People Reactive Dog

My 4 year old Aussie is (very long story short) reactive (from growling, lunging to snapping) towards people. His biggest triggers are unfamiliar people in the house and being touched/handled. He even gets sketchy with people he knows with sudden movements sometimes or if they touch him and he's anxious. I am really the only one who can do anything with/to him.

We've gone through a variety of trainers (some good, some terrible). We are now working with a behaviorist and he is medicated (he was seen by a vet behaviorist). The professionals have all told me that a lot of improvement can be made and we've seen a lot of improvement but there is still a long way to go.

I'm looking for support, advice and tips from other people that had similar situations with their dogs and saw progress. I will gladly go into more detail if needed.

Please - no negative comments. I'm reaching out to help me feel like I'm not alone in this.

Thanks!

I have a dog who reacts to children and has snapped at them with clear intent to harm. She lunged at a little girls face and clamped her jaws shut on air as the girl JUST got out of the way. Awful and dangerous stuff. Unfortunately I had to take severe preventative measures by muzzling her when there is even a remote chance of children being around and keeping her securely harnessed when out. As for visitors, she must be placed outside when they come as she will bark and snarl in her crate the entire time and disrupt their visit. So I just take preventative measures at this point. She's a very old, very set in her ways, and fairly unintelligent and hard to train dog. Glad you're working with behaviorists to help your doggy. Be sure to avoid any who advocate shock collars and the like.

Jack is very intelligent and quick to learn, so he usually responds well to training. The behaviorist we use is positive based (we had previously used a trainer who advocated shock and prong collars - made the problem MUCH worse).

I have a good idea of what we should be doing in general, but hearing what other people did specifically is always helpful in moving forward. And it's also nice to know that we aren't the only ones struggling with this.

There's an old thread here that might be useful
MY German Shepherd's aggressive behaviour towards people and other dogs

Thanks for the support.
I know in general what we should be doing and have made a lot of improvements (also with the help of medications), but sometimes I get lost on the specific step-by-step process for certain situations. We work with a behaviorist who is great but over an hour away so that makes it difficult to meet regularly. I am talking with him tomorrow about emailing/calling more often to keep us on track.
Jack has become much less reactive in general but there are still some huge roadblocks. He is very anxious/excited in the car and quick to lunge/snap with sudden movements or noises. My mom is the only other person who can be in the house alone with Jack (and lets him out/watches him when I’m away) but she is still nervous about leashing him or touching him too much. I have a fenced in yard so she doesn’t have to leash him to let him out. He is still very reactive with anyone coming into my house other than my mom, dad and girlfriend. I want to get him used to more people but it’s difficult to find people who can consistently work with him (and won’t get freaked out by his behavior) and then find time that works with everyone’s schedules.
When it’s just me and him in the house, nearly all of his behavior issues have been drastically improved or “fixed”. He will bark sometimes if he hears a noise outside but other than that I really don’t have problems with him.
I want to integrate him more into my life and the people in it and also be more comfortable that other people could handle/take care of him safely when/if I’m not around.