Dog Aggression?
So I adopted this dog a little over a year ago when he was 2.5 yeas old. I knew that when I adopted him that he was poorly socialized around other dogs because his previous owners had a dog that was aggressive towards other dogs. My issue is this: whenever we are on our walks he goes completely apeshit around other dogs depending upon proximity
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I would drop the prong. Right away. IF this is fear-based (and it's hard to tell from your description if it's frustration or fear), it can create more problems, not less. And if it's out of frustration it may make the problem worse by adding pain to the frustration. I would use a flat collar or a martingale (a properly fitted martingale should be impossible to slip out of as it tightens to the size of the dog's neck when pulled on), or just stick to a harness if you're afraid of his slipping out of the collar.
I used a game called "Look at that" from Leslie McDevitt's Control Unleashed with my dog (who was reactive out of frustration at not being able to greet other dogs). You can find the whole thing outlined in the book (and don't let its being geared toward sport dogs deter you...it's helpful for ALL dogs). But the basic gist is this:
Keep your dog far enough away from other dogs that he/she does not react with barking, lunging, growling, etc. It's ok for your dog to NOTICE the other dog, but once they get to this point they can't learn anymore. They're over threshold. This is why leash corrections and positive reinforcement do not work for you. The dog simply cannot think. I liken it to trying to teach someone math problems while dangling them off a cliff. They're simply going to be too panicked to learn. So for the dog to learn to relax, they need to be far enough away from the other dog that they're not over threshold, but close enough to have taken note of the other dog.
So how do you find that in between point? Pay attention to your dog. Watch the dog when you see another dog in the distance and look for the signs that your dog sees the other dog and is about to react. Their ears may go forward (or backward). They may freeze in place and stare. Their tail may come up. Their hackles might raise. The warning signs are usually there. For my girl, it was a freezing in place, ears going forward and the tail coming up. After a bit of study, I could tell when she was going to react. And THAT is the point you need.
When my dog would notice the other dog, but hadn't yet reacted, I would say "Look at that!" in a bright happy voice. And when she looked back at me, she got rewarded (some use a click/treat if you're into clickers...for me she got a "Yes!" and a food reward, because she's REALLY food motivated). For your dog, you could use food (high value...we're not talking kibble or milk bones here...we're talking chicken or steak or something along that line). Or you could use a game of tug if you're dog's really into it. There are even leashes specifically made for tugging that you could get (check out Tillies Tuggies, for example...she's currently taking a break to catch up but should have more soon I'm sure).
The key is LOTS of rewards for looking and then looking back to you instead of reacting.
Eventually, if you do it enough, your dog will see that dog coming and turn to look at you. Excellent! Then you can move it closer. You don't want to move closer until your dog is ready because that puts the dog over threshold (and all you can do then is get your dog further away and let him calm down). But once the dog can walk past another dog at a distance of whatever you're working at (50 feet, 100 feet, whatever), then you can push it a little closer. Maybe they can walk calmly by when a dog is 30 feet away...so try pushing it to 28 feet or thereabouts. Don't go too close too fast, but you'll be able to get a little bit closer.
We did this and while YES, it takes some time (do not expect it to work overnight...we started to see some really solid results after consistently doing it for a couple months). But we went from not being able to be across the road from another dog without my dog losing her head and going nuts to being able to walk by another dog that's just a few feet away without a meltdown.
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