Myself, my partner and our 5-year-old Border Collie Chase, are currently travelling around Europe for 12 weeks in a VW Campervan. We have explored so many amazing countries—that I never dreamed of taking my dog to—but that’s for another post! This post is all about our trip to Legoland in Denmark.
When we first discovered that dogs are welcome in Legoland Denmark we were very excited, as my partner is a massive lego fan and we have already visited Legoland in the UK and Dubai, so this would be a great one to tick off the list! However, shortly after our excitement a cloud of worry came over me, as I realised how challenging it would be taking a reactive dog to a busy theme park.
Chase is both dog and human reactive, something that if you are familiar with my recent blogs or YouTube channel you will know I have been working hard to overcome. Despite our continued training efforts, I knew that taking Chase to a theme park would be the ultimate challenge, one that I wasn’t quite sure he was ready for!
Luckily we managed to enjoy the day without any major issues! Chase actually had a blast but it was definitely sensory overload. Here are my top tips for taking a reactive dog to a theme park!
Engagement is key
Make sure you work on building their engagement and ability to focus on you, and give them lots of rewards when they do! A theme park is a 10/10 level distraction for a dog, there is so much to see, hear, touch and smell that it is important we work on getting making them focusing on us just as fun at times!
Show off some tricks
Trick training is a great way to build connection and engagement with your dog. Why not take this opportunity to find a quiet spot and put some of their favourite tricks to the test is a super distracting environment. It is important that we are not asking too much of our dogs though, understand how challenging focusing on us can be in a place like this and make sure that any tricks you ask for they are already super confident in preforming.
Be safe not sorry with a muzzle
It is important to know your dog and know when we might be putting them in a situation which is too much for them to handle. When our dogs are struggling to cope, is when mistakes can happen as they can very easily become overwhelmed. It is always better to muzzle your dog to be safe not sorry and give you the peace of mind to relax and enjoy the day.
Keep your distance
Even in a busy theme park, I still managed to find ways to create some distance between Chase and any potential triggers. At times, if this was unavoidable and the crowds were too intense myself and my partner would always walk either side of Chase to help make him feel safer and prevent anybody from reaching out to touch him without permission.
Use a clicker
I always recommend clicker training as a really easy and effective way to communicate with our dogs. I wore a clicker around my neck the entire day to ensure I could reward Chase any time he made positive choices. The clicker means I can instantly mark the moment he made the correct choice—such as calmly walking past another dog—and then gives me time to reach into my treat pouch to deliver the reward.
Decompress to avoid stress
Just like humans, dogs needs time to decompress after stressful situations. Think of your dog’s brain as being like a bucket, filling up with every person, dog, child and loud noise that they encounter. The fuller the bucket gets, the harder it will be for the dog to think and make positive choices. By allowing our dog plenty of opportunity to decompress throughout the day, we are essentially poking holes into their bucket to ensure it doesn’t get too full. Simply finding a quiet spot for them to hangout, sniff or even snooze works a treat!
Stay hydrated
A trip to a theme park for a reactive dog is going to push them out of their comfort zone and be stressful for them at times. Whilst it is important to push our dogs outside of their comfort zone to help them to learn and build confidence, too much can be detrimental to their progress. Stress and learning is thirsty work to always ensure you dog is staying well hydrated throughout the day.
We were so proud of how well Chase coped and despite the challenges believe he had a great day at Legoland! We are grateful to Legoland Denmark for allowing dogs into their park meaning our furry companions don’t have to miss out on all of the fun!
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