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Partner is a behaviourist, just asked her thoughts. Benefit of a behaviourist over a trainer is that they may have more knowledge of underlying issues and can work closely with a vet to e.g try out behavioural medication if necessary.
Do you have insurance? Behaviour cases might be covered by it.
Try a local dog Facebook group. Around here (Bristol) we have found a few people who want to walk with “good dogs” which might give an opportunity for good interactions.
Pantsmaster
danwentskiing
Anyone got any experience of mega-anxious/timid dogs? I’ve got a 8-month old spaniel/lab mix who has been scared of everything since we got him at 12 weeks. Life has been one long fear period for him
He’s particularly scared of other dogs (who pick up on his weirdness and chase him if I can’t intercept them) but he’s never been pinned or bitten that I can tell
Around the house and with people he knows he’s great - quick learner/keen to please/okay being alone/goes to his bed on demand, but he hasn’t warmed to any men except me and is very wary of strangers (fine with kids though)
We had a trainer for the first few months, but my feelings are she sees too many over-socialised dogs and so warned us off getting him around too many dogs. We don’t have any reliably good dogs amongst friends and it’s a lottery at the park.
Vet has suggested some behaviourists but I haven’t got endless money to throw at him, and I was underwhelmed with the previous trainer. Aren’t they just going to give the classic ‘gradually expose him to stressful environments until he’s relaxed/give him treats etc’ advice?
There’s YouTube trainers in America who do ‘board and train’ things where he could be exposed to known Good Dogs and actually learn that they can be fun (I feel like it’s going to take days…)
Any experience/advice greatly appreciated