I just had to respond to this thread.
In two days, I have exam with my now
1 year old rotty, so he can pass to the next training class.
Unfortunately, although he is responding to all visual and voice comamnds as it should (from sit, stay, wait, drop, come, etc.), he will fail because of dog-to-dog aggression.
This is the second time we went to basic obedience class, and this time we just went there to try and get rid of this aggression.
I must admit that using (correctly) choke collar did help a bit. Before there was no chance of stopping him from barking, but now I can get his attention after 5-6 corrections and loud "no".
But... His dog-to-dog aggression is still here. So I wlll fail the exam and now have to try something else. It was a bit reassuring to talk to the trainer. She praised work with him and did say that there are a lot of changes in just 6 weeks (just?!), but a lot of work is still to be done, and that e collar is something to consider. She never used it, policy of the club is NO e collar, but privatly she has connected earlier on rotty owner with another trainer and they were successful.
So you may ask, why don't you just continue using choke collar? Well, as I said earlier, it is responding to it, but prevention also has to be in place. To correct him from already doing something wrong is one thing, but to prevent him even considering it is something worth pott of gold!
Maybe I'm trying to persuade mayself to become "cruel" dog owner and use e collar, maybe I'm trying to forget shock collar, but that is something to be considered.
Any good or bad experiences will be more then welcome and words of support too :(