We have just got back with little Lucy Loo and I feel so much more positive
The behaviourist brought his dog (Jodie a GWHP and absolutely gorgeous
) to do some walks past and to determine whether Lucy was fearful, aggressive or fear aggressive. Jodie lay down in the middle of the field and as we walked Lucy past we watched Jodie's behaviour. Jodie just gave Lucy calming signals which is a good sign that Lucy is just fearful because if Jodie had perceived her to be aggressive then he would have reacted as he is also a fearful dog. So I took this part of the assessment as being very positive.
The guy reccommended that I take Lucy for short training walks alone and when we are approaching dogs just turn around as soon as she gets to the point that she is uncomfortable. Hopefully with time she will learn that I will always deal with any perceived problems and she won't have to be so fearful.
As for her other submissive behaviour he said just to not actually train her but keep rewarding all her good behaviour until she learns that good behaviour is always rewarded and she won't be punished for bad behaviour. Once she is more confident we can do more structured training with her.
Sorry for all the waffle but i feel so much better
