@wabj68 Dogs thinking they have to be on constant alert on walks are not as happy as dogs with clear boundries who know their owners can handle things. Note where I said "We dont punish fear responses". If a dog is displaying defensive aggression for no good reason instead of fear reactive aggression thats a choice they are making, a bad choice and they need to know that.
Trouble is telling the difference between the two is useally hard so I wouldn't recommend punishments to someone over the internet or it could make things worse if its actually a fear response. Stick to counter conditioning and at least it wont mess things up more if not 100% sure of the cause. In this case the OP was asking about a professional trainer possibly useing those methods, not just "my dog is reactive should I punish him?"
Trouble is telling the difference between the two is useally hard so I wouldn't recommend punishments to someone over the internet or it could make things worse if its actually a fear response. Stick to counter conditioning and at least it wont mess things up more if not 100% sure of the cause. In this case the OP was asking about a professional trainer possibly useing those methods, not just "my dog is reactive should I punish him?"