Our Book - Embracing Life with an Anxious and Reactive Dog

We've been following Lucky and Fel's journey over the past few months, and their bond and dedication to each other has been a huge source of motivation and comfort for a fellow reactive pup and her mom. Their book felt like a closer glimpse into that journey, from their meeting to first training sessions to where they are now.

Cannoli, my vigilant shadow, is my 2yo Pyrenees/Husky rescue, and she came to us as a stray with so many feelings about the entire world. Mix that with the Pyrenees instinct to guard their home and flock, and you've got a pup completely afraid of anything outside or entering our home. We struggled for months trying to figure out why she struggled to eat and play, and why she screamed at every human we saw on the street. Even the sound of cardboard or strong winds would make her jump. 3 months later we met Cannoli's trainer, Alisha, who specializes in working with reactive, fear response, and adolescent dogs. We started from the ground up, learning where and what Cannoli actually enjoyed (play style, food, the outdoors) enough to choose it over a reacting to a trigger. I learned how important it was to give Cannoli the ability of choice and have control over her surroundings and her walk, and to work with her instincts rather then deny them.

To this day Cannoli is still an anxious pup, but the difference in the last year is like night and day. I'm so thankful of her for the patience in her human as I learn how to listen and work with her, and that I'm able to spend each day seeing her grow and get more confident in exploring the world.

As a reactive dog owner, its so easy to feel ashamed or isolated with a pup that has so many feelings and fear of the world. Its moments like the ones in Fel's IG and book captures that often remind me that Cannoli and I aren't alone in navigating the world. That it´s okay to be overwhelmed and feel upset, as long as you're able to take a step back and learn from each mistake and challenge together.
I hope that Fel, Lucky, and everyone else reading their book can find some comfort in this and be proud of our continued journey with our reactive pups. We've got this!

From one fellow reactive dog owner to another, it may feel like you are alone in this journey, but you very much are not alone! This book is absolutely perfect for guardians new to navigating their dog's reactivity or, if you're like me, someone who is seasoned to their dog's reactivity, but just desperately craves like-minded perspectives on this very misunderstood topic. I read the book quickly and loved every bit of it :)

My dog's name is Honey and she is my best friend. But it didn't start that way. I adopted her in 2019. I'm not super clear on her history, however, I do know that she was involved in an animal hoarding case. She practically crawled on the floor the first time we met, trying to be as small as humanly possible because she was so scared. I knew I couldn't leave her there, so I adopted her. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

Within the first 24 hours, she managed to escape. Animal control miraculously caught her and she was returned to me. It took her two weeks for her to even wag her tail or look me in the eyes. She shook violently anytime we went anywhere. She ran away for a second time, this time for three weeks in sub-freezing temperatures during winter. It was literally one of the worst experiences of my life, but once again, she found her way back to me. Eventually, she really started to warm up to me, and as our relationship blossomed, she turned into the perfect dog (at least while at home).

Several months in I discovered her intense disdain for other dogs. There were a few really bad close calls where she would have killed another dog if I hadn't intervened soon enough. For a long time, I was in denial about her reactivity and this put us in really stressful situations on walks, hikes, and any time we could encounter other dogs. Eventually, I sought the help of a trainer (after trying two and realizing their methods wouldn't be a good match for Honey). This was the first time I realized that Honey's reactivity is something I am going to be dealing with her entire life and that I need to let go of the expectation that she can be "fixed."

At this point in our journey, we are at a stable place and I have the confidence to handle her outbursts whenever they happen. She is the best dog and has completely changed my outlook on dog behavior. We still have setbacks and major bad moments, but they are becoming fewer and farther in between. As of now, Honey is 9 years old. At the beginning of next year, we plan on backpacking a 200+ mile trail together in our home state because I finally feel like we're in a place where we can do this adventure with hopefully minimal stress. Wish us luck :)

As a fellow mom of a reactive dog - I cannot wait to read this. I’ve been following you for about a year now, since around the time I adopted Layla. She is an 8 year old mixed dog with lots of love and emotions to share! Unfortunately she also has a lot of trauma and fear and being rehomed at such a mature age didn’t help either. I was specifically looking for an older dog because I was aware of how many older dogs there are out there looking for homes and how few people are looking to adopt them. When I first got her she was so anxious that she refused to eat full meals for weeks and started to vomit bile because she was so hungry and her stomach had gotten so acidic. She couldn’t have me be out of sight for even a moment without barking, biting and destroying anything near her and she was incredibly afraid of men. Some of her other triggers include loud, unexpected or unidentifiable sounds, me making my bed, prolonged eye contact and of course the door bell. She would always be incredibly alert and was never ever truly relaxed - even when sleeping, the smallest sound would startle her and have her on all fours. I struggled a lot with how drastically and quickly my whole life had changed. I was prepared to take off some time of work to help train her and to bond but I had not anticipated that her anxiety and trauma would be to this extent and that this would take so much more time. This left me feeling guilty, alone and afraid of what my life would look like in the future and as the days turned to weeks and months I questioned if we would ever be able to make progress. Luckily I work from home so I could dedicate more time to helping her but what took the longest was training myself to be a better dog owner for her, especially since I had never owned an anxious dog before.

To this day she is still very sensitive and anxious but we have come a long long way in building trust and understanding. A few weeks ago we celebrated our first Gotchya Day by going on a canoe ride together (Layla absolutely loves anything to do with water, except baths of course). It was so beautiful to see how she could enjoy the experience and even have a few moments of real relaxation amongst the busyness around her. I have so much to learn and I continue to work on her reactivity. I cannot wait to hear your experience!

I got this book and some very cute stickers to help me on my journey with my reactive dog, Max. We BOTH have anxiety and that is the hardship we must overcome. His triggers are heavy eye contact, people and other dogs, but for him, it seems to be a mismanagement of containing his excitement and it comes out as reactiviy. I am delighted to say with training and matwork in the last year, we have come a long way and his reactions are far more muted. Like stated in the book, it's about finding what works for you and your dog. The matwork and exercising "time out" when I can/as needed works awesome for us. The book offered an authentic picture into their story and other ideas you can try with your dog, if you think it would help

...that´s the expression that comes to mind, when I think about that book! It speaks from and to my heart. It´s so easy to read and gives helpful tips and insight in a life with a barking dog. She writes what I needed to hear a year ago, but nobody said them to me. Through Felis Instagram account and now her book I learned that I´m not alone with a "difficult" dog and it´s okay to be overwhelmed, unpatient and to have made some wrong turns along the way. But I also learned, that you can always make a right turn the next time!
I could say much more than that, but I leave it at that:
READ THIS BOOK!