Vee’s Success Story —

The RRP really gave me the tools to see my dog as a whole being with whom I can actually start a conversation. This conversation stems from the life we are sharing together, not from my need to have her act in a certain way. I do not need to “fix” a problem she has, I know I am able to “ask” her if she is okay with certain situations and if not, we will just work on it together. The tools and the support from Jenna relieved a lot of pressure and stress I had from living with a dog with both reactivity and SA. 

Here’s how Vee began her journey in the RRP:

• Outside the house : Triggers were mainly humans at a distance of 7-8m, and the difficulty rose with: less distance, someone interacting with Vee (looking at, talking to, or generally presenting a body language demonstrating they might engage with Vee), if Vee was not moving, if the trigger was not moving. Vee’s response: barking, lunging, snapping and if given the option charging towards the trigger.

• Inside the house:  any noise in the hallway, but worst-case scenario was hearing people talk. Vee’s response: barking, pacing // Guests inside the house or even people she knows and appreciates. Vee’s response: growling, barking, charging, snapping

• Limitations: every walk was stressful, I was locked inside with Vee because of her SA (could not leave the house even 1s without Vee having a panic attack), every day I would be stressed, very often cry in frustration. It was a burden on my mental health. I stopped seeing friends, I had to move out from Paris, we almost broke up with my partner.

Here’s Where Vee Landed Upon Graduating the RRP:

• Outside the house : Triggers are mainly humans at a distance of 1-2m, and they should avoid engaging with Vee (she can accept the usual “Hello” but not a sustained interaction). If Vee is not moving it is harder. Vee’s response: if they do not interact with her, she is able to disengage on her own and look for distance. If they interact with her, barking and if given the option charging towards the trigger. // Vee improved association with almost any human minding their own business. We still have to work on distance (if we want to be able to go to a restaurant with her for example). 

• Inside the house:  she might be triggered by noises from outside in a case of trigger-stacking situation or some reasons I have not pinpointed yet. Vee’s response: mostly just listening. Sometimes little “boofs” but she no longer moves from her spot to bark at noises in the hallway. 

• SA: We reached 1 hour of alone time !

• Freedom gained: I can do the groceries ! This is huge. I am also much less stressed in general. Our walks still requires management but are much more enjoyable. 

[Our] Communication has improved a lot! I am able to understand Vee with precision, which really helps me in preventing problems. I think she also feels more confident because she knows how she can ask things from me.

Our lifestyle also changed dramatically. Before, I wanted her to behave a certain way in certain situations ; now I want her to tell me what we should do in certain situations. I am not trying to push her, we are going at her pace and this changed my day to day walks, choices, etc…

I do not think we could have made it that far without the RRP. My local trainer here stopped our training at “Loot at that”, and honestly it improved little things for Vee. About 2 months in the RRP our progresses were amazing. Having so much support in the beginning of the program was a game changer. 

I love that Jenna is really coaching you: that makes the end of the program less scary. We know we have the tools. I also appreciate very much that when shit hits the fan, she is still there to bring emotional support but also to give ideas and tips. Even when you have the tools, when it is emotionally draining, it is so helpful to have someone who works with so many dogs give you some insights. So I appreciate the nice balance between coaching / supporting / giving ideas (more classic training) when needed. 

For me the game changer is that [Jenna] understands how severe the cases are. The bare fact that the RRP takes into account how much what we are going through is specific, makes a huge difference. 

The Eleven steps to resolve reactivity: I have the feeling that something clicked in my understanding of how I will solve this problem. I had the general idea that she should have a good association with her triggers and the general idea that it will work better if I do operant conditioning, so we were doing LAT and had some successes. But what you propose is so much more organic and the progress are amazing. Also, these progress actually are leading to a normal life, because when we’ve been through the 11 steps, it is just “life with my dog”. I do not have to wait for Vee to love humans in every situations and not be triggered by them anymore. I know that in certain environment, with good distances, we can live our life. For other environment we are still training and still have more steps to go, but there is a path forward at least!

The goal-oriented approach: I always thought that my priority needed to be “solving the big problem”. Vee was reactive inside the house, but it was not my priority because this was not dangerous at all. It ended up being very annoying for me AND not setting Vee up for success outside, because she already had trigger stacking when we got out. Same with pulling on the leash, never a priority because I had bigger issues to deal with. BUT it meant that by the end of our walk, I was exhausted and annoyed. So basically, by wanting to concentrate on the big issue, I was impeding our progress. With the goal-oriented approached, I lowered my expectations, and we started to build the actual basis to a serene life. This did more good than I thought. The big problem still exists BUT it is restrained in a small bubble where we don’t have to go. I can now spend a whole day without stress, and this means that my training sessions are actually efficient because I am not exhausted and Vee is feeling better overall ! The magical thing is that it all started with lowered expectations, but now I feel that my long-term goal can actually be more ambitious, we just need to do it bit by bit. 

What has been one of your Greatest Wins inside the RRP?

• A much better understanding of my dog, and on how to meet her specific needs. For example, no other dog trainers had me think about how much time she sleeps during the day and I noticed this is one of the main parameters predicting success for that day. 

• Vee (in some cases) being able to ignore completely people even if they talk to her ! And the overall reactions being so much smaller (a warning “boof” instead of a very aggressive approach). I am now confident during our daily walks, I know she can handle them and it would take a very unexpected event for her to actually react. It means that to train reactivity, I have to go in more challenging environments. This alone is a major win: it now feels like training, when before it felt more like “trying to survive through every day”

What would you say to someone who wants to join the RRP but is on the fence at the moment?

It is an amazing program. I have been working with 3 different dog trainers, I have paid and watched tons of conferences and videos, I educate myself regularly on reactivity and anxiety, I read books, I work hard and learn all I can; even with all of that I can say that without the RRP I could have never improved our quality of life to a sustainable level. If your dog really has severe anxiety, if your dog cannot be helped in a few months, if your dog can only improve with perfect execution from you, you need the RRP.