Some background:
I'm working with a two year old Doberman who is coming along nicely and hasn't really given me much in the way of trouble, except vocally. He's 'emotionally' soft, physically hard and has a pretty decent prey drive. He's not dog aggressive by any means, but whenever he sees a dog or works around dogs he gets extremely excited. I've tried full-on immersion and it doesn't seem to make a difference. He will respond nicely to obedience commands and has no trouble staying focused on me when there are dogs around, but he will do everything while emitting a high-pitched whine that drives me crazy. Any ideas on how I can correct this whining without messing with obedience that I'm otherwise very pleased with?

There's more than one route, but first:

Is the whining ONLY when he is near other dogs?

It is only when he is training near other dogs? Or near them, period?

Does he focus on them, or stay focused on you but atill whine?

He's whining only when other dogs are around. He used to whine and get hyped up when he saw anything chaseable, but with training and time he learned to focus, so a 'watch me' command is enough and often not even a requirement to keep his attention. With dogs he seems to just not be able to let it go. He will whine when just near them AND when training near them. He will stay focused on me, but continue to whine. The other day we were training in a remote area and he was quiet, but then, without taking his eyes or attention off me, he started up with the whine. Sure enough, off in the distance was another handler with a dog. It's very weird.

I've known this dog since before he was conceived, literally, and he's never had a negative experience around dogs at all. He HAS had some doggie interaction from time to time with friends dogs and gets on well without any sign of social ineptness.

I've taken him to classes with quiet dogs, I've taken him to classes with obnoxious dogs, just to get him around groups of strange dogs to try and desensitize him a bit but it hasn't worked for the whining at all. He's fine around dogs he knows, even if he's only known them from a distance and for a short time. But NEW dogs....geesh.

What am I missing here?

having raised Dobermans for many years I have known a few of these "tea kettles"....they whistle and whine and it's very difficult to stop because in my experience many of them keep working while they do this.

You can try using markers, and using whatever is the highest value reward for him for 1 second of no whining and build from there. This may work but may take a really long time and you will have to work it in really small increments.

The other thing you can try is a remote collar (once the dog is acclimated to it and you know his working level) and use it on a nick on a very low level as an "interrupter" and then the moment the dog stops whining a big party with you takes place.

I think a remote may be the route I would go with a dog like this as I think it's easier to interrupt the whining with a nick and then reward than to wait for him to offer a moment of quiet. I'm all for letting the dog offer me behaviors but this one is a toughie!

YES! Thank you, Cindy. That's exactly what it's like: a tea kettle, and he keeps working through it like a good obedient boy, but the noise he makes! I DO have a remote collar that we've worked in quite a bit. I agree, and I'm all for a dog giving me the behavior too, but there isn't much chance of him volunteering silence in this instance. I love your idea -interrupt and then party- makes sense. I'll try it and let you know how it goes! Thank you!

You are welcome, please let us know how it works. I would be interested to know if you need to increase the level a lot for this or if his regular working level will be sufficient.

I'm also wondering if you should use a cue for QUIET before you nick him? So you have a word to pair with the behavior you want?

Good luck!

Okay, I took my dog to a place where I was likely to encounter a couple of dogs but not a bunch, armed with my e-collar and left-over chicken. It's funny that you suggested using 'quiet'...that's what I ended up doing. I wanted to attach a command. It went pretty well!

I had him just walking on a loose leash to keep it simple, and as soon as we encountered another dog, sure enough, he starts shrieking. I told him quiet, gave him a nick, and the second he was silent I marked with 'yes' and gave him a jackpot of chicken. He was starting to catch on by about the third 'quiet', so I'm pretty pleased. As you said, it's a tough one! It's funny, because even on a loose leash he'll look at me before he starts whining because he KNOWS he's supposed to ignore the other dogs. I actually had to use a higher level of stim than usual to get a response, which doesn't surprise me. The whining seems to correspond with excitement/elevation in drive. I've noticed that when he's quiet, he's calmer too. His own voice seems to get him fired up . This is great! It's working! Thanks again!