Who's Walking Who? Training for dogs with aggression

This is a question that people ask from time to time when they are looking at obedience training.  The simple answer is never.  Let me explain. When we start training, we teach the owner how to utilize a prong collar and an e-collar.  Very quickly they realize how much easier training is when they have the appropriate tools and know how to use them.  The more training the dog gets, the less the tools are needed on a regular basis.  Over time the owner might recognize that they put a prong collar on for a walk, but they don’t hardly ever need to utilize the prong collar to correct the dog on a walk.  That is normal.  However, what if a person is on a walk with their dog and the dog sees a rabbit take off running. Is the dog going to ignore it, or is the dog going to try and chase it?  If there is a chance that the dog is going to chase it, I want to have the appropriate tool to address the dog ignoring me and trying to chase after the rabbit....

Training isn’t always the best solution for every dog. Sometimes the best solution isn’t the one we want to choose. I recently received a call from a distraught mother of an 18-month-old child, her dog had bit the infant in the face twice. She was looking for help.  Anyone that has ever had an 18-month-old child, knows they get into things, and they move fast.  This is a dangerous situation at best when the dog has already bit the child. I have been training dogs long enough to know that parents with toddlers are fighting an uphill battle, they do not have the time necessary to address an issue like this. It really doesn’t matter what the circumstances were behind the bite incidents. It might not have been the dog’s fault; it could have been the child doing something to the dog. The reality is to address this issue the first thing that must happen is the dog needs to be kept separate from the child. How do you keep a toddler away from the dog? That is easier said than done....