11/18/2025
“Does he just need to go to daycare and play with other dogs?”
This is a question that comes up a lot when someone has a dog who is reactive to other dogs.
But what does “reactive to other dogs” even mean?
A reactive dog has a big, loud, or intense reaction whenever they see another dog.
Instead of calmly noticing them, they might:
🐾 Bark or growl
🐾 Lunge toward the dog
🐾 Pull hard on the leash
🐾 Whine, scream, or get very worked up
🐾 Freeze and stare
🐾 Jump around or look out of control
(Sounds like a lot of dogs you know, doesn't it?)
In short, it looks like the dog is “freaking out” because they’re overly excited or upset.
And here’s an important distinction:
Reactivity doesn’t automatically mean aggression.
It just means the dog is having a much bigger reaction than the situation calls for.
Sometimes it's from excitement. Sometimes it's from frustration. Sometimes it's from worry.
Sometimes it's from fear.
Sometimes it's from experience history.
There are many reasons a dog may be reactive...
What about dogs who LOVE other dogs?
A reactive dog who genuinely likes other dogs is what we call "a Frustrated Greeter".
This is the dog who really wants to go say hi, but because they can’t, they end up pulling, barking, or being reactive out of pure excitement and frustration, rather than aggression.
Off leash, they might even make a bee-line to another dog (ignoring recall), which can feel really confrontational to the dog being approached.
So, wouldn’t daycare meet their needs, then? (I AM all about meeting needs, after all!)
But, unfortunately... no.
Frustrated greeters are already overwhelmed and overexcited around other dogs.
Doggy daycare adds:
🐾 Dozens of dogs
🐾 Nonstop chaos and stimulation
🐾 High arousal play
🐾 Very little (to no) downtime
And the truth is:
🐾 More excitement doesn’t fix overexcitement.
It usually intensifies it.
🐾 They can pick up pushy, rehearsed habits that make their reactivity stronger.
🐾 Most daycares simply aren’t set up to safely manage a dog who arrives already amped up. And some even just allow the dog to join the group while in full throttle mode, which can be a recipe for injuries or worse.
🤷♀️ Fun fact: most frustrated greeters I’m contacted about have a history of going to daycare.
So what DO they need, then?
They actually need calm, controlled, low-pressure practice learning how to stay regulated around dogs.
They need to practice patterns of behaviour before they need to use the behaviour.
They need practice with other dogs, at a distance, who will also ignore them.
They need carefully set up scenarios with known dogs to practice with before going out into public and needing to wing it.
And, ideally, they'll also have a well matched doggy friend or two that they can hang out with regularly in a safe, private, controlled and constantly supervised location.
Rehearsed behaviours become repeated behaviours.
Which behaviours do you want your dog to repeat?
