because it works. It's the way dogs have learned to cope with the fear and/or frustration they feel.

You can teach your dog a new way to cope

Your dog has learned that barking and lunging at scary things makes them go away. This is called reinforcement learning, and it applies to both good behaviors and bad. The behavior will continue as long as it continues to be a successful strategy in your dog's eyes.

You turn the corner and there pops up a scary thing? Your dog barks and lunges. The scary thing goes away. Bingo! Your dog is learning this reactivity strategy works!

What can you do to help your reactive dog?

Helping your reactive dog requires a proactive approach, meaning you need to address the root cause of your dog's behavior rather than just punishing or trying to stop it in the moment.

The first and most important step is to recognize your dog's behavior comes from a place of fear or frustration, not aggression. Punishment, scolding, or any other form of aversive training will only make the problem worse.

Instead work on building your dog's confidence and teaching new coping mechanisms. This can include positive reinforcement training, desensitization and counterconditioning, and setting up controlled environments for your dog to practice.

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How to give your dog a more rewarding, happier alternative behavior than lunging.

It’s our job as dog moms and dads to teach our dogs a healthier, alternative behavior that provides them with safety and emotional comfort as well as decreased stress in the process.

Let's talk about how to teach your dog ways to replace reactive, even dangerous, behavior with alternative behaviors that will actually be more fun, exciting, and rewarding for your pup.

4 behaviors to help stop your dog from lunging, barking, and reacting

Pro tip: THE crucial first step in reactivity training:

Make sure your dog is at a safe distance and under threshold from whatever typically triggers your dog's reactive behavior. This distance will vary from dog to dog and may even change depending on the situation.

Once you're at a safe distance, you can begin training your dog an alternative behavior that serves the same purpose of making scary things go away while reducing fear and frustration levels. There is no learning behavior that takes place when your dog is over threshold.

1) “Look at that fluffer!”

This first exercise is a great start for helping dogs create more positive associations with something they perceive as threatening. This can also be used for other scary triggers: bikes, joggers, unfamiliar people, passing cars.

Try this for your training session

• What you need: High-value food rewards in a treat pouch, a clicker or verbal marker, happy attitude
• Your dog MUST be under threshold which means far enough away that your dog can see the trigger and watch without reacting or fixating. You may need to travel to a different area to practice this exercise so your dog has plenty of space.
• As soon as your dog sees another dog, immediately “click” or mark with a verbal “Yes!” and then reward. Repeat EVERY time your dog looks back at this dog. When the dog disappears, the fun treats stop.
• Not only are we building a new emotional response of positive association and excitement by pairing the presence of our dog friend with exciting food, we are also creating a new response of disengagement from our trigger. Rather than fixating, barking, lunging, your dog is looking at the other friend and then looking away for the reward.
• Don’t forget to use your emergency U-turn when needed if a dog is getting too close or you need to quickly switch directions. This should be something you practice often so your dog is quick and consistent in response.
• In case of a reaction, walk away. This will happen, as much as we try to avoid it. Simply walk away, try to reset. You may need to end your exercise and try again another time if you’re away from the trigger but your dog still seems overly agitated (taking treats roughly or not taking food at all, difficulty responding to cues, etc.) Sometimes it's better to start fresh another day!

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2) Next-level skill: the disengage & refocus of your dog's attention

Once your dog has had lots of practice with Exercise 1, with a consistent response to the clicker or verbal marker, and is quickly redirecting attention to receive that high-value treat, you're ready to move on to the next step: marking the moment your dog disengages.

Try this for your training session

• Disengagement means your dog's attention shifts from looking at the dog to looking at ANYTHING else. Your pup engages in the other dog by taking notice of the dog, and then disengages.
• The moment your dog switches focus (disengage), “click” and reward. Your dog looks at the other dog, then sniffs the ground means click and treat. Your dog looks at the other dog, looks at you means click and treat. Your dog looks at the other dog, looks at the sky means click and treat. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
• Once you and your dog both feel comfortable, you can attempt to practice this exercise (starting with the “look at that fluffer!”) in a new environment and/or even decreasing a bit of distance.
• Pay attention to your dog’s body language. If your dog is not as quick to respond, chances are you are approaching your pup's threshold and you'll need additional space.

3) Frustration on leash redirection

For many dogs who have a social behavior history of interacting with triggers happily when not on a leash, chances are you have a dog reacting out of frustration on leash.

To help your dog handle and get past this frustration on walks, you want to work on nice incompatible behaviors.

What does that actually mean?

"Incompatible behaviors" means that if your dog is responding to these cues, he or she can't do everything at once so isn't able to follow through with the usual barking and lunging madness. Those foundational cues we mentioned in the previous guide come into play here.

Try this for your training session

• “Look”, “Touch”, “Shake”, “Spin” are all appropriate replacement behaviors before your dog lunges or starts barking.
• You still want to allow your dog to see the trigger. It’s important that you use these cues after seeing the trigger and NOT as a distraction to avoid seeing the other dog. While it is totally okay to avoid triggers and sometimes necessary to distract, if we don’t allow our dogs to see their triggers, we cannot teach them new ways to respond and there will be minimal change in behavior.
• Let your dog notice the other dog and then happy-excitedly ask your dog for a "look", "touch", or other fun behavior. Immediately mark that behavior with a click or verbal “yes!” And provide treats!
• Repeat Repeat Repeat.

*You can implement these same exercises in any other environments where reactivity exists: in the car, inside of the home at windows, in backyard, etc.

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4) Dog park TV

This exercise can be beneficial for both frustrated pups and nervous nellies. For your training sessions with this activity, you’ll need to find a fenced dog park that has adequate quiet space on the outside of the park.

Try this for your training session

• Have your dog on a 10-20 ft leash to allow freedom of movement and less restriction.
• Allow your dog to watch the dogs at a safe distance while you simply play with your dog, massage your dog, engage with your dog. These are not used as rewards in these scenarios, these are meant to serve as a way to keep your dog comfortable and relaxed simply being in the presence of other dogs and with multiple active dogs in your dog's sight.

Congratulations! You have completed the basic building blocks to handling dog leash reactivity. Remember, each dog is different and may require more or less time to progress through these exercises. Be patient, consistent, and practice often to reinforce the positive associations for your dog!

Keep your environmental management going

Remember to continue with environmental management until your dog's reactivity has significantly improved. Set realistic expectations - your dog's reactivity is a road of progress, not perfection.

You are rewiring your dog's brain to not only perceive these triggers in a different way but you are also teaching your dog better ways to cope with these otherwise stressful situations.

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Next up in the Reactivity Channel on Dogly

Now you're ready to put your skills to work as a foundation for more ways to handle leash reactivity, and check out what's next in Dogly's Reactivity Channel!

If you have any questions on teaching and using check-ins or would like to share your experiences with helping your reactive dog, jump into our Community Discussion. Continue in our Reactivity Channel where you'll learn everything you need to know for your dog from our community of Dogly Training Advocates, each one a force-free, certified professional trainer.

If you ever need more individualized guidance, get started on your dog's training plan here.