I seem to have started a bit of a heated debate here... 
Well, I don't agree with hitting or pinning down dogs, to be honest. The trainer I took Oliver to did hit him on the nose (quite hard) when he misbehaved but this isn't something that I could bring myself to do. Is this where I've gone wrong?? I don't think so..being violent towards an already agressive and dominant dog is just asking for trouble IMO. As I said earlier, when I get angry he behaves even worse. Also, when Oliver returned from the trainer (he was there for 3 months, I visited daily for lessons) if I lifted my hand up to stroke him he would back away, expecting me to hit him and that's not a good reaction, he may have backed away from me, but with a stranger he could attack. This behaviour doesn't happen anymore, fortunately. I'm sure in the wild, mothers bite their pups if they're being naughty but we're not in the wild and I'm not a dog(no clever comments please!) and so I think this kind of violent reaction towards violent behaviour is just pouring petrol on the fire.
So, I think some kind of punishment area (a bit like the naughty step when I was little) is the way forward in my case and also ignoring bad behaviour. It's going to be difficult, especially for me, my hubby shouldn't have too much of a problem as he already has a better/different relationship with Oliver, but I'm hoping for results.
Pooky
Well, I don't agree with hitting or pinning down dogs, to be honest. The trainer I took Oliver to did hit him on the nose (quite hard) when he misbehaved but this isn't something that I could bring myself to do. Is this where I've gone wrong?? I don't think so..being violent towards an already agressive and dominant dog is just asking for trouble IMO. As I said earlier, when I get angry he behaves even worse. Also, when Oliver returned from the trainer (he was there for 3 months, I visited daily for lessons) if I lifted my hand up to stroke him he would back away, expecting me to hit him and that's not a good reaction, he may have backed away from me, but with a stranger he could attack. This behaviour doesn't happen anymore, fortunately. I'm sure in the wild, mothers bite their pups if they're being naughty but we're not in the wild and I'm not a dog(no clever comments please!) and so I think this kind of violent reaction towards violent behaviour is just pouring petrol on the fire.
So, I think some kind of punishment area (a bit like the naughty step when I was little) is the way forward in my case and also ignoring bad behaviour. It's going to be difficult, especially for me, my hubby shouldn't have too much of a problem as he already has a better/different relationship with Oliver, but I'm hoping for results.
Pooky
