In your training journey you are not alone. Alot of us trainers have experienced behavioural issues with personal dogs first hand, so we know how it feels.
Alot of us have or have had a dog who is the reason we got into training, the one that motivated us to change and do better. For me thats Woody, Woody is now 7 years old and has been dog reactive since he was 1.5 years old. With him his story is complicated, and we will never fully know why he became reactive but we can only work towards his story of overcoming it. At a year and a half Woody lost his tail after an accident, this lead to two operations and over 3/4 of his tail being removed. This was a traumatic ordeal for both of us, in and out of the vet multiple days for 4 months. From here we hit lockdown, the dog who was street walked everyday after work, now had alot of freedom as he used to come to the stables with me twice a day to take care of my horse. He had the freedom to run as much as he liked.
He was never attacked, and other than his tail never had any bad experiences. He is 100% dalmatian, but isnt a KC bred dog so doesnt necessarily have the best breeding, so yes this can play into this reactivity. But i know how you feel, i know the journeys and daily stress we all go through.
When finding a trainer, one who has experience first hand means we are more likely to be emphathetic towards you as we know how it can feel. As trainers we are here to help, we want to propel you on your journey to resolving or bettering your dogs behavioural issues. Dont be afraid to talk, ask questions or just blabber sometimes to get it off of your chest.
We are here to help and i promise you, you are not alone.
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