-
Square your shoulders, take a deep breath, raise one hand with palm facing the intruder, and firmly say, “STOP where you are. Do not touch my dog.”
I teach this skill to the handlers in my Reactive Rover to Cognizant Canine course. We practice behaviors out of context when the real trigger is not present, so we can use the skill fluently when we need it.
It saddens me deeply that this is necessary but we need to be able to advocate for our dogs.