My dog is super reactive and has been threw over thousands of dollars of training. I don't walk him to desensitize him, I walk him because I live in down town Columbia with no yard. I'm sorry people handle it poorly but my GSD needs to get exercise out, I try to always wait till there's no one and the only time we don't have a lot of distance is when we are coming in and out of our condominium. I definitely don't go in high traffic times for walks except potty breaks tho, I'm not in your area but I hope they are trying to help their reactive pup, it's tough but you have to just adjust your schedule for them.