my german shephards aggressive to other dogs....

Question
i've done ton's of research... and had a behaviorist..  i live in germany so i felt the language barrier was difficult between me and the behaviorist.  i'm a army wife...

well i bought my male dog a yr ago off a nieghbour what raised him with another male gsd.. mine was the youngest, she did no training with him..... well for the past yr i've been soo dedicated to him. getting him expert help, and reading books about is aggressiveness to other animals..  

with no avail, i feel he's got worse, i took him camping and when he saw other dogs, thats it, he's on his hind legs barking, and in the garden he's the same, he's great round kids.. it's all animals..

i'm feeling like i don't want to walk him anymore,  he's wearing me out, but i know i have too because he's highly strung..  
i promised my hubby 6mths ago before he went to afgan that he would be sorted..  i don't know what to do anymore.  i've tried the shaking of rice in a bottle, splashing water at him, the buzzing collar, the behaviorist.. and walking him with treats in my pocket to distract him from other dogs.. nothing works, i even watch Cesar milan everynight..  

so is he not trainable or does he not respect me, i do have a firm voice with him..
my hubby wants me to rehome him,  but deep down i see there;s a lovely side to him..

please has anyone had this sort of dog....... any advice would be sooo apreciated...

thankyou.....  michelle

Answer
Yes, I have had occasional dogs like that, but mine usually weigh 15-18# and it is not that difficult for me to get them under control.

I would say that you are correct that your dog has no respect for you, and it just might be that he needs a more dominant owner than you. I'm sure that his size alone is probably pretty overwhelming, and unfortunately he probably realizes that he is physically stronger than you. When out walking, you need to keep an eye open for other dogs and head away from them. If he starts acting up, I would turn quickly into him, catching him hard with my knee, and head off in the opposite direction as I gave him a hard correction ("pop") with leash and training collar, and praise him when he moved along willingly.

You definitely need to start practicing "Nothing in Life is Free" with him. http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm I also suggest that you do "Long Downs" with him three times a week. http://www.volhard.com/general/artbywv.htm#tnw He should also be trained for a few minutes every single day. Working dogs really DO like to work and have a job to do.

I don't know if there are any obedience classes for you there, but you can work from a book, which would be wiser anyway since he is dog-aggressive. One I highly recommend is "Training Your Dog, the Step-by-Step Manual", by Volhard & Fisher (Howell Book House). Clicker training might be effective for you, and that is often used in behavior modification. "Clicker Training for Obedience", by Morgan Spector (Sunshine Books) That could be harder for you if you have no experience with clicker though.

One thought I did have since you are an army wife is that most bases have dog handlers. Possibly you could contact them and see if one of them might be willing to help you with your problem in his off time. It certainly wouldn't hurt to investigate that.

You might also have your dog's thyroid levels tested as aggressive is one symptom of hypothyroidism (also of Lyme Disease, but I don't know if they have that in Europe).

Good luck with your dog.