Teaching the Reactive Dog Class

Typically, people with dogs that bark and lunge at strangers or other dogs live in a bubble of fear, hopelessness, and frustration. After years of experience working with countless clients and their reactive dogs, and with Ben, her own aggressive dog, award-winning author Emma Parsons (Click to Calm) has found a better way to help even more owners and their dogs: by carefully orchestrating controlled exposures to triggers in a class setting.

A whole class full of reactive dogs sounds like a recipe for disaster, but it is precisely the formula of bringing these frazzled owners together with their dogs in one room that makes the class work so well. Emma, her assistants, and her students form a supportive community dedicated to helping each other and keeping everyone safe. Enveloped in empathy, students learn to train their dogs to tolerate progressively greater exposures to their classmates.

Teaching a reactive dog class is not for the inexperienced or the faint of heart; the challenges are many, but the rewards are great. In Teaching the Reactive Dog Class, Emma presents an entire six-week curriculum you can adjust to your needs. This blueprint for instructors and staff and for go-it-alone owners of reactive dogs offers:

a week-by-week guide to class goals, key concepts, and crucial exercises

practical advice about what to do when things go wrong

a set of accompanying weekly student handouts of exercises (also available as downloadable PDFs)

background and principles every instructor should know

guidelines for recruiting, training, and using class assistants

special requirements for students

detailed recommendations for continuing training once students have completed the class