Obedience Issues

The first thing would be to get rid of the prong collar. If she associates the class with the discomfort / pain from the prongs, it's not going to help.

In terms of obedience in general, I think there are three main reasons why dogs don't do as we ask. The first is they don't understand what we want, so that's where training comes in. The second is that the desire or motivation to do what we want isn't as great as the desire or motivation to do what they are already doing. So you need to increase the reward, while looking also at the environment and conditions (normally I'd be pretty compliant if chocolate was on offer but if the house is on fire, chocolate is not going to cut it, if that makes sense). The third reason is that sometimes you are working against a deeply rooted breed trait. There's a reason why we don't use terriers to herd sheep.

Specifically regarding your dog, we probably need a lot more information to be helpful. It could be that she is over threshold, over-stimulated. How are the other dogs in the class behaving? What's her body language like during the rest of the class? Does she attack immediately or is there a build up? Does she pick on any other dog, or the closest dog, or is there a pattern? Has this started happening recently or has she always been reactive to other dogs? What's she like with other dogs outside of class?

Importantly, what is the class trainer doing or suggesting?

 

Your starting point shouldn't be with the aim of making her more obedient, but making her comfortable in the situation she is in, so she doesn't need to hold herself back. If she anxious of other dogs, then a prong collar, or other punitive form of control, will add to that anxiety... and even if she doesn't attack, that stress will take its toll, and she may eventually be so overwhelmed she will EXPLODE without warning.

Prong collars are rarely seen in the UK - last year I saw a young dog being walked with on, and could see the dog was incredibly anxious and skittish. Each time she moved out of line, the owner yanked her back towards him. No doubt he wanted her to walk calmly by his side, but what he presumably didn't see was that it was the collar that was making that impossible for her to do.

I would ditch the collar... and ditch that particular training class. Look for one that is rewards-based only. Have a read of this article on dog reactivity, too: Dog Reactivity

 

I'd agree with Judy, look for another class.

40 to 50 dogs in a class that you describe as tense isn't likely to be an environment that's conducive to learning anything. And if the trainer needs people to use prong collars and muzzles, they don't have control. And if they don't have control of the class, why are they letting dogs run free?

I don't know if you studied Maslow's hierarchy of needs in school but basically it says that we can't fulfill our higher level needs like learning if our basic needs of things like safety haven't been met - I can say with some confidence that you are wasting your money at that class because your dog won't be able to focus on learning.

I'd look for a small class of maybe six to eight dogs - or maybe even some one to one training. At the very least, give your dog a few quiet days to let the stress hormone cortisol clear from her system.

Where about are you? I'm guessing you aren't in the UK but maybe we can help you find a class.

 

Even the police and military use positive reinforcement training now, at least in the UK and the US - it's a myth that 'powerful, aggressive, dominant' dogs need to have similarly aggressive, 'dominant' training methods.

Muzzles as a precaution are fine - my dog wore one on all his walks just in case an unexpected situation arose (e.g. child appearing around the corner and tried to pet him before I could react), and was more than happy to wear it. But if the need is to control a powerful dog, then a well-fitting harness with a chest attachment, would be a less punitive but still effective option. Imagine if you were a child being walked on a prong collar to stop you running off...

Dogs don't actually need socialisation that involves mixing freely with other dogs - that can as easily create bullies (and victims) as happy playmates. The aim of socialisation is to make dogs comfortable round other dogs, and many dogs want nothing more than to greet another dog politely and walk on, or simply to ignore other dogs.

 

And to reinforce that, have a look at the video clip at the end of this thread -

Training with a clicker

 

I don't see it quite the same way. If your dog, by instinct, is aloof and not going to be a social butterfly; by making her participate in huge classes twice a week, with the added issue of a prong, is adding to her stress and just reinforcing her perception that crowds of dogs are not where she wants to be. It's possible in fact that the classes have contributed to cause her behaviour.

Think of it like this - if you didn't like people, being forced to go to a big noisy party twice a week, every week, would be horrible, wouldn't it.

Please read the link Judy added earlier about reactivity. There's a lot you can do with her without going to classes, particularly classes like the one you describe.

And, you should probably do a bit of research into littermate syndrome too.