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kristen johnson 2
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Katherine, I feel your pain!! I was so excited to participate in this study and was also thinking my dogs would be very useful because of their reactivity and/or fearfulness. I’ve put a lot of time and energy into my Dexter, who is extremely reactive, and it makes me sad to think that many people wouldn’t have been able to and he would’ve ended up homeless. He is also has ACD in him. We don’t have the problem of people approaching us though…..he makes it quite clear very early that they do not want to do that. He lunges and growls and snaps. We’ve been working on it and it’s better. He also has required Prozac and we see a behavioral veterinarian for behavior modification. We can walk a distance away from people without him freaking out now but it’s work. They can’t be moving too much and have to be far enough away. He’s making baby steps but I think he’ll always just be a work in progress.

Jennifer your description of the ACD and BC was interesting! The ACD is totally my Dex (half ACD and half Jack Russell)……minus the not dramatic part. Lol. He is very dramatic…….Maybe that’s the JRT in him. Anything that moves is going to be killed or herded. He’s also very protective of me and hates strangers. It’s very difficult to introduce him to new people and dogs but once he warms up and their in then he’s good. I read about ACDs when his breed results came back and saw they came about when herding dogs got bred with Dingoes. So no wonder he’s so difficult. Lol. We always used to joke that he looked like a Jackal or a Hyena……so now we call him a Dingo.

My other dog Luna has some ACD in her as well as Border Collie, but she has 13 different breeds so she has a lot in her. Lol. I always thought she’d have BC in her because of her fearfulness. She’s 15.1% Australian Shepherd, 10.9% Beagle, 9.4% JRT, 6.5% ACD, 5.9% BC. She is fearful of anything new and different, very fearful of sounds. She’s cautious with strangers but mostly indifferent unless they approach her too fast then she will back up and howl. If they have treats she’s their best friend. However, she is extremely reactive around other dogs.

It’s all so fascinating. I knew what Dexter was mostly because of his behavior. Luna I couldn’t quite get but now I know why…….13 breeds!