What a ride it has been since getting Bear and where we are today! The difference between Bear from when we first had him to today is incredible, and our relationship has gone from strength to strength.

It wasn’t an easy decision choosing to do balance training but we definitely know now that it was the right one. Let me tell you all about Bear and what we’ve been doing to improve his reactivity…

About Bear

You may follow Bear on Instagram so a lot of this won’t be new to you. For those who don’t follow Bear, he is a German Shepherd (GSD) x Dutch Herder cross. He was born 7th December 2021 as part of a litter of 11 and we got him as a very cute, and very fluffy, 8 week old puppy.

His mum is a Dutch Herder and generally left quite a positive impression on me and my partner when we first met Bear. Bear’s dad, the German Shepherd, didn’t really interact with us when we went to visit. At the time we thought nothing of this as we were too distracted by the ball of energy we’d just fallen in love with.

We initially thought both breeds were similar but soon learned we were wrong. If you’re not familiar with the Dutch Herder breed, they’re similar in appearance to GSDs but are herding dogs and need a lot of mental and physical stimulation. GSDs are slightly bigger with personality traits close to the Dutch Herder. Both breeds of dog need a lot of training but GSDs are more known for obedience and Dutch Herders for intelligence - a good reason for them to be working breeds, I guess!

Bear is exceptionally intelligent, and quick to learn, but does require a lot of exercise and activities to keep his mind busy. Around the 10 month mark, Bear started to display reactive behaviour.

Bear’s reactivity

When Bear started to become reactive, we tried to only socialise him with dogs he already knew or had met before to see if this would help. It did not. Bear would still act aggressively towards the dogs and chase them away from him, making our walks together really uncomfortable and just unpleasant to be on. Looking back, I think the dogs we were trying to socialise with didn’t blend well with Bear’s energetic personality, especially as we didn’t have a great understanding of Bear’s personality compared to now. We initially thought Bear was just being aggressive but now understand he’s protective of his personal space.

So at this point we’re unable to go outside without Bear barking at another dog and feeling totally lost. My partner and I started looking into seeing a trainer to help with the reactivity, specifically positive and force free trainers. This… did not go well. I completely understand positive and force free training but it just didn’t work for us at all. We put our total trust in these trainers, even working with one who stuck Bear’s face in another dog’s rear… Which actually made Bear’s reactivity WORSE!

The introduction to balance training

After speaking to friends, trying to work out what we could do next to help Bear, and feeling even more hopeless than before, we got a recommendation for a balance trainer who had done a lot of work with German Shepherds. This was our first experience with balance training.

We had a lot of sessions, two hours at a time sometimes, and started working with Bear using either a slip lead or grot collar. The trainer did sessions with his own dog as well as Bear, really focusing on engaging him through different activities and toys.

Seeing this trainer made the world of difference, honestly. Bear actually wanted to work with us when we had sessions without the trainer, it was incredible! We were using the techniques we’d been taught and accessories too. Bear did have some issues with the slip lead and pulling so, after a conversation with the trainer, we changed him onto a prong collar.

Prong collars don’t have the best reputation but we took all our advice from this trainer as we could see his work with Bear was bringing big improvements. The trainer talked to us about the prong in a lot of detail and showed us how to use it properly - and Bear got used to it really quickly which was great. Prong collars, when a dog pulls, place an even distribution of weight around the neck, whereas with a standard collar it will only pull in one place if attached to a lead.

Bear learned that if he pulled when walking or reacted to another dog then he’d get a correction. He learned to walk alongside me rather than trying to run off and got much better around other dogs. Once Bear was comfortable walking with his slip, grot, and prong, we wanted to advance to off lead training (and know for definite that he’d come back to us!).

Off lead freedom

Bear loves adventure so being able to let him roam off lead was really important to us. Again, we spoke to our trainer about what we could do to make this happen. He came back to us and suggested using an e-collar. I’ll admit that I wasn’t sure about an e-collar thanks to all the negativity surrounding them and being referred to as shock collars.

Ultimately, we wanted Bear to be happy so we were willing to give it a go - everything else the trainer had suggested and done at this point had worked so we were optimistic. The trainer talked to us at length about the e-collar, how to use it, and we even tried it on ourselves at the maximum setting (100). It’s a hard sensation to describe, but it’s definitely not a shock like people claim. It’s more like a muscle stimulation.

We introduced Bear to the e-collar very gradually and in a positive way. We started by Bear wearing the e-collar indoors and practising basic commands (like sit and down) for about three months. We wanted to take it really slowly to make sure we got it right. Our first real outdoor experience using the e-collar was during a protection training session where Bear was sent from the car to engage and then recalled with the e-collar at 45. Bear has a high prey drive so having the e-collar at this setting really mattered. We only have the e-collar set this high when Bear is in a high prey situation or there’s lots of dogs around.

Bear also wears a muzzle when we go out. This isn’t because he’s a bite risk, but more for his own safety. We thought it would be better for him to wear a muzzle as we do try and take toys out with us walking but it’s not always possible.

Bear now

The change we’ve seen in Bear since doing balance training is crazy! Our relationship has changed so much - he definitely prefers me to my partner as we spend so much time together.

I’m really happy to say we now have complete confidence in Bear’s recall ability. He doesn’t need to use the e-collar as much as before and he responds to a low stim level of 10, with the highest we need to go at 20, and us not needing to use a verbal command. He also understands that he needs to come back to us even at higher stim levels in any situation. The only time we really use the e-collar now is when we see a dog in the distance.

It hasn’t been a quick or easy journey, that’s for sure. It’s taken us nearly two years to get to this point with Bear, but we did see progress after the first three months. Bear recently wrote a blog about his different accessories and activities he’s been doing in training, check it out!

Final thoughts

Doing balance training with Bear has been one of the best decisions of my life. Like I said, our relationship has really improved, we have such a special bond. It feels so much better knowing that I have a better understanding of my dog’s needs and I’m able to work with him to make him happy.

If you’re feeling unsure about whether balance training is right for your dog, speak to a few trainers and look into it properly. Sadly our trainer is no longer working otherwise I’d 100% recommend them. Balance training and using the tools we are has given Bear so much more freedom than positive and force free could.

If you want to chat about Bear or balance training in general, get in touch and I’ll help you as best I can!

Our journey to balance training