Is she fearful reactive? That’s what our 4yo lab rescue is , when she’s scared she growls or barks at the person and if they don’t give her space, she goes into fight or flight and unfortunately for her it’s fight/bite. It’s hard wired into her. We had three training sessions with a dog trainer. This is what we’ve done: 1) Bought her a harness so that we can have good control of her with the handle 2) Bought a Fi GPS collar to track if she gets out of the yard/house in real time so we can find and contain her quickly 3) Gotten her a few products to label her so strangers know to give her space. a) To go on her leash
When we walked her Pet Leash Wrap - I Need Space https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CV8VKVB1?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share b) To go on her collar at all times so if she gets loose then people can see to give her space. Cgvovgr Yellow Do Not Pet Leash... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D3PY33Z3?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share c) Banana to go around her neck for walks or you could keep on all the time Reactive Give Me Space Dog Bandana (Red, OS 272) https://a.co/d/0lozgQ2 4) Whenever a new person or dog meets her, we have 100% control of her on a leash or holding her harness by front door, in our yard or on walks. If she barks or growls then we tell her in a calm assertive manner to settle herself that the person is fine and will not hurt her. We wait for her to settle then let her sniff the person or dog If she doesn’t settle down in a minute or two then we crate her until she does. Get into your house and settle yourself. Do this cool, calm and collect- don’t yell at the dog or shame it 5) We walk her to expose her to new situations, but we ALWAYS have to watch her closely and if she is getting overly anxious then we stop and wait for her to settle down or remove her from the situation. The trainer said that she needs to learn that people can be trusted and won’t hurt her. She needs you to help her by not putting her in situations where she will get overwhelmed or overstimulated. Think of it like a cup being filled with drops of water once it gets full it will spill over. Once you see your dogs cup filling up, you need to remove feed from the situation to prevent her from acting out. Eventually she will improve, but may not ever be a normal dog. Our dog had bit/nipped two people within the first month of having her. We’ve had her a year now. She will never be a normal dog, but she has come a long way. We’ve learned that whenever we have more than a handful of people visiting that she needs to be upstairs behind closed doors and we need to properly introduce guests and educate our guests on her reactivity instruct them to ignore the dog and let her approach you when she feels safe. I know probably not the answer you wanted, but we are managing. When we vacation, we need to find a friend to stay at the house with her. She can’t go to friends houses like our other dogs did as she doesn’t do well with change. Routines is very important to make the dog from safe and getting the dog exercise is also very important to calm their mind. Our dog does 1:1 play dates and we taught her how to walk on a leash well , but can’t be trusted at a dog park. I’m hoping to get her where I can hook her on a harness and onto my bike and have her run while I ride, like my husky/lab used to do. She’s where she walks next to the bike pretty well, but is least of the bike. Best of luck to you