Reactive/ nervous dog survival thread

[Dobbyafreeelf]

Anyone up for a supportive/ ideas thread for those of us with nervous or reactive dogs?

I have a 19 month old Romanian rescue dog. A mix of terrier and lurcher. She's been with me since she was six months old. Currently on day 2 of a week's decompression after quite a big set back. She's nervous primarily around people but also dogs. I've been working with an amazing behaviourist trainer for over a year and we're making slow but steady progress.

Hi I have a 3 year old reactive labrador. He's always been over excited by dogs and wanted to play with them all, but he was attacked by an off lead frenchie while in a fear phase & since then reacts to some dogs. It's actually harder as we don't know which dogs he will react to. We have worked with our amazing trainer & she's always on hand for advice & he is improving albeit slowly. We have been managing his behaviour fairly well by driving to the country at quiet times and 3 or 4 different places we can take him in the event that there's a dog there. We also hire dog fields regularly so he can just be off lead and have fun. He is pretty skittish of noises and things he doesn't know also, and does lunge and bark at some people. It's getting harder now the nights are drawing in so won't be able to go out to the country after work anymore & also have to take him round the estate now in a morning, which means getting up at 6am before all the staffies, greyhounds, lurchers & poodles come out for their walks. He isn't what we imagined before we got him, we imagined long walks on the beaches & in the lakes & we've ended up with a military operation to walk him. However he is extremely clever & we love him to bits. He's great with my elderly nana and he loves children

I’ve got a 3 yo nervous people and dog reactive Romanian rescue who has been with us around 18 months.
I’d really recommend you look at Meesh Masters Dogs Point of View website and Facebook group. She’s fantastic and really understands Romanian rescues having had one her self.
I’ve had 3 dogs (including a reactive dog) and Romanian dogs are very different. They are more like dogs than British dogs if that make sense (!) and are much more instinctive.
Ours has made great progress but still a long way to go 😊
It’s a very lonely place sometimes having a reactive dog in a world full of ‘perfect puppies’ but the day when they play for the first time or greet you happily is the best!!

Please can I join? My dog is very reactive to cars among other things, and the occasional dog which is completely unpredictable - usually only one per walk if that and I haven't worked out a pattern so I'm always quite wary when I see another dog.