I will eventually finish that other post...probably. I will also eventually post regularly, it's hard when I don't actually have my dog in my possession.
Anyway, I finished The Culture Clash and moved on to Emma Parson's Click to Calm. I've heard a ton of good feedback on this book and it is usually the first book to get mentioned when someone is looking to help their reactive/aggressive dog. I am about 3/4 of the way through it and I am much impressed and excited to use the information from the book with Frodo.
One aspect of helping reactive/aggressive dogs that comes up consistently in all of the books that I have read so far has been that of foundation behaviors (sit, stay, recall, name recognition, LLW, leave it, etc). It has also been mentioned on nearly every behavior modification trainer's website that I visited while looking for a trainer for Frodo. Every dog is expected to have these skills before being allowed in the class, particularly solid name recognition and recall.
Reading these books makes me think that this is where I really need to start with Frodo. He knows all of these behaviors at home and many while out an about if we are not in a stressful situation. Though there is that whole LLW thing that he (and by he, I mean me of course) absolutely fails at. But all of these behaviors need to be seriously strengthened and proofed beyond belief before I can use them as alternatives to aggressive behavior in any kind of real life situation with another dog around.
The top two behaviors that I would like to see get better before we come back to MN would definitely be a LLW and a solid recall. These are probably two of his worst behaviors currently, and also behaviors that I tend to get frustrated while trying to teach. At the same time I am very motivated to make these behaviors better as they are two of the behaviors that would make our lives much easier and get Frodo much more exercise. I obviously can't exercise him on leash as fast as he would be able to exercise off-leash, and our walks would last longer if he had a LLW (one of my biggest pet peeves is a pulling dog). I realize that there is a good chance he will never be a reliable off-leash dog, but I can at least give it my best shot and hopefully reap the benefits.
Less than two weeks now before I head to North Carolina to pick Frodo up!
Back to studying for finals!
Frodo is adorable! I also really like Control Unleashed- have you read that one yet? When you get to Minnesota, I have a GREAT trainer who does reactive dog classes. My dog has made SO MUCH progress since we started training there.
I am actually in the middle of Control Unleashed right now, it's the second or third time I've read it, but this time I am actually planning on using some of what I am reading!