Toby the Reactive German Shepherd

Today we went for the first visit with this absolute beauty of a German shepherd.

This was one of those cases where all the pieces of the puzzle just don’t fit together.

Toby had previously had another trainer helping with his reactivity via Zoom but their advice wasn’t working. The advice was good, a straightforward counter conditioning method that would teach Toby an alternative behavior and that other dogs predicted good stuff. The same kind of advice I would usually give.

Toby wasn’t your average German shepherd though.

Toby has absolutely no drive for food, very little arousal to play, and very nervous and hyper-vigilant, not your typical German Shepherd. It was clear that he has a good relationship with his owner but little joy in a lot of training and playing activities (although this may be due to nerves).

He was very skeptical about trying new things and anxious around novelty.

I’m pretty confident that something else is going on with Toby, something medical. So he’s back off to the vets to get checked over again.

In the meantime, we will get taking Toby back to basics and building up his food drive and toy play.

Watch this space for Toby updates soon!

If this case sounds like your dog and you are having a similar issue, or a different issue entirely, book a FREE assessment call with us by clicking HERE.