Stacie-
He has little or no food drive when he can see other dogs. If food is right in front of his nose he might take it but he doesn't focus on it. I don't use food because I don't want him to think his behaviour is being rewarded.

As far as individualing socializing him he has been initially very aggressive towards any other dog. As you can imagine, other people don't want to expose their dog to that. I did try it with my sister's Dobermann. We got them gradually closer to each other. We didn't move any closer until Krieger stopped barking, lunging etc. This was early before I knew how bad Krieger was and so he didn't have a muzzle on. After they got to being within a couple feet of each other we let Dobie loose in the yard. As Dobie went to walk away Krieger bit him on the back of the neck. The skin wasn't broken but it's hard to ask somebody to bring their dog back for more.

What is your dog's temperament like? What behavior modifying tactics have you used up untill now? If you give us some examples it would be helpful.
Cynthia- His temperment tends to be pretty soft. For anything besides other dogs a very light correction is all that is needed. A stern voice is usually all that is needed or occasionally a collar correction. He doesn't fight if I roll him on his back. He is generally pretty calm. Even on very long car rides he lays quietly. In the house he is also quiet until he's invited to play. He loves playing tug of war and gets pretty boisterous while playing but obeys when told to release. He does tend to be pretty bossy and dominant with our other dog but not mean. He responds quickly to obedience commands. If he sees something new he may pause but then continue to move forward and investigate.

Pamela, you are all confused about positive training:

I don't use food because I don't want him to think his behaviour is being rewarded.
First of all, you make sure he's hungry when you go out and train. Then you find out what food he REALLY loves. And it's not usually any 'real' dog food or treat. If it takes you cooking up liver in a wine/garlic sauce, then I would be cooking liver in a wine/garlic sauce.

And you are NOT rewarding the dog for when he is behaving badly. Instead you give an alternate command (watch me? come?) and THAT'S what the treat and food reward is for. And if you have to back off a distance to still keep his attention and focus with the food, than back off. It's taken a long time for him to get all these bad behaviors so it will take a while to break them.

You can use the prong collar with this. You can just sit near dogs, with the leash and prong, and practice the 'watch me' commands and holding the food up near your face (in your mouth is better) and rewarding by dropping the food frequently in the beginning and then spacing it out. You can pop the leash as a 'reminder' if his eyes stray, but as soon as he looks back you give the praise and the treat.

Once again, you are right you do NOT want to reward the bad behaviors. But AS THE TRAINER, you need to come up with an alternate behaviour you do want him to do so you CAN reward it.

http://www.flyingdogpress.com/aggressionbasics.html

http://www.flyingdogpress.com/artlibreg.htm

http://petplace.netscape.com/articles/artShow.asp?artID=1972

And I want to add, that when I have found a certain training technique is not working for me, and I have to give it a while, then I need to move on and try something else. Sometimes I'm not doing it right (I tend to think I know better than the professionals about my dog, and I am NOT usually right), and sometimes it's just not a method that works with my dog. Being open minded enough, and flexible enough, and with my dogs well being in mind, I need to MOVE ON and go to another trainer, use another method, and add to my box of handler tricks/methods.

Good luck.

Jenn. Thanks for clarifying what I was saying.

I've personally found raw bacon to be like doggie crack. I ran out of Roxy's treats and didn't have time to get any before class. I had some raw bacon, so I brought that along. During "play time" at the end of class, I nearly had to flee the field. I had about a dozen GSDs sitting in a circle around me looking for some bacon!

Jenn,
Just to clarify, when he sees other dogs I'm not really getting his attention. I have used cooked chicken and summer sausage as treats and I can barely get him to glance at me. I did use a prong collar when he went to obedience but he still lunges while wearing it. Several times the collar popped open which about gave me a heart attack.

There are two things that I've had some success with. The first was when working with the behaviourist as I explained in my first post. The method was working but I didn't feel assured of my dogs safety. The second is one I started to use when my neighbor's dog was out. The neighbor got an adult Beagle around Easter. It turned out that his dog hated all other dogs also. We built a kennel in our yard to prevent fighting at the fence. I could get my dog to respond to a down command and occasionally give eye contact while the dog next door was barking at him. He had to be calm and quiet before I released him from the down. But outside of the kennel his behaviour remained unchanged. Obviously he wasn't ready for the level of distraction or provocation he was experiencing from having a dog right next door flinging himself at the fence while growling and snarling.

Pam, you are too close. Once he focused in and that close, you will be 'fighting' him, and there isn't the learning you need. Start further away, so you set him up to SUCCEED and he understands EXACTLY what you are asking and what he will earn. You may need to skip his meal(s) on the day you are going to train this, so he'll be getting his calories in the treats. And try pizza, liverwurst, hotdogs, cooked beef liver, cooked chicken liver, tortellinis, SHARP cheddar cheese, squeeze cheese.................

And you need to find another trainer and set of obedience classes. When the prong collar is properly fit, and you have the proper leash, and your timing is good (all thing a good instructor can help with) you will not have him still lunging and popping out of the collar.

You really need to start this with a 'distance' that he will still listen to you will the distraction. And you also really need to find some good classes to help with re-affirming the obedience and 'you are in charge'. I went to obedience classes for a long time with my first dog because I had so much to learn. I would continue to go until my dog(s) are able to be 'the dogs I want them to be'. And this may mean I have to switch trainers, drive an hour to good classes, attend seminars, etc.

Set him up to succeed so he's PERFECTLY clear about what you are asking from him. And then only gradually 'push' him by getting closer to the 'whatever' causes the problems. He needs to know the rules do NOT change just because he's so close to other dogs. YOU are still in charge, YOU will take care of him, and YOU expect him to listen and behave. But not so much in a BAD DOG, way. More in a firm, controlled, you need to 'watch me' and be calm and quiet. You want him to be a good dog doing something you want, rather than just be correcting him constantly for doing something wrong.

Have you attended a clicker class? May really help improve your timing and his understanding. I know it helped me with mine.