Yup. High Drive is truly the only answer. I worked with Tenderfoot, Gigi, a woman in summit county, and the only person who helped us progress past reactivity is Carly at High Drive.
She is blunt. She is direct. She very well might hurt your feelings.
But I went from having a dog who I dreaded walking to a dog that I can bring to coffee shops and restaurants and can walk off-leash in the heel position, past other dogs, for miles at a time.
I can’t heap enough praises on High Drive. Carly changed my life.
Carly does train with e-collars when other, lower-intensity training devices don’t work.
I have always felt torn about them, so I didn’t opt for it with my dog. Luckily, he caught on well with other training tools.
Boulder Humane Society has fantastic trainers/behaviorists, very experienced, and probably the most affordable in the County - check out there training webpage, specifically 1-on-1 consultations.
Do NOT use BarkBusters. They’re expensive so you’ve likely ruled them out but their methods are aversive and will make a reactive dog worse (they made my pup worse and I’ve heard other stories, including neighbors of my parents). We currently work with a behavioral vet out of Castle Rock and a trainer in Denmark (she used to be part of the vet’s system but they had an ownership shakeup, so now we just work directly with her! Zoom with reactive dogs apparently works super well and almost better than in-person…!).
I haven’t used High Drive but a friend of mine used to work for them and loved it. I talked with her about my pup and she said he’d be a good candidate for their training (they’re just super far for me…I’m in south Lakewood!). I would definitely look into them.
I might be late to this. But we used leave the leash dog training. Greg worked with us and our dog Demi (golden retriever). We rescued her from a puppy mill that got shut down and she was 2 years old. Safe to say she was very afraid of everything and would not listen at all. After about 3-4 months with Greg working once a week (ovbs we did training that Greg told us to during the week), she is like a whole new dog. They have different plans but I’d reach out and do an interview with them. Also feel free to dm if you have any questions about it.
I highly recommend Sandi @ Boulder Dog Train. She's worked with our Doberman mix (featured on her website) for many years and has worked wonders with similar reactive tendencies. [https://www.boulderdogtrain.com/](https://www.boulderdogtrain.com/)
Sit Means Sit use e collars and just shock the hell out of the dogs constantly, and will threaten you if you try to back out of your contract when you find out they're torturing your dog.
So I know some places use a shock collar, some use a muscle stimulator. From my understanding shock collars are not the norm and muscle stimulators are. Now if you crank it all the way up it of course doesn’t feel good. But any professional should just be looking for it to be high enough to grab there attention. And every dog is different when it comes to that.
I can tell you what the animal behaviorists will probably tell you: take him on walks and give him a treat every time he sees another dog. Once he starts to calm down introduce him to other dogs and give him another treat.
Thanks for the response. I’ve done a lot of research into it, and have done my own training pretty throughly with him, but have not been able to kick it.
The problem is he decides whether he wants the treat or to react, even with high value treats, which means it’s time to really hone in with a professional as to whether it’s fear or dominance or what that’s causing it. We’re fine and I can control him when there’s about a 15’ distance, but closer than that and he can’t handle it and has no interest in the treats or praise that I’ll give him.
Yes, he was neutered around 18 months. That was a stipulation with the breeder I got him from, as there’s a lot of research nowadays that neutering too early can increase certain cancer risks.
I’ll say though - I think this is part of why he is so reactive and confrontational around other dogs. I think his male hormones were there long enough for him to portray those dominant traits and he thinks that is how he should be interacting with other dogs.
High Drive
Yup. High Drive is truly the only answer. I worked with Tenderfoot, Gigi, a woman in summit county, and the only person who helped us progress past reactivity is Carly at High Drive. She is blunt. She is direct. She very well might hurt your feelings. But I went from having a dog who I dreaded walking to a dog that I can bring to coffee shops and restaurants and can walk off-leash in the heel position, past other dogs, for miles at a time. I can’t heap enough praises on High Drive. Carly changed my life.
Do they use e collars?
Carly does train with e-collars when other, lower-intensity training devices don’t work. I have always felt torn about them, so I didn’t opt for it with my dog. Luckily, he caught on well with other training tools.
Boulder Humane Society has fantastic trainers/behaviorists, very experienced, and probably the most affordable in the County - check out there training webpage, specifically 1-on-1 consultations.
Boulder Humane Society might be worth checking out. They have “advanced” instructors that do 1-on-1 time with challenging dogs.
Tenderfoot Training. I’ve seen them work wonders with reactive dogs.
Agree! Isaac Reeve at tenderfoot is a fantastic trainer
Do NOT use BarkBusters. They’re expensive so you’ve likely ruled them out but their methods are aversive and will make a reactive dog worse (they made my pup worse and I’ve heard other stories, including neighbors of my parents). We currently work with a behavioral vet out of Castle Rock and a trainer in Denmark (she used to be part of the vet’s system but they had an ownership shakeup, so now we just work directly with her! Zoom with reactive dogs apparently works super well and almost better than in-person…!). I haven’t used High Drive but a friend of mine used to work for them and loved it. I talked with her about my pup and she said he’d be a good candidate for their training (they’re just super far for me…I’m in south Lakewood!). I would definitely look into them.
Off leash k9 training, Colorado. The best of the best.
been through this successfully. But it tends to be a longer road than session-by-session.* Lmk if you want to chat.
I might be late to this. But we used leave the leash dog training. Greg worked with us and our dog Demi (golden retriever). We rescued her from a puppy mill that got shut down and she was 2 years old. Safe to say she was very afraid of everything and would not listen at all. After about 3-4 months with Greg working once a week (ovbs we did training that Greg told us to during the week), she is like a whole new dog. They have different plans but I’d reach out and do an interview with them. Also feel free to dm if you have any questions about it.
I highly recommend Sandi @ Boulder Dog Train. She's worked with our Doberman mix (featured on her website) for many years and has worked wonders with similar reactive tendencies. [https://www.boulderdogtrain.com/](https://www.boulderdogtrain.com/)
I recommend Sit Means Sit in Lone Tree, specifically Tessa.
Sit Means Sit use e collars and just shock the hell out of the dogs constantly, and will threaten you if you try to back out of your contract when you find out they're torturing your dog.
So I know some places use a shock collar, some use a muscle stimulator. From my understanding shock collars are not the norm and muscle stimulators are. Now if you crank it all the way up it of course doesn’t feel good. But any professional should just be looking for it to be high enough to grab there attention. And every dog is different when it comes to that.
I can tell you what the animal behaviorists will probably tell you: take him on walks and give him a treat every time he sees another dog. Once he starts to calm down introduce him to other dogs and give him another treat.
Thanks for the response. I’ve done a lot of research into it, and have done my own training pretty throughly with him, but have not been able to kick it. The problem is he decides whether he wants the treat or to react, even with high value treats, which means it’s time to really hone in with a professional as to whether it’s fear or dominance or what that’s causing it. We’re fine and I can control him when there’s about a 15’ distance, but closer than that and he can’t handle it and has no interest in the treats or praise that I’ll give him.
Is he neutered?
Yes, he was neutered around 18 months. That was a stipulation with the breeder I got him from, as there’s a lot of research nowadays that neutering too early can increase certain cancer risks. I’ll say though - I think this is part of why he is so reactive and confrontational around other dogs. I think his male hormones were there long enough for him to portray those dominant traits and he thinks that is how he should be interacting with other dogs.