I am fostering a 2 - 5 yr old pit/lab mix as a training prospect.

The dog has high prey drive, high food drive, and appears to have OK to good nerves - with the exception of some extremely challenging environments. (under a very loud rollercoaster in a large amusement park)

The dog has also clearly been beaten when in drive and cannot recieve even the gentlest direction/correction on a flat, choke or prong collar without shutting down and fearing the situation which the direction/correction was used in for days. He is improving, but the first time I had him on leash on a flat collar, he walked to the end of the leash, dropped and cowered when he "hit" the end of the lead.

When the dog is not in prey drive, he does well with verbal corrections. He does very well with an ecollar on low stim for commands that he would previously cower at - "out" "down, but NOT AT ALL for commands that he has not had probelms with previously "sit". This makes for very interesting training sessions - we're figuring it out and his obedience is starting to look snappy.

The dog has the ability to do bitework and enjoy it, but I am wondering if this is even a wise idea since the ways to control and train the dog are so limited. Is it possible to train bitework without ever using a physical correction?