Deer assassin, I didn't mean to highjack your thread. I just wanted to point out that with enough training most dogs can be broke of undesirable habits (fighting, gunshyness, hard mouthing a bird, barking excessively in a pen etc). I knew this method would raise questions and bring out criticism, but I have seen it work multiple times. The dogs I broke from being gunshy were good prospects and worth the time to "ME". I felt like this method was a better solution than the alternative, and they turned out to be nice dogs and live happy lives.
Note to: Misc, If my dog got down that weak, I would have suspended training and allowed it to get it's strength back. Also I didn't start out with a 12ga. I started with a 22 CB cap or 22 short, so the expense wasn't much. It usually took a week or two for them to start eating a bite or two with the 22. But once they started, they grew more confident each day that the gun fire wouldn't harm them, and eventually would eat under 12 ga fire.
Deer assisin, back to your question, To stop dog aggression in Police K9s, we would "EVERY" morning for 9 weeks, start our day with muzzled dogs. The muzzled dogs would be allowed to roam in a fenced yard and the handlers would follow them around. If your dog attacked another dog or engaged in a fight, the handler would quickly grab the dog, throw it on his back and straddle it, pinning his neck to the ground , while yelling "NO" and staring in his eyes until the dog broke eye contact. By the end of classes, I never saw a dog that looked to engage in a dog fight. I am also not saying that a very aggressive dog could be totally trusted after graduation but he sure was 100% more tolerate of other dogs after the class.
Being a good dog trainer takes dedication, patience, being very swift and quick with corrections, and giving lots of praise. He also never stops learning new techniques, and remains open minded because each dog is an individual and may require a different method of training.
Just for those that wonder. I have been actually hunting for about 45 years (50 yrs old) and trained hunting dogs most of those years. I have owned and trained rabbit, deer, coon and bear hounds, pointing bird dogs, retrievers, squirrel dogs, and I have trained/retired two police K9s in my career. I have raised at least 25 litters of pups, and owned well over 200 dogs in my life time. I clean dog pens every day and my dogs are very healthy.
They also handle very well!