I have a two year old Boxer mix who has serious dog aggression problems. I have been attending group dog training classes with her, and I know a lot of people don't agree with group classes but for a short while they seemed to have been helping her but a couple months ago she "relapsed". Now my parents are finally fed up with her behavior, and have told me to find a reputable dog trainer that will be able to correcton her dog-on-dog agression issues. We take her camping with us and she doesn't make it any easier when she is firing up at dogs while we walk her. She is a fairly dominant dog as well, so that will need to be worked on too. She co-exists with other dogs in my home and does fine with them, and there are three dogs OUTSIDE my home that she plays will a few times a week(my sister's dog, my best friend's dog, and my neighbor/friend's dog). Her aggression all started when she got into a minor scrap with another dog.

I live in Sacramento, CA and I am hoping to find a nearby trainer that will be able to help me out.

Thanks in advance, Emily

So, she plays well with dogs she is familiar with, and not strange dogs?

What do you do before she starts or when she starts acting aggressive? And what type of collar are you using?

This type of aggression needs to be stopped before it starts, but more info, like the above is needed.

And, you are in the right place. This can be handled. It may take a few times, but you can get it under control.
Here are a few links to go to and read up on as well:

http://www.leerburg.com/philosophy.htm
http://www.leerburg.com/pdf/packstructure.pdf
http://www.leerburg.com/pdf/dealingwithdominantdog.pdf
http://www.leerburg.com/pdf/howtobreakupdogfight.pdf
http://www.leerburg.com/pdf/theoryofcorrections.pdf
http://www.leerburg.com/pdf/dealingwithaggressivedog.pdf

Happy reading, these are some great articles.

I've read all those articles before. Some many more times than others. I'll give them a once over again, so thank you for providing them.

Yes, she gets along well with dogs she knew PRIOR to the incident with the Pit Bull that she scrapped with. Any strange dog gets her to lunge, bark, growl, and if a person or dog(even one she knows) goes to touch her when she is in this "mode" she will turn and put her mouth on them. That is why I say she also has a dominance issue. She has a wire basket muzzle now so I don't have to worry about her redirecting towards me while I remove her from the situation. She wears a properly fitted prong collar and when she is in the presence of other dogs I pop her and say "leave it" when I see her getting ready to focus on the other dog. It helps at first but soon after even if she isn't looking at the dog(I face her with her back to it) she starts barking and then spins around in the blink of an eye and all hell breaks loose. When she is firing up like crazy I lift her front feet off the ground with her flat buckle collar and physically drag her away until she stops screaming and settles down. I am not sure what to do with her after she starts reacting, because I know you aren't supposed to correct them when they are like that?

When she is with the dogs she knows, she plays well but WILL put them in their place when they get too pushy. i.e. my sister's Labrador Retriever likes to jump and tackle her the moment he sees her and she doesn't like that so she will bark and snap at him to settle him down. I'm not sure if I should correct this either? After he is calm she will play with her perfectly fine. She will NOT mess with my Pit Bull at home. She tries to play with him, bowing and touching her muzzle to his chin but I've had her almost a year now and he has only played back with her once and it lasted less than 15 seconds. He is a serious dog and takes none of her nonsense--I truly believe he is the one dog she "respects".

Emily,

I highly recommend Alan and Renee Miller in Sacramento. I have been working with them for years. They offer group and private classes,(also, specialize in aggression) and have been training for decades. Alan is a French Ring decoy and Renee is also very qualified. You can contact them at (916)485-4452. Of course though,
you must be willing to follow through with their instructions. They will show you how to handle the dog but it's up to you to make it happen.

Thank you Mary. I will definitely shoot them an email today. I am more than willing to follow any credible advice someone has to give in regards to my dog. Her dog agression started 9 months ago and not matter what training methods I've done with her it hasn't seemed to have become any better. My mom looked at the few prices they have listed on their website and agrees it didn't look to be too incredibily hard on the wallet, so maybe we'll have a consultation with them.