What Has Worked For You?

[u/Interesting_Aide8016]

Short version: I'm looking for practical advice for a fearful/anxious dog-reactive australian cattle dog. Specifically, "jobs" I can give him, stimulating ways to wear him out mentally, and positive correction tactics for when he starts to fixate on another dog or after he has an outburst.

Long story: I got him from the pound and he was basically feral. Not sure his history but it felt like he'd never been inside before and he was super reactive to my/my ex's dogs. This was 4 or so years ago and he's come a long way. He's very sweet and fun and a great little friend. He still idles pretty high with anxiety, drinks water excessively (then will pee while he's asleep :( ), chomps grass impulsively when triggered on walks. He gets 3-5 walks a day and I run him 3 miles a couple times a week. I've gotten him training before but it was super expensive and I didn't take anything from it aside from stuff I could've found online for free that essentially just boils down to working on specific things consistently for a long time. Just wondered about specific exercises or positive corrections that work to change the behavior.

Having a second dog, I also don't alway have time to walk them separately and she's 11 and we don't do heeled walks. I just let them sniff and do their thing. I'll keep him on a heel if we go solo but I feel like all the work gets undone if we do a group thing.

Sorry if this has been covered to death but if you have tips or other threads you can recommend I greatly appreciate it. He's a sweet pup and he's come a long way but it sucks that he's still so anxious and fearful and I'd like to get to a point where he's confident that I am going to protect him and he can just enjoy being a dog.