04/13/2026
Why Your Treats Are Failing Your Reactive Dog
Treats work at home, so why do they fail when you’re out and about?
Most people think that forcing a dog to heel will stop the reactivity - with short tight leashes. Sometimes that works in low-level situations, and sometimes when your dog is massively food motivated, but heeling is a learned behaviour, and state of mind is a completely separate thing.
Let’s look at those two concepts:
1. Heeling
You teach your dog that being at your leg is rewarding. You practice at home, you increase the frequency, and you hope that practice carries over to your next big adventure in public.
The problems I see:
• Missing Boundaries: Owners don’t always show the dog the boundary. When the dog "pops" out of position to sniff or forge ahead, they aren't guided back effectively.
• The Lack of Pep: Owners don't gradually increase distractions. They go from the living room or the front yard, straight to the highest arousal environment possible (for your dog). It’s overwhelming (for the dog, too) and sometimes embarrassing.
2. The Internal "Short Circuit" (The Science)
When you jump straight to high distractions, your dog hits Auditory Exclusion. Their brain floods with adrenaline and dopamine, "muting" their hearing.
This is why the treats fail. In high arousal, the digestive system literally shuts down. Your dog isn't being "stubborn" or "unmotivated" by the treat—they are biologically incapable of processing it right now in that circumstance.
The BK9 Way: CWC (Come When Called) Over Restriction. The very Foundation!
This is why I don't start with heeling restriction. In fact, many of my programs start with CWC. If the dog's state of mind is distracted, or over-arousal, a tight leash just adds more pressure, which is why you see them lunge, vocalize, etc..
Instead, I utilize Come-When-Called as the foundation (on our website accessible from anywhere in the world) – with a long leash and keeping in mind the specific dog’s threshold that I’m working with. We use the leash as a tactile "bridge" in the beginning. It’s a tap on the shoulder/neck that bypasses the "mental fog" of reactivity, reaching the dog when they are experiencing that ‘auditory exclusion.”
We address the state of mind first. Once the communication is clear, the heeling becomes easy to teach and reactivity starts to subside.
We go beyond this in any of our custom training programs for each dog, however - this is the very beginning and very foundation of our work. We even showcase on our e-learning program, how to work your dog around thresholds of other dogs and distractions if they are reactive, distracted, or just want to impulsively play (the other dog may not be as friendly)!
