@lilith_eve This sub doesn't allow good experiences to be shared about balanced training, so I expect my comment here to be deleted, but I'll share anyway:
I found that skilled balanced training gave me results much faster and much more reliably than only R+. With my first reactive dog, we did worked for months do try to change her feelings about other dogs. Her threshold would go from maybe 80' to 30' and then at some point an off leash dog would get within maybe 10' and her threshold would jump to 100' and we would have to start all over. We did that for years without making any concrete process at all.
R+ is the foundation of balanced training. With balanced training, I would correct my dog for reacting and then resume all the same R+ exercises I had been doing before. My dog was significantly more responsive and her threshold dropped dramatically very quickly and stayed down even when a dog got too close for her comfort level.
I honestly think reacting and having a meltdown is inherently rewarding for the dog. Just like people, having a tantrum, screaming and shouting and completely losing control of our emotions releases brain chemicals that make us feel good. A while back there used to be this idea for people that aggressive activities were good for emotional regulation because they helped get the angry feelings out. But it turns out those activities were actually rewarding feeling angry and made people get angry faster and worse. Same with dogs, when we allow them to express their feelings any way they like and just try to change those feelings, I think we are inadvertantly rewarding the behavior we don't want.
I haven't had problems with a reactive dog since I stopped allowing my dogs to be reactive.