When we adopted Dougie from a shelter, we were told that he was reactive to other dogs on walks.

The folks at the shelter explained that although he had arrived from Puerto Rico in a shared crate with another dog, over his month in the shelter, he became more and more stressed.

His reactivity had increased to the point where he was isolated from other dogs, and only experienced staff took him on walks.

We hoped that a stable home and some training would help Dougie, but we were wholly unprepared for the situation once we brought him home. 

Although he weighed only 17 pounds, Dougie was strong and muscular and entirely out of control at the sight of any other dog – he barked and lunged and pulled and growled, even at dogs half a block away or diagonally across an intersection – and we live in the most dog-dense neighborhood of a very dog-dense Brooklyn, New York.

There are at least 20 other dogs who live in our apartment complex, and every time we left the house, it was like entering a war zone. 

Our first trainer educated us about the basics of dog body language, positive reinforcement with markers and treats, and trying to keep Dougie under the threshold by avoiding triggers. Unfortunately, in our dense urban environment, the triggers were everywhere! We ended up putting Dougie on Prozac and getting a prescription for a sedative, neither of which was very effective.

Before we found Canine Cohen, we walked Dougie in the middle of the night at times when we would run into fewer dogs, and we even tried to walk him with a blindfold called the "Calming Cap" because we didn't have the resources to help him acclimate to an environment with so many other dogs. Even though we live less than two blocks from Prospect Park, we had Dougie for six months before he ever experienced the park.

On top of his extreme reactivity, which prevented us from getting around the entire block most walks before retreating back indoors,

Dougie also had separation anxiety, and he busted out of the wire crate we had gotten for him when we left him to go out for an evening.

Although he is the sweetest dog in the world at home and loves people and sma. ll children, we felt like prisoners who couldn't leave the house without getting Dougie a babysitter and who couldn't leave town because we had no one who could handle his reactivity on walks. Reactivity on walks.

Working with Jason Cohen changed everything for our family.

I believed Dougie was an impossible case who would never be able to go on long walks or socialize with other dogs, but Jason reassured me that he works with reactive dogs all the time and that his methods make a huge impact after only four training sessions.

When I signed up with Canine Cohen, I wanted to focus mainly on the outdoor walk and separation anxiety, so I was surprised that Jason's training method is wholistic and includes crate training for all dogs, advice about feeding your dog, lessons on marking and rewarding, introduction to the "Place" command, leash walking lessons, and recall lessons.

Although Jason's training method requires a good amount of commitment to the whole system and doing things in a particular way, Jason explained that all these different types of training work together to give your dog a sense of security and control.

Within three lessons, Jason had trained us to walk Dougie outside using Heather’s Heros Sidekick leash (which goes over the nose). The leash allows you to gently guide the dog into a sitting position out of the way of other dogs as they pass.

As we got better and better with this leash, we were able to reward Dougie with treats as dogs went by and eventually even to pass dogs without a reaction.

We took Dougie on Jason's group "Walk and Train" sessions in the park and couldn't believe our dog was able to walk in a pack with other dogs after just a couple of months of training.

It's been over 18 months since we adopted Dougie. He may always have some reactivity when in close quarters with other dogs who don’t give him a good amount of space or maybe reactive themselves, but now we know how to find the distance he needs and interrupt the reactivity so we can continue on our way.

Jason also has a whole network of other dog professionals – including dog walkers and boarders – who use the same training methods and who joined Dougie's "team" so that Dougie was soon walking regularly in a small pack of dogs with GoDoG Brooklyn. Dougie was able to do a "Board and Train" at Lead Your K-9 in Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania, which helped him make further progress with socialization, crate training, and separation anxiety.

Since then, we've sent him to Eva's Country Dog Camp, where he runs free with other dogs when we leave town, and at Thanksgiving, we even brought him to a home with two other dogs.

I'm so thankful to Canine Cohen for giving us the skills to give Dougie the happy life full of long walks and lots of love he deserves.