A running list of what I actually use. Some of it is dog gear. A lot of it comes from other aisles, and I've found it useful for my dogs.
I made this to save you the product testing I already did. Everything here survived two reactive, high-drive herding dogs. Every dog is different, so treat this as a starting point, and skip anything that doesn't fit yours.
I also make Under Threshold, an iOS app for practicing behaviors with your reactive dog and celebrating the wins.
Leash things
My leash is built from these parts instead of a store-bought lead. Daisy has escaped D-clips twice, so I connect to the dog with a frog clip, which holds far more reliably. A soft loop tie-down strap threads through the other end of the frog clip as a high-visibility traffic handle, an auto-locking carabiner joins that to a daisy-chain strap, and the daisy chain is the leash. For hands-free walking I wrap a second daisy chain around my waist, close it with an auto-locking carabiner, and clip it to the leash with another one, which also lets me adjust the length. With both dogs, the loops along the daisy chains give me clip-in points for the second dog, a water bottle, or anything else.
I'm not a fan of wire crates. I'd seen too many panicked dogs, especially reactive ones, get caught between the bars, and I didn't want Daisy wiggling her way into a bad spot. I wanted something that could travel with her and pack down small, so I went with the Impact collapsible crate.
Toddler fitted sheetsThese go over the ortho pads. After an accident I swap and wash a sheet instead of scrubbing the whole pad, they come in cool patterns and colors, and they're cheap. The ones I reach for:
I mat trained both dogs, so they have a portable spot to settle wherever we are. The method and the trainers I leaned on are down in Training and resources.
