Absolutely! We will get there with Ben, but I do have my doubts about black labradors, I really do. But it is my life's ambition, so we shall see

I didn't say don't try parallel walking, I was just saying it doesn't work for all dogs.

I think I am getting lost and confused in this thread you said you wanted perfection, I said I didn't look for perfection and you agreed with me

To me it depends on what I want, I want my dogs to come back to me every time I call, I need perfection. When that loose dog had me off my scooter Bonnie and Tilly obeyed my command to leave and stay immediately, I had perfection but my dogs can also tell when I am half hearted with my commands and they are half hearted with how they obey them.

We can try to achieve perfection in what we do even though we don't get it.

I think I read somewhere that Ben was attacked by a black Lab which is why he is like this with all black labs, it looks like it could be fear of being attacked again. With Gracie I didn't know her past but she was so practiced at her aggression to other dogs that I couldn't work out why. At that time I also walked a Greyhound and Whippet/JRT with Gracie so couldn't have a dog leaping about either, I tried to keep her in a position were she didn't react, once she was reacting her brain had shut down so nothing I did got through, by keeping her were she didn't react, and hopefully see the other dog, I was able to teach her that dogs are not scary monsters and she became a joy to walk.

It's sad really they only need one bad thing to happen and it can wipe out a hundred good interactions. They completely forget the years of good hellos and just remember the one time they were hurt.

Sorry ... I meant "perfection" not perfection, if you get my drift. With a mally cross you are never going to get the level of obedience that you will see in an obedience class. By perfection, I mean a reliable recall and an eradication of the desire to flatten all BL's!

I want my dogs too to come back to me every time they call, and they do! But they are not blindingly obedient with it - Ben especially likes to "clip" you, just for fun - ha ha - before he will stand still enough to have the lead put on!

He was attacked badly and several times by a bitch rottweiler at his last but one home - a very nice home where he was well looked after, but I suspect indulged too I assumed that his aggressiveness towards BL's was either connected to this, or because of it - funnily enough, the one dog that his father attacked seemingly unprovoked was the BL that goes to our local regularly. Then when we lost Hal and adopted Tai, blow me down if he didn't attack this poor dog also. And then when we got Ben, they both attacked it - or rather barked aggressively at it, until we removed our hooligans. Very, very embarrassing when the dear sweet boy was just sitting there minding his own business! He is a solid black and wears a very obvious very bright red collar - I wondered if this had anything to do with it? The dramatic contrast in colour. I have no idea, but all I do know is that ALL bl's now if they are male will definitely be flattened if we were not alert.

I've done parallel walking with Ella, she quickly progressed to social walks. I started off doing BAT and clicker training with her for her reactivity but had to give it up as it excites her too much, so parallel walking was our solution.
When you do parallel walking, it's good to have someone between the two dogs as a barrier, so that they get a chance to break a stare and it just creates a bit more security for them. It also allows them to get closer to the other dog without getting too intense. Obviously tiny steps will be needed. But it makes it possible for the reactive dog to get accustomed to the other dog and eventually be able to look at them and sorting their own feelings out about being close to something they're scared of.

Anyway, it might not work with all dogs but it helped us a lot, especially because clicker training is a no-go for Ella.