Reactivity Isn’t Bad Behaviour — It’s Biology
- Jessica Logan
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
If your dog is barking, lunging, or lacking focus, their nervous system is doing exactly what it was designed to do. Reactivity isn’t a training failure — it’s information.
Most people come to me asking how to stop their dog’s reactive behaviour.
But reactivity isn’t something to eliminate. It’s something to understand.
In our recent Help My Reactive Dog workshop, we spent time reframing what reactivity actually is.
Coles notes: It's not disobedience or dominance and they're not intentionally “giving you a hard time” – they're having a hard time!
Reactivity is a nervous system response.
When a dog perceives something as overwhelming, unpredictable, or unresolved, their brain shifts into survival mode. This state is fast, emotional, and reflexive. The body reacts before thinking has time to catch up.
That’s why reactive dogs can look calm one moment and explode the next. Many of them are holding tension internally long before you ever see a reaction on the outside.
What’s happening under the surface:
The brain’s alarm system is active (the amygdala)
Stress hormones are elevated (ie; cortisol and adrenaline increase)
The body prepares for action, not learning (fight, flight activated)
Thinking gives way to instinct (prefrontal cortex access is limited)
This isn’t bad behaviour — it’s biology doing its job, but sometimes it's too often or too intensely.
Real change doesn’t come from more pressure, corrections, or control. Those approaches may suppress behaviour, but they don’t shift the underlying state. And suppressed emotion doesn’t disappear — it tends to resurface later and louder.
Regulation is different. Regulation means helping the dog move through emotion and return to safety. It means building flexibility, recovery, and resilience over time.
When we stop trying to control behaviour and start listening to what the nervous system is telling us, everything changes; including the relationship.
Jessica Logan is a dog behavior specialist and educator based on Salt Spring Island, helping people and dogs build safety, trust, and understanding through connection and co-regulation.
