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Your Dog Isn't Being Bad — They're Over Threshold

Walks shouldn't feel like a fight. This Leash Training for Reactive Dogs covers reactive dog training book, dog leash training, stop dog pulling on leash with step-by-step instructions for beginners and experienced readers alike. Written by Jordan Wells, published by Steady Paws Press. Available on Kindle for $6.99.

Walks shouldn't feel like a fight. If your dog barks, lunges, or drags you down the street the moment another dog appears, "just socialize them more" was never going to work. Reactivity isn't disobedience — it's a dog over their emotional threshold. This is the step-by-step plan for that dog: find your dog's trigger distance, build the five foundation behaviors at home, apply counterconditioning without the timing mistakes that quietly poison it, and work through an 8-week plan built on named, force-free methods.

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Everything You Need to Get Started

Practical, beginner-friendly content designed to take you from zero to confident.

Find Your Dog's Trigger Distance

Reactive dogs cannot learn while they are panicking. Chapter 3 shows you how to find the distance at which your dog can still think, and how to build every walk around staying inside it.

The LAT Game and BAT Basics

Two named, force-free methods with a chapter each — what they are, how to run them correctly, and the specific timing errors that make counterconditioning backfire instead of working.

The 8-Week Plan

A week-by-week structure that starts with five foundation behaviours at home, then rebuilds the daily walk. Includes what to do when it goes wrong, and clear signs that it is time to bring in a professional.

Common Questions

Reactivity is an over-threshold emotional response — a dog whose stress response has taken over, not a dog choosing to misbehave. It often looks alarming (barking, lunging) without any intent to do harm. Aggression with a bite history is a different problem, and the book is explicit that those cases belong with a certified behaviorist or your vet, not a book.
Named, force-free methods: working under threshold using trigger distance, counterconditioning and desensitization, the LAT ("Look At That") game, and BAT-style setups. Each gets its own chapter with the common timing mistakes spelled out, because bad timing is what quietly ruins counterconditioning.
No. There is a chapter on gear that helps and gear that hurts — a well-fitted harness and a standard leash are enough to start. The book does not recommend aversive tools such as prong, choke, or e-collars.
The book is built around an 8-week plan, and many owners notice the first changes in the foundation-behaviour weeks before any trigger work happens. Progress is not linear — there is a full chapter on setbacks and what to do when a walk goes wrong.
No. Jordan Wells writes practical guides, and the book says so plainly. It teaches established, publicly documented force-free methods and repeatedly points readers toward a certified behaviorist or veterinarian for bite history, escalating aggression, or self-injury.

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Preview the book before you buy. Plus get launch-week discounts, free promos, and new-book alerts from The Skill Mill.

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