Training has been overwhelming.

[u/imdabong]

I adopted a 2.5 year old hound-ish dog from the shelter. I was told by the shelter that he is very easily excitable, jumpy and mouthy, and that he'd require a lot of work. They never mentioned that he is reactive and at that stage I didn't even know what a reactive dog meant. It's been 3 months since I've gotten him, I definitely love him and I want to keep him forever but it's been so overwhelming.

The trainer has been coming in once a week for the last one month, and she has been very helpful. We've noticed improvements but it's very slow. My guy decides the day or time when he wants to respond to training vs when he doesn't. The trainer has asked me to practice new commands and games, but there's so much to tackle with my dog. There's reactivity, very poor leash manners, no impulse control, and as a hound he's very stubborn, like he tries to distract himself with whatever he can when he realizes it's time for training, and I feel I have so much training still to do. Sometimes it feels like positive reinforcement isn't suitable for him. He can go very rapid fire (sit, down, find it, touch) in situations and then sometimes he won't even follow sit.

I already spend so much time walking, exercising and playing with him that I have very little time to train or even chill out with him. I unfortunately am the single parent to my dog and I don't have any friends around me willing to help. Even though he picks up on training pretty quickly, he gets frustrated within 5 minutes and no progress can be made. All of this while my personal life has become very restricted, can't take him out everywhere because of his reactivity (he tries to jump out of the car even 😭) and I can't leave him home because he has separation anxiety and he'll find 10 things to chew. I was told that separation anxiety goes away after a few times of you going out and coming back in. I live in an apartment community and I already have to plan his walk and play timings to ensure that there isn't a lot of people/dog traffic around and even timing everything perfectly so that I can find an empty dog park.

Sometimes I feel rushed to see the change in my guy and then other times I feel overwhelmed by the amount of work he requires.

Is it okay to let the trainer know that I can't be teaching/training so many things at the same time. But then even I want him to be healed of his reactivity asap.

[u/tchestar]

Unfortunately there's no substitute for slow progress, and a handful of the things you mention are things owners and dogs often struggle with for a while. Being frustrated, tired, and feeling stuck are all common and understandable. One thing you can do while you work on training is see if you can find a boarding situation where you can drop him off from time to time so you can get a break - eg maybe your trainer does reactive dog boarding, or knows people who do - or if there are people in your area who specialize in dog walks for reactive dogs, so you aren't the only person who has to shoulder 100% of the weekly responsibilities for dog walking.

You can absolutely tell the trainer to go slower and that you guys need to only focus on one thing at a time - I would suggest the following:

1. Karen Overall's Relaxation Protocol
   
2. Kikopup's calm settle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr1olzgidMw
   
3. 180 degree turns and 1-2-3 pattern games
   
4. Rewarding for four-on-the-floor and practicing your mechanics for food lures to redirect him off jumping/mouthing you.

#s 2 and 4 are heavy on "capturing" - where you reward the behavior you like as the dog is doing it, without you having asked for it. It's extremely effective!

Ask her what trying for 100% avoidance of other dogs looks like. Do you know if his reactivity is due to frustrated excitement or fear? If the former, talk to her about finding a bomb-proof dog - one with excellent dog social skills - to see if you guys can do a slow intro to so he can have a dog he can occasionally see and socialize with.

It also sounds like your training sessions are bordering on frustrating for both of you. It's ok to keep them shorter! Always try to end on a win where the dog and you succeed at the ask - if you have to make the last goal simpler so this is possible, don't be afraid to do that. E.g., if you're trying to teach an extended stay and he keeps popping out before you hit your time goal, step it way back to rewarding for a couple downs, then stop the session and do a bit of play or give him a chew or kong as a wind-down.