Meet Kronk! We adopted him ~3 years ago, after being given up on by 2 other families. When we adopted him, it was clear he was never socialized and is very reactive to other dogs and some people (Specifically men, which makes me wonder what kind of life he had as a pup). We've been working with a specialized Vet and Trainer for 2 years now, and he's on some anxiety meds. He's improved quite a bit, but he's also gotten quite protective of my wife. So while I can walk him with only small reactions, my wife cannot. He's very reactive and is a bite risk when someone gets close. And since he's a cutie black lab, everyone wants to get close to pet him even when he's actively snapping at them since they're "Good with dogs" ๐ Anyways, we found a place that does a 3 week board and train to work with aggression, but I'm not sure how effective they are. I don't think he's going to get much better with us, since we have to focus on safety instead of training. And since he's been given up on twice, I don't want him to think we're abandoning him since its a long program. Does anyone have experience with these type of training programs?
We're well prepared to actually follow training plans following up. We've been consistent with our current one for 2 years. We're just looking for other options since his progress has stagnated, even though he has progressed a ton (like we can actually go to a park, and he will be happy and relaxed now). Not against negative training, we're only going off of what our current trainer tells us, which is "Since its fear based aggression, the best way to correct it is to use positive reinforcement so that he learns that people and other dogs are good things". Thanks for sharing your experience! I think we'll set up a consultation with this new trainer and see.