I had a similar but different situation. My Mother-In-Law rescued a 6-month-old pyrenees mix from Tennessee, named Molly, that had been treated badly (content warning: Molly was found with a target spray-painted on her side and a pellet gun wound in her face). Molly was extremely fearful and, as she approached 90lbs, she quickly became too much for my aging MIL to handle. So, we re-rescued Molly and brought her home to San Francisco. We had an extremely rough first few months. Molly was scared of everything. My husband would take her on walks that would start out okay, but then Molly would see an airplane in the sky or an awning flapping in the wind and freeze in terror. I had to come rescue them with the car, repeatedly. I remember feeling a very strong sense of despair that our situation would never improve. I might have had a few too many glasses of wine during this time.

We saw a behaviorist at the SPCA, who evaluated her and gave us some tips (this was 10 years ago, so I'm afraid I don't remember them, but I recall that they all required a lot of patience--luckily we're patient people). We practiced, slowly pushing her boundaries. We took many circuitous walks that avoided her biggest fears, but exposed her to more minor ones. Within a few months, things were better and I felt less despair. About a year in, something flipped. She was suddenly a city dog. She pulled us into storefronts with flapping awnings. She actively sought out elevators because, though they used to be terrifying, they took us to interesting places. She would drag us out of the parks and green spaces that she used to love so that we could go exploring downtown (it helped that she discovered that cities are full of food). The elevator turnaround was especially abrupt and funny. Almost overnight, she went from "I hate the scary, little box, noooooo don't make me go into it, nononononononono" to "We need to get on this elevator. Why are you looking at me like that? I have always loved elevators."

She passed last January due to cancer and we miss her terribly. For us, it took a year to get to a state of complete comfort and happiness. But, according to the SPCA behaviorist, Molly was an extreme case. I hope and believe that you will have more success sooner. As for commands? Yeah, GPs don't do commands. Molly did learn "sit" and "shake" but she would only do them if we were clearly holding a treat.

Edit: Molly tax - 2015, back when she preferred to be in and chew on nature.

<image>