Dog trainer recommendations for reactive dog Birmingham/Midlands

[TTCVickster]

We have a 1 year old Lagotto Romangolo. We didn’t get him until 5 months and don’t think he had much socialisation prior to that. He can be very reactive without (what seems like) any warning. He’s our first dog (our families have always had dogs) and is very food driven. We had him neutered on the advice of our (not very good it seems) vet but since then he has become very fearful. He’s brilliant with children and in his own house but is very scared of men and sometimes other dogs. On the lead he appears to feel threatened and needs to be distracted with treats to stop him being reactive. He is 95% of the time absolutely fine off the lead but a few weeks ago pinned a dog while off the lead, growling in their face (no attempt to bite) but obviously distressing for the other dog and looked very aggressive. He had been sniffing it happily for a few minutes with no apparent reason for the change. I am aware this is 100% not good enough and would be fuming if this had happened to another dog of mine so know it needs sorting. Today we were walking in a nature park that appeared totally empty, DDog was in a well chasing a treat that had floated, a dog came from out of the trees DH stood right there but both dogs happily sniffing. DDog came out of well happily playing then went back in a few minutes later, got on top of the dog and was growling and trying to bite his ear. He was taken straight off and kept on the lead for the remainder of the walk but obviously this is something we need to get on top of before it gets any worse. DDog is absolutely fine with dogs in the family (5). I’ve never had any experience with dogs with this problem so any advice/recommendations would be great.

[Gingersstuff]

If you’re on FB OP, request to join the Reactive Dogs UK group. They are fab, lots of great advice, absolutely no judgement and a list of tried and tested positive-based behaviourists and trainers. We have a fear aggressive rescue and the group has been a godsend.

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

YY to the Reactive Dogs UK group.

With regards to finding a behaviourist (and this is definitely a behaviourist issue not a training issue) look for someone APBC or CCAB accredited. There are lots of cowboys out there, but having one of those two accreditations means you'll get someone decent.