We got our dog at 14 months. He didn't appear to have been walked much (instead he was left taken to a dog park on Saturdays), pulled a lot and lunged towards dogs. We have trained him to respond correctly. But we were really struggling with the harness, the lead, recall (we haven't got there with this yet at all. Slowly but surely) He almost didn't respond at all to his name. We didn't go to classes as I felt they would be very stressful for all of us. So we hired a trainer who was recommended to us by strangers we met on our walk. He is amazing and only charged us £20 per hour! All positive reinforcement but showed us how to use the lead properly, how to keep walking when he was distracted and how to reward appropriately and for the right behaviours. Cody responded immediately. We have had 2 sessions in total (3.5 hours across) and don't feel we need any more at this stage. What I will say is that my partner and I work as a team and that means training together and consistently. Cody knows he will get the same from the both of us. If your partner is able to participate in the training this may help with consistency. We are confidently handing him over to a dog walker in September with no fear of him being a nightmare. I really wish you well with your 1-2-1, best advice is to try and enjoy them rather than fear it
