I have a 14 month old Chesapeake Bay Retriever mix that I rescued when he was 8 weeks old. The first 4 months he was fine--showed no signs of being fearful of friends and strangers entering our house. At about 5 months of age, he started to be fearful of people barking and growling at them and when I took him to dog training, lunging at the other dogs. After about 3 months I stopped taking him to training because it was way too stressful for him even though the trainers kept on telling me this is what he needed, that he would get over it. On walks he also would lunge at other dogs. I also have an 11 year old CBR and the two of them get along great. Since then I have read many, many books on reactive dogs and calming signals. I implemented some of the strategies and he has gotten somewhat better when people enter our home, barking at first but then settling down a bit. By the way, he has never bitten another dog or a person. I have, however, stopped taking him for walks the past several months to "calm" him and not put him in a stressful situation. Am I dong the right thing? Please help. Thank you. Gaby