Dog - Dog Aggression

Question
4 dog house - 8 year old f corgi, 7 yr old m corgi, 4 yr old f Sheltie, 1 yr old f doxie - Male corgi a rescue dog at 1 yr old from an abusive setting - definitely an alpha - sheltie challenging him - he's has turned on her a number of times when challenged and now simply refuses to tolerate her even  being in the room.  The other 2 have also gotten tagged by him when he has misinterpreted some action of theirs, like walking to close to dirt he is sniffing out in the backyard.  I'm trying to walk him for a half hour each night - have him sit and stay - reward with a good boy or a treat.  I am trying to control the Sheltie re: her fear/challenge bark.  Help!

Answer
Hi Karen, we want to turn this around a bit by you being in charge, and not having to think about what the dog is interpreting, or misinterpreting.  Outside influences are forever changing, and since we can't control the environment, we need to learn to control our dogs more.  We always train in very distracting environments, because if you can control them there, you can certainly control them in situations that are not so distracting.  We actually train from the beginning that way, because we like to show that no matter what the environment, the rules are still the same.  "Sit Means Sit"........period.  You sound like you have some dog issues there with this dog, and without me actually seeing the dog, and your interaction, it's hard to say whether this is an obedience problem, or a genetic situation.  There are certainly dogs out there that are better left separated, but we should take the obedience route for a while before we can come to that conclusion.   You may want to try to put this dog in a kennel or crate, and have your other dogs doing obedience around it.  This is not only good for your other dogs to become attentive, but it's also a good way to practice with this dog seeing other dogs in close proximity, but still being able to pay attention to you.  You may also want to put a line through the crate with the dog in it, so that you can control that dog as well.  It's good obedience practice in any case.  You may also want to look to see if there is one of our many "Sit Means Sit" dog training locations near you, so that they can get a better visual picture of the actual dog, and to help you with these exercises.  The long walks and exercises that you are doing are great, but you also want attentiveness on an instant's notice, because usually when the dog is most excited, that is when you need it the most.  Here is a recent video that we took of one of our clients that had a dog aggressive dog, and this is the first lesson.  The dog is much more attentive now, but you do have a visual picture of some of the drills with dog distraction around, but yet we have the safety of the fence (or a crate), so that there is no potential fight.  Here is the clip. http://www.sitmeanssit.com/dog-aggressive-corgi-mix/