Alice,
I fully agree with you about the importance of knowing my that my dog is submissive and bonded to me. I also have the advantage that I outweigh my dog by a substantial margin. If she were handler aggressive, she would probably be too much for me to handle without someone there.

What I like about using the dogs behind a fence is that it lets me control the circumstances in which I teach my dog. I think this is much better than waiting for a random dog on a leash or trying to teach my dog when she is likely to displace her aggression on my other dog.

Thanks for the input...I've been trying a similar routine when walking Sam, by himself of course...When we go by the yards with dogs, I make him sit and stay, and then just during our walk, I'll just make him stop and sit. I'm not sure if that really does anything if we're not around distractions. I think I'm letting him get a little too far in his reaction to the dogs before I try to make him sit, and sometimes he's too focused on the dogs to actually listen, until I mention a treat, then he listens. So I will try to make sure I get him before he gets too engaged in the distraction. I have also been using a verbal command before I correct him with his prong collar, and that seems to help. He doesn't seem to get quite so excited when he hears my voice. Also, if I have to correct him, I really don't think I'm being as aggressive as I should, so should he display that he's uncomfortable? I'm not sure how far to go with the prong collar.

Taking him thru his commands even without distraction does help. It reinforces them and gets him used to complying as well as strengthens the bond between the two of you. You may want to try some different types of obedience with him also, like making him obey in uncomfortable situations. This will increase his trust in you, and make him more compliant in the long run. Examples are; downing him in puddles, snow, wood, and other not normal types of places that aren't comfortable for him. I even down mine in the bay and the ocean in warmer weather and make them hold a stay while the waves lap over them. I was given this advice from a trainer, and he swears by it. I've seen a difference in their response to commands as well. Initially I thought it sounded strange but he has more experience than me so I thought it couldn't hurt to try it.

Do you have a leave it command? If you're walking by dogs, eventually you'll want to progress past having to put him in a sit. You can tell him to Leave It in a commanding voice, and then pop him with a prong correction if you've already started with the collar without incident. The type of correction you want to give is enough to get his attention off the distraction causing him to act up, and hesitant to pay attention to it again after you've told him to leave it or focus on you... On a scale of 1-10 what level are you giving and what reaction are you getting? For innappropriate attention to other dogs, I'd pop at a level 8 if nobody was around to see to start with. If I need to do it again, it has to be a 10. This is just what I do. I don't like dragged out issues. *** If you pop with a hard prong correction, make sure to do it before the dog hits the zone point or he could redirect. You want to catch him for just paying attention to the distraction with that look where he's about to react. Some people even train to make sure the dog learns not to look at all. Timing is everything *** I have a female that wasn't really animal aggressive, but if dogs barked aggressively at her, she was ready to take them up on their challenge. I don't like that. Keep in mind that you're correcting for the dog disobeying the obedience command, ie leave it, focus, sit/stay, or whatever you told him.

I've seen some situations where the prong doesn't work effectively for my female, it makes her worse and even more aggressive. If you see the prong isn't working as it should, and you're giving a hard enough well timed clear correction, you may need another method, like the dominant dog collar, or desensitization training. You have to observe and be the judge of that.

If food is working as a distraction, use the food to teach him the focus command. The goal is to get him to the point where you don't need to pop him with the prong anymore. If you ever get into a situation where the dog is going to go for something and you can't hold him, you can take the leash, quickly loop it around his neck and tie a slip knot. Not a great thing to have to do, but I've had to do it and it really helped me gain control over my male when he was bad. I think you might want to look into a dominant dog collar and the dominant dog video. The slip knot I've done sounds very similar to the effect the dominant dog collar has except the DD collar is obviously superior.

I'm glad you're progressing and working it out! He'll be over the problem in no time with continued work and persistence <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Just be consistant.