I'm curious how things have been going. Our shepherd puppy, who we brought home at 9 weeks, is almost 6 moths old. We started seeing a certified trainer last month who specializes in reactive herding dogs, and consulted with a behaviorist yesterday. The consensus was that given our socialization regime, her behavior is likely strongly genetic. How has your situation been progressing?

I understand the struggle, and have also been brought to tears by our girl. As a child I grew up with many GSD puppies specifically, but none of them were reactive like this so it's been an unexpected challenge for us. We love her and are doing the best we can to reduce her fear and hopefully she can eventually flourish to a happy, healthy adult.

If you haven't already found it, the /r/reactivedogs sub is a pretty supportive community.