Reactive dogs and intensive "boot camp" training - has anyone done this?

[LittleScottish]

We have a labradoodle rescue dog (2 yrs old) who is lovely in every other respect except with other dogs. (They turn him into a snarly, bitey, barky, aggressive nightmare - even from a considerable distance)

We've had a degree of success with some short sessions with a dog trainer (half hours at a time, as our pooch can't tolerate much longer before his stress levels go through the roof), so we know he can take training on board

We're shortly going on hols for a week and I'm wondering whether to book him into an intensive residential "boot camp" instead of putting him into kennels (which he hates, for obvious reasons)

The residential place specialise in reactive dog training, but it's megabucks!

Any advice / experiences that people would care to share? Dont know if I'd be doing the right thing?

I think that any training is more geared to the owner and how she can help the dog. I had a two hour one to one session and i learned so much about our reactive dog. It was £60 for the first 2 hours and £60 an hour after. She suggested i work for 6 months with the things she taught me and then contact her if “I” needed more training.

My main concern would be that they might put your dog in very stressful training while you are not there. I would want to know exactly what they will be doing before I put the dog through this.

There is no magic cure that they can do in week and it is doubtful the dog will lose his reactiveness without the two of you Working together.

Bootcamp style training has a bit of a dodgy reputation as it is often run by trainers who will use outdated punishment based methods - and these methods can sometimes make a fearful dog too scared to bark in the short term, but cause bigger problems in the medium and long term. In addition, you'll often find that dogs regress as soon as they're back in the home environment because the owners don't fully understand what it is they need to do to keep up the training, and because dogs don't generalise their learning well from one location to another.

Would you be willing to post a link to the trainer you're thinking of using, so I can have a look for big red flags?

I'd strongly recommend seeing an APBC or CCAB accredited behaviourist - they're the gold standard qualifications. The Facebook group Reactive Dogs (UK) is also good.

I think it's probably sensible to be realistic about how much improvement is feasible. For many dogs like yours, having a dog that enjoys the presence of strange dogs is unlikely, but being able to pass one in the street with a little distance between the two of them while feeding your dog cheddar cheese might be more realistic.