-
I don’t recommend any trainer unless you know exactly how they train. You may get lucky or you may have someone basically beat up your dog. If you go with a professional be sure that they will explain first exactly how they plan to fix the issue and it makes sense to you and doesn’t make your stomach turn.
The issue doesn’t sound like an impossible task. But, in “foundation style” we have to make sure you do not skip steps or expect too much too soon. Normally for the intensity you are describing it would take us about six weeks to train her the right way. I know you saw the phase 1 video, but have you taught her phase 2 style with the body language warnings, etc.. in a low distraction environment?
Ultimately, this looks like it would resolve in phase 3 training. Through phase 3 training you could have her heel off leash if you needed be and not have the problems. It is a matter of simple science and having the right technique.
But, advanced training isn’t easy. We could direct you through it, but it would be helpful if maybe you made a youtube video or something showing your dog responding to phase 2 technique in low/no distractions.
With these kind of problems sometimes you will not get improvement or results until you formally teach the full command with the correct understanding of positive and negative consequences and the ability to do so humanely before you encounter the distraction.
Phase 2 is important because it teaches the dog to pay better attention to you to avoid corrections. In phase 2 heel she formally learned that warnings come from your body language and distractions are more the reason to pay better attention to you because she may miss the warning before a correction. Low level corrections are used since you will be teaching.
In phase 3 you gradually increase the level of a correction until you reach the minimum amount that the dog responds too and respects. The halti or the prong probably wont work for your dog in phase 3 but fine for phase 2.
The remote collar would be the best bet in phase 3 because it seems like you have to be too aggressive with the other collars and she doesnt respect them unless you were using them with enough force to seem aggressive or possibly injure her.
The Dogtra remotes used the right way do not have this problem. But you would never want to use one unless you truly go through all the steps of phase 1 and phase 2 – then study how to use it in phase 3 on the lowest possible settings that dont cause stress, make her cry, etc.. She should totally know how to avoid it before it is ever used.
Here is a video that demos some of the concepts of phase 1, 2, and 3:
