Seriously at wits end!

Long time no post! Sorry to start it off with a problem...

So the issue is Gunnar. Here's some history on him and the problem. Gunnar was very well socialized as a puppy/early adult. He went all the way through Novice obedience and even earned his CGC. He is now a three year old netured male.

The problem started about a year ago. While we were out for a walk one day he was attacked by a cocker spaniel that the owners had left off leash, he had his backpack on and did not have a chance to fight back as I quickly took charge of the situation. It maybe lasted 20 seconds max. Then a few weeks later as we were biking down the street another dog charged us but did not get to Gunnar as I sped up and managed to out bike the other dog.

Ever since then Gunnar has had some serious dog aggression. We have worked hard on this with focus training (he is exceedingly well behaved) at a distance. We go to the dog park about three times a week and just watch from a decent distance and work on focus and ignoring the other dogs. We have managed to be able to be right outside the fence with no issues. He also does fine on a walk when another leashed dog approaches we move to the side and he "ignores".

The problem at this point is loose dogs. I enjoy taking him on trails however most dog owners in this area think that is great place to let their dogs run. This is a huge problem. Yesterday we encountered three issues. The first was a lady with a husky and rot mix. Neva and Layla had fun bounding around with them as we passed but I was sitting on the ground with Gunnar's head firmly in between my legs and hands. He twists, snarls, and does anything he can to get at the other dogs. These two passed us without approaching. A bit later along came a bounding, joyful golden, happy as happy can be. Again Gunnar's reaction was short of bloody murder. Again I had to hold him head down and do my best to restrain an 80 pound dog who was ready to kill. Again Neva and Layla were best of buds with this new found friend.

It is getting very difficult for me to control him. Treats and toys have no impact when another dog approaches. He only wants to kill the other dog. There is no way for me to control this environment either. For the other dogs safety Gunnar must be controlled more often than not this includes me sitting on him and holding his head very tightly which I know is not a good idea but being pregnant again this is the best I can do as I do not want to fall.

We worked on ignoring other dogs for months now, at least seven. I am at my wit's end. I hate that others let their dogs off leash and Gunnar must have exercise being a GSD he would be insane without it. I am thinking about getting a wire basket muzzle and just putting that on during our walks to protect the other dogs. I will be consulting a behaviorist here within a few weeks for additional tips but I really have no idea what they are going to be able to offer that I have not already tried.

Please help! I don't want to have to walk a muzzled GSD around, I just know people will think he is evil and vicious when it isn't even his fault at this point.

Two words: Control Unleashed. New book by Leslie McDevitt, and as the owner of a dog-reactive dog it is ringing every single one of my bells, and presents a really new approach to dealing with fearful or reactive dogs.

Gunnar won't be able to ignore if he's over threshold for his fear aggression, so that's the first thing that has to happen here. He's being exposed to situations that are way over threshold and no training can take place at that time. You need to back up, start over and I'd say stop exposing him to an environment that seems guaranteed to present situations that you can't manage and that send him over threshold without you being able to mitigate the situation at all. Not forever, just until you can get this dealt with. He's getting the opportunity to rehearse this behavior over and over, and he's also being shown that meeting strange dogs is scary, it is stressful, it is just all around bad and he definitely has something to worry about when he sees another dog.

Additionally, what do you walk him on? I just got a SENSE-ible harness for Conrad for those times when we get surprised by a trigger (dog, cat, small running/screaming child) and I need to be able to control him better and take him out of the situation to a sub-threshold distance before we can do any work. It's more for managing not really for training, but it does help a lot. It also boosts my confidence (which Conrad can feel) because I don't have to worry so much about what if we come around a corner and Conrad sees something that sets him off before I see it and he pulls me over/gets loose/knocks me down/trips me. When I feel more confident, it sends the message to the dogs that there's nothing worry about, I have everything under control, move along.

i would avoid the trails where the off leash dogs are for now. as houndlove pointed out, he just can't handle that environment yet.

some group obedience classes might be helpful, where he can be around other dogs in a controlled environment.

I second the Control Unleashed vote. It's the best book I'm ever read that's geared towards reactive dogs.

She has a Yahoo group too, if you want to check it out.

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/CU_Dogs/