I have two dogs: an 11 y/o staffy/pit bull and 2 y/o frenchie and both have some reactivity. The frenchie its more that he wants to play and is frustrated by the leash but I don't want that to worsen so I'm working on it. The staffy has gotten more reactive as she's gotten older, particularly on leash, with contributing factors like surgeries and activity restrictions limiting socialization.

I recently moved into an apartment in a major city and they are now constantly surrounded by other dogs. The staffy initially would lose her mind (lunging, hackles up, barking loudly, hard to get her focus back on me) if she saw a dog on a walk across the street from us or if she was out on the balcony and could see another dog being walked along the street. I've been walking my dogs separately in order to work on their issues. My strategy with my staffy (Birdie) is working on getting her attention when a dog is nearby and when I get it she gets treats. So, she looks at me she gets a "yes!" if she looks away at the dog then looks back at me she gets a "yes!" and a treat. We would initially do this while she was sitting until the dog passes. I've been working with her on walks for 2 weeks and if the dog is across the street we are now able to walk past without incident. If she notices the dog and looks back at me she gets a treat. If she's looking too interested in them I get her attention then treat her and we move on. I'm feeling a lot more confident about passing dogs across the street, which I think is great progress! I've been happy about that. Closer passings are more challenging but we've had success there too, though I mostly have been avoiding that until I feel across the street is rock solid. Sometimes closer is unavoidable. She seems happier on walks, less vigilant about other dogs which makes me happy for her.

However, this morning something unexpected happened that made me really happy. I have a balcony and if she sees dogs through the window or while out on the balcony she is also reactive. I haven't been targeting this at all, just managing it by keeping her out of the situations where she will bark at dogs passing. I had the door cracked though and was playing with them by tossing toys out on the balcony for them to retrieve and also allowing them to go out there and sniff a bit while I was watching them. I walked out of the room briefly and when I came back in I saw her standing out there with her hackles up. There was a dog across the street and she was zeroed in on it. However, NO BARKING, AND I just made a little sound and she immediately focused on me instead! Since we haven't been working on this at all I was so, so happy to see this. I gave her tons of praise and a "yes!"

I have so much faith in her working through this and it feels really good to see some progress. Just wanted to share with people who understand. :)