Small progress, big difference

Just a little update on Rio really, as some of you know I have issues with his dog aggression as he's an unsocialised rescue.

He's doing SO well considering he's only been rescued since October 2014 and with me and my OH since April 2015.

We can walk past another dog who's on the other side of the road with no more than heightened interest now, no barking and fixation.

He listens REALLY well to an excited tone of "this way!", so much so that if he's walking in a straight line he practically turns 90 degrees to change direction at the command

We understand he does not like smaller dogs in the slightest but avoidance and distraction works great.

He ADORES his squeaky tennis kong (new ones all the time as they last no more than 3 walks!) so we can walk straight past a dog close to us if I have this out for him as it's all he cares about.

He's such a good boy, he seems to like labradors and golden retrievers and appears like he wants to sniff/play with them, but we don't risk him getting close to a dog, he's never hurt a dog but it all sounds a bit loud and scary and i think it'd scare the owners more than anything if that happened.

EDIT: I'm very proud of him and thankful to all and any advice i've gotten from all of you on here!

Sounds like you've come a long way Kerry & isn't it satisfying to see the difference

You're distraction method is exactly the same as ours except we use her Stix. We, like you have figured out that Flo doesn't like a certain breed (collies/sheep dogs) and simply avoid them. Play is a little tricky as like you say, it can look very rough to some.

Well done you two

That is awesome, well done on all your hard work truly inspiring !

Well done on your training, Katy also hates little dogs mainly because they always have a go at her

Fantatic news, Kerry. Thanks for the update.

Wonderful to hear

lovely to hear and shows perseverance does pay off mia wnt tolerate any dog same size or bigger but likes small dogs and cats dogs are like people in some ways and don't like everything or indeed everyone I guess.

It definitely is Ian! He works very hard bless him and I can't fault him when he has little mishaps as it is still so much better than what he was, I am very interested to see what he'd be like with a dog that he's interested in but not barking at, but it just isn't worth the risk of a fight breaking out and Rio being in trouble over it :/

And thank you everyone! I honestly knew nothing about dogs or staffies until I joined this forum, you've all taught me and my OH an awful lot! We'll keep you updated with his progress