I am struggling with this.
There seems to be a constant stream of stressful events for poor George - vet visits, new groomers, a new boarding place, builders at the back house - not to mention ongoing daycare and running the neighbour gauntlet.
So my main priority is that George gets sufficient rest and recovery time.
I also like him to have at least one Sniffspot visit per week so he can get exercise without worrying, and we often go for a walk with my friend and her dog.
That doesn't leave much time in the average week. It makes it quite challenging for us to find the time and space to progress any training beyond constant management.
Our recent lockdown meant he had a 3 week break from daycare. I was fortunate with my work that I could build a walk into our day - outside of the busy dog walking times of before work, lunchtime and after work.
I think I've found a good spot. A short drive away, there's a big field with good visibility.
It's near a main road so most dogs are on-leash. The ones that aren't obviously have excellent recall.
You can park at the side of the road so nobody can park next to you.
George seems quite confident there.
So, without trying to obviously scan the environment (I read that dogs can pick up when you're doing this), we've had some good walks there.
If it's been raining, it's very muddy so other walkers tend to stick to the paths at the edges.
We've spent some time sitting in the middle of the muddy field looking at people, cyclists and dogs in the distance.
He's been doing really well with people. Dogs are still a challenge.
After we've got used to the field, we progress for a walk along the path. It's quiet for a city suburb but there are usually people walking with prams, dogs etc, and cyclists.
There is good visibility and green space along the path so if people are approaching, we can create enough space that they can pass while I have a treat party with George.
If there is a dog, we need a very big distance.
He's been doing really well. Before the meds, a person in the very far distance pushed him over threshold.
When he looks at me when a person appears, it fills my heart with joy. I'm so proud of him.
We got a bit close to a dog recently and George went over-threshold. It might have been a bit of frustrated greeter rather than fear-based (I think George is predominantly fear-reactive but I think the daycare effect means some frustrated greeter behaviour). But he recovered well.
This place ticks all the boxes so I am sticking to it for now. But we don't get to go as often as I would like. I think my main priority still needs to be making sure George gets sufficient rest. Daycare, grooming, and any new event is a lot for an anxious dog.
Because I can't do the desensitisation/counter-conditioning work as often as I would like, it feels like progress is going to be very slow.
Then we bump in to the neighbours and it feels like we've gone back 10 steps.
I think this is the essence of confidence-building in sensitive dogs though. It is always going to be much much slower than you would like or you would expect. I probably shouldn't worry about going too slowly.