We've had our boxer/pit/chow/lab rescue for almost two weeks now, BUT he's learned a lot since the day we brought him home. He knows sit/down/come WHEN we have treats for him. And he knows "wait" on a leash. But the problem is that he simply doesn't listen when there's a powerful distraction.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think he's reached the correction stage. He KNOWS that "wait" means stop pulling on the leash. But when a person walks by us, he lunges in what I think is MAJOR curiosity. When this happens, I cannot for the life of me distract him. I've tried motivational methods like treats and toys. Then I tried popping him on the leash, then yanking his leash. Today I was literally HANGING him from his collar, his back feet barely touching the ground, and between gasps he was still trying to bark and struggle toward the gentleman that was walking on the other side of the street. During these times I say quietly, "Wait, Beau, wait." I'm not angry at him and I'm NOT trying to be abusive! But I don't want the day to come when he's off leash and runs toward someone looking aggressive.

I really don't think he's BEING aggressive, because when he encounters people that I let pet him, he simply sniffs them. He spent most of his first eight months neglected in a run in someone's backyard. I think he has separation anxiety - he does not like being alone.

So a couple things are on my mind:
1. He needs a new collar? The one he has now is a flat collar. BUT when I first met him, his owner had him on a prong and he was still pulling on the leash. Maybe it wasn't fitted properly?
2. We haven't bonded enough, so he thinks maybe the other person is more interesting to play with?
3. My corrections aren't strong enough?
4. We should avoid all sights of people?
5. A friend told me, "Watch more Dog Whisperer videos - he's got those dogs calm-submissive in five minutes!" So now I think I'm missing a magic ingredient like pack-leadership that would make him stop this behavior.

My goal is for him to be aloof to the sight of others. How can I socialize him while teaching him not to care about other dogs and people?

Any advice is much appreciated!

 Quote: maegan ward

He knows sit/down/come WHEN we have treats for him.

Sounds like you've fallen into the trap of bribing him, instead of rewarding him.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think he's reached the correction stage.

Sounds like it to me, too.

I think he has separation anxiety - he does not like being alone.
Be careful of anthropomorphisizing. Dogs live mostly in the moment. He's being obnoxious because he's being obnoxious- not because he was neglected earlier in his life.

So now I think I'm missing a magic ingredient like pack-leadership that would make him stop this behavior.

Pack leadership never hurts, and it wouldn't hurt here, either. But if he knows "wait" when there are no distractions, and he choses not to obey under distraction, it's just time for the correction phase of training, IMO.

1. He needs a new collar? The one he has now is a flat collar. BUT when I first met him, his owner had him on a prong and he was still pulling on the leash. Maybe it wasn't fitted properly?

It was probably sized improperly, and probably not placed correctly on his neck. That, and they may have been using it wrong. I'd get a properly fitted prong collar, learn how to put it on, and how to use it.

How can I socialize him while teaching him not to care about other dogs and people?

Socializing isn't really intended to mean teaching a dog to be social. It's really a poor name. It should be called neutralizing, since that's the true goal. (Of course, neutralizing sounds awful, too.)

Some informational links for ya:
http://leerburg.com/philosophy.htm
http://leerburg.com/pdf/fitprong.pdf
http://leerburg.com/qaobed1.htm

Megan, my opinion is, it takes more than 2 weeks for a dog to know the command 100%. Just because he knows it indoors, outdoors or around distractions - all bets are off! I think you need to give him more time. Take a few steps back and have more patience with him.

You need to take baby steps with him. Attention on you is where you'll get him to ignore other distractions. That takes time. Depending on his age, a prong may be appropriate, but you should also condition him to it. It will be less stressful than just strapping it on him and popping away.

I honestly managed to miss the two-week time frame, thanks Alex.
I was giving the OP the benefit of the doubt when she said she the dog knows the command.

Two weeks isn't nearly long enough to learn a command enough to move to corrections.
It takes a good 30-90 correct repetitions to learn a command.
If you did it twice a day for two weeks, you probably still wouldn't have it down pat.

In that case, I'd would really do some marker work with him to ensure he understands the command fully before I escalated to a prong.

My grammar sucks today.

I know it's been a short time, and it's honestly LESS stressful thinking it's a handler-patience problem than a disobedience problem and thinking I have to correct the snot out of him when he won't listen.

BUT I KNOW he knows "sit"! He does it before we enter and exit the house, he does it before he gets food, he does it during "training sessions" when we have treats, and he does it on command in the house just when we want to see whether he'll do it.

That said, I don't want to teach him that it's okay to lunge on the leash when a person/squirrel/dog/deer walks by. He sees them coming from WAY off in the distance and from then on it's a struggle. What do I do right now?

Btw, Beau and I working on the pack structure . This dog knows my husband is leader for sure! With me, it's not so much that he tries to dominate me but I think he just doesn't think it's worth it to listen to me.

 Quote: Maegan Ward

... That said, I don't want to teach him that it's okay to lunge on the leash when a person/squirrel/dog/deer walks by. He sees them coming from WAY off in the distance and from then on it's a struggle. What do I do right now?

While you are working on basic obedience and then basic obedience with distractions and different venues, I'd be alert and see the huge distractions first, and I would calmly and smoothly change directions.

Pick your battles. Approach this battle on your own terms, and that would be after lots of marker work and then more marker work, including at the non-reactive edge of a distraction (maybe a helper with a dog).

JMO.

 Quote: maegan ward

...BUT I KNOW he knows "sit"! He does it before we enter and exit the house, he does it before he gets food, he does it during "training sessions" when we have treats, and he does it on command in the house just when we want to see whether he'll do it.

Maegan, will he do sit from accross the room? Or from a farther distance? Will he do it while in drive? Like playing, etc.. That's a good way to know if your dog knows the command.

Connie makes some good points. Start off with the smallest distactions. Have him sit while someone takes off running, have him sit stay while you take off running. Build them up, but always set your dog up for success.

Okay, good advice. He doesn't know it THAT well.

I will keep working with him. But Connie, does that mean that I should hold off on walking him for fear we will see another person?

We don't really have a good place to exercise him without risk of seeing someone else.

We just went for a long walk early this morning while it was still rather dark.

I think I might need to hold off on walking him. He is just SO keyed up when we're on our walks. Even when there's not a person in sight, I have to stop him, make him sit, and then try petting him while constantly saying his name to get him to notice me or make eye contact with me.

Our neighborhood is quiet, not many cars, but we've got lots of squirrels, smells, and occasionally people. Beau's not nervy, but he is really, really distracted. I talk to him throughout the walk, but his attention is on everything but me.

Is retreating to the backyard for exercise my best bet?