What a great idea for a thread!!!!

Case (I wont call it history, as we're not even close): Oliver

Was a stray picked up at 6 months old, brought into a foster home where he immediately tried to eat the dogs and cats of the house. Didn't react to any noise, had multiple skin ailments and scars/scabs... Long story short, he was flown to me.

He's extremely reactive to dogs he doesn't know. I made things worse by correcting him with a spray bottle of water when he lunged, I also made things worse by allowing a trainer to correct him for jumping up... now he's afraid of strangers, children AND dogs. he also is often afraid of new objects.

I began clicker training over a year ago with Oliver, and have seen alot of improvements with his dog aggression. infact, within 10 mins of meeting a new dog, he plays with them. I havent attempted cats, as I cant have them, or be around them much (allergies) so it doen't matter.

I am completely off correcting behaviour, even if it's as benign as a squirt with a water bottle. I've researched clicker training aggressive dogs, and just read the book: "Click to Calm" i was already doing alot of those methods, but now I know more.

We have a long road ahead of us, but we will, in time get there. Oliver is a very loving dog with people and dogs he knows, and I'm very sorry that we made it worse, before "cluing in"

I began keeping a training log and diary for Oliver, and i need to pick up another one to start with Boo, my resource guarding boy... It's really helped me keep focused on what Oliver likes, does well, doesn't like and his progress!

Good Idea! I will be also getting a log for Louie - I'm determined he will be better than Sadie and she's as good as it gets (IMO) so I will need a diary!

What I do is split each page in half lengthwise, on the left I write what we did, repititions, time, his reactions, and on the right I wrote what i was thinking, feeling, doing, at the time. that's a great way to understand the stress you're under, and what might be cuing the aggression to the dog.

in your case, you dont have an aggressive dog, but a puppy, but it might be a good idea, incase any behavioural issues crop up in the future, you can go back and pin point what may have caused the reaction... It's really interesting to go back and read... I really wish I'd started one right when I first got Oliver, not a year later

Oliver is def. the single most difficult dog I've ever had, but he is my teacher and mentor an amazing dog!