I'm truly getting confused by this conversation. If there is a misinterpretation on a circumstance I have presented, then please point it out so I can help clarify.
I think I get what is being asked, so I will explain.
I got Ciana from a breeder, she was three months old and the most independent of the three females left. I brought her home that day, and she was perfectly fine with both Nakita, and another German Shepherd we were dog sitting at the time. I would attribute her being friendly with them off the bat to it being a new environment, and they were both also German Shepherds.
I would take her for walks long walks around the lake where I lived, and she would occasionally bark at dogs that she would come across. One day we were playing in the water, and were charged by a couple of black labs. They were off leash, and when they barreled towards her she tried backing out of her collar. Once she realized she couldn't back out, she lunged forward barking. This caused the labs to take off, and I think it unfortunately reinforced her insecurity with other dogs, as well as create in her mind that her barking and lunging caused the scary dogs to leave. She was quite young, and this scared her quite a bit, as well as imprint a negative association to other dogs.
Shortly after that we enrolled in puppy fundamentals. She entered the facility, and barked at the other dogs as they were probably somewhat scary to her.
We were immediately separated from the rest of the dogs due to her barking, and had a barrier of baby gates and blankets between her and the other dogs. In hindsight this was only because the trainer had a bias against German Shepherds, and would have rather separated her than have to help socialize her seeing most of the dogs in the class were toy breeds. We did two six week courses, and took home a majority of the awards that they gave out to the dogs and handlers, but it didn't do much as far as socialization. I was upset by this because the awards did nothing to help her become better socialized, and I could have done that training from home.
After two sessions of spending my time and money doing classes, my trainer finally decided to say that I should really have private one on one help to work on the dog aggression issues. Needless to say I was angry, and think that some positive reinforcement trainers have a long way to go if they want to help all sorts of behavioral problems. Sure they can train a happy go lucky toy breed, but it takes a real trainer to help the real problem cases.
Anyways, I was recommended to take private lessons with a different trainer (finally!), so I scheduled it in. This trainer was incredible, and really helped Ciana and I to understand how positive reinforcement training really worked, and how to treat problems that the other trainer just could not, like aggression (which was simply just to let Ciana interact with others, the only reason I needed help in the first place). The problem was that Ciana was three months older, and more unsure of other dogs due to the first trainer excluding us from the socialization aspect.
We started off with a one on one meeting, in which I explained Ciana's behavioral problems (dog aggression), and what type of training she had received since I got her. At our first meeting with her and Ciana, we just let her roam the facility, and the trainer studied how I worked with her. As training went on we started introducing dogs. Ciana showed her usual display of barking and lunging, but not real sign of aggression (like "I'm going to fight this dog aggression"). The trainer then said that I should just let Ciana off leash to meet her dog, as she felt Ciana was more unsure than aggressive. Ciana was surprised as I dropped the leash, and ran to the other dog with her hair up. She sniffed him, circled him, and we then distracted her with a Frisbee and treats (no fight, biting, etc...).
We then upped the training to every few days to help socialize her, and it went very well. We have since been working with that trainer for the last couple of years, up until she moved to Colorado this spring.
So I repeat. Ciana has never gotten into a fight, although she does show signs of "dog aggression" to unfamiliar dogs. There was never a territorial fight of territory between Ciana and Nakita, or our Dachshund mix when he entered the house a year ago. She is very insecure around strange dogs as the result of poor socialization efforts by both the breeder, and our first trainer. Hindsight would say I should have dropped the class the first time I was separated, but that's life, and hindsight is twenty twenty. I spent a lot of money on classes, and thought they knew enough to help.
So I hope that properly clears up what seems like contradictory statements. Ciana has what some trainers label "dog aggression", but has never gotten into any fight, with any dog. She gets along wonderfully with the rest of the pack, and it requires no iron fist or dominance training.
Nakita lives with my mother now, but Ciana and her lived together for her fist couple of years, and never fought in that time. All of the dogs frequently see each other without incident, and have a happy relationship with our family based on love and respect.
