While I don't deal with aggressive dogs for other people I did train one of my own--an adult male Doberman Pinscher my husband and I adopted who was not socialized as a pup and had no obedience training. He passed on four years ago but this question still remains.

After firing one quack, I worked with a trainer, 30+ years experience, who specialized in aggression problems and was taught that the dog did NOT have to accept the <dog, cat, bunny etc.> but had to learn to obey me under in any and all situations, no matter the distraction. We trained first in basic obedience, then off-leash, gradually working in distractions. After a few months we progressed to the point where the dog could be in a down-stay (on a long line, just in case, I am a worrywort) with another dog (and handler) running by without batting an eye. He would be focussed on me to the point where we could roll a ball four inches from the dog and he wouldn't even look at it. It was such a relief to be able to walk him down the street without being dragged through traffic to get to the dog on the other side. I was watching a Cesar Milan video today and he was training a dog-aggressive dog on a busy street. Another dog owner was approaching from the opposite direction (probably a set up?) and Cesar asked if he could walk both dogs together because, apparently, the aggressive dog would feel better about it since he wasn't face to face with the strange dog. (IMHO neither dog was 'heeling' and that should have been an issue since the aggressive dogs owner was a woman who looked lighter than the dog but that's not the point). Sure enough, the aggressive dog was less snarly towards the strange dog and when Cesar finally stopped he allowed the dogs to sniff. And let the strange dog sniff the more dominant dog first because, according to Cesar, that makes the dominant dog submit. Alright. Here's my questions after that long ramble...was there any point at all in letting the dogs sniff? Why would you invite a potential dog fight? Is it enough to have complete control of a dog? Or do we need to train the dog to accept another dog sniffing his butt? Could the situation be left at--a dog who wouldn't pay any attention to distractions (dogs, cats, bikes, screaming kids etc.) or is it neccesary to train acceptance too? With the Dobe we were very, very careful about who and what approached him even after we built a strong foundation of obedience...other dogs getting near enough to sniff him, no way. I walked with a walking stick and nudged a few snoopy dogs on their merry little ways with it while he sat stone-still waiting to walk on. He didn't get to play with other dogs. We exercised him enough and occupied him with different activities and training so I don't think he missed having a canine companion.

(Our two current dogs are sissies...and much more relaxing to care for. Knock on wood that, in the future, I don't end up with other like the Doberman. He was a challenge, but worth it and a great learning experience. Exhausting though! Once the big dogs are frolicking in Heaven I think we'll have Tibetan Spaniel, ha ha.)

Too tired to respond point by point, so I'll say this: you're right. Cesar's wrong. LOL. Actually, like I said somewhere else, there's so much more to that show (this is what I hear-I've never seen it) than you see b/c of the idiotic editing. Yes, it has to be edited, but they could be more careful to present things accurately.

I don't know why he would do that, but I bet there's more to it than the part you saw.

I don't have any that are straight-up DA, but I have one or two highly dominant ones that I treat/trained just like you worked your Dobe. I wouldn't chance it, and if Cesar approaced me to do that w/my dog, they'd surely have to edit that part;-).

Thanks for your replies. Sorry Jenni that my rambles tire you out before you can get to the answering part, ha ha ha. And Connie, thanks, we worked our butts off trying to save this dog. (In the end we lost the battle but we did give him two years jam packed with more respect, love, training and fun than he'd had in the four years before us.) The trainer was phenomenal--his common sense methods were exactly what we needed. I was lucky that I didn't work outside the home and had every waking second to devote to him. It was like boot camp, min. four times a day and every second that we weren't training was supervised and planned. He was SMART, way more than any other dog I've known, and I can only imagine what he could have done if he had been raised right. I remember one afternoon he was out sniffing around the acreage and decided to follow a deer. You know how fast they can run, ha ha ha, both the deer and the dog! I called out DOWN and that instant his belly hit the snow and he skidded. He lay there, shaking in excitement, but when I told him to come he hopped up and raced back to me. So proud. (Another time he was running around the yard in his very sissy red velvet jacket--Alberta -20 winter, that's mild--and it somehow fell off. He stopped, turned around, picked it up and carried it back to the house. I let him in and he waited for me to dress him back up and went back to the door to go outside. That has nothing to do with training...just cuteness, ha ha ha!)

Sorry Jenni that my rambles tire you out before you can get to the answering part, ha ha ha.