Boarding the dog-aggressive/fear-aggressive dog

I would check pet sitters to see if someone has an option of more time.  The guy who takes care of the pug across the fence comes four times a day and she is outside romping around on her long line with him in tow.  I know its four times a day cause Nora definately gives the stranger alert.  He has her out for at least 15 mintues and the way he dotes on her.... well I would bet he is there for 30 minutes.  That might be enough for me under such circumstances (considering your alternatives).  You could also leave her at the vets and have her some what sedated.  Or maybe a behaviorist would do something of a evaluation over the seminar period.... Some ideas.

There are boarding and training places that will take your dog in for boarding and also train and work on behavior problems. You may want to continue searching for the right place.  It may be expensive but it would resolve two of your problems.

corgipower

I have worked at boarding kennels where we have taken in some rather aggressive dogs. We culdn't do as much with the dog because of the aggression, but as long as we were able to feed it and clean it's run and handle it enough if there were an emergency, it worked out. You could try bringing her to a kennel ~ or the vet's ~ for daycare so she has time to get used to it. Although if it were my dog, I would leave her with the parents or a friend.

If you haven't already, I would consider asking a good trainer to evaluate your dog with other dogs.  Unless you have done this, you don't know if your dog is just reactive on leash, or would actually be aggressive off leash as well (I'm sorry, I just don't remember if you've posted about this already).  If your dog is non-aggressive to other dogs off leash, you might be able to leave her with a friend as long as they don't have her on leash with another dog nearby, or even at a group boarding facility.  If she can't be with others, call a few local trainers and ask if there are any trustworthy boarding facilities that could handle her.  If you start hearing the same kennel name, go pay them a visit and see how they operate and where she would be housed.

If she has stayed overnight at your vet's before, and is familiar with the environment (and, more importantly, the workers there), maybe that would be less scary than a whole new place. If she's a real scaredy dog, then anyone walking her should be encouraged to double leash her from a harness and a collar (unless you use a martingale that she isn't likely to back out of).

DPU

There are boarding and training places that will take your dog in for boarding and also train and work on behavior problems.

I would recommend looking into one of these places - even if you don't want to pay for the extra training, the staff there should be knowledgeable enough to be able to handle your dog and make things un-scary and comfortable for him. 

My boarding kennel takes dogs like this too, so look around.  If all out fails, make the trip to your parents and do it a day early.  But does your parents know how to handle a dog aggressive dog?  What if they are walking and problem starts, do they understand what they would be signing up for?  Actually,  anyone beside a boarding type situation would have to understand completely what they are getting for a few days.  I am sure you know this, but thought I would mention it anyway.

If you do board and train, and the place does not use positive training, everything you have accomplished may fly right out the window!!!!  If you are in a rural area, my guess is that there aren't that many positive trainers.  Most of those places are operated by people who do traditional style, or Schutzhund training.  Please think again before you commit to allowing your dog to be trained with choke chain and corrections - this is NOT how you managed to get your dog that close to another dog.  You did it nicely, and you taught her a default behavior which she is starting to use!!!  She has excellent bite inhibition.  I suspect that her problem is largely fear based.  Please don't send her somewhere where fear of the aversive (correction) is the way they train.... your dog will lose in the end.  This is a dog I would board at a place that has individual kennels separated by solid barriers, not chain link.  In fact, if your parents don't need to walk her off their property, and they have a fenced yard, I might pick them over the kennel.  At least your dog would not have to hear, and be stressed by, all the dogs in neighboring crates.  JMHO

our dog sitter actually lives in our house when we are gone- not all petsitters just show up once or twice a day for a few minutes.

spiritdogs

If you do board and train, and the place does not use positive training, everything you have accomplished may fly right out the window!!!!  If you are in a rural area, my guess is that there aren't that many positive trainers.  Most of those places are operated by people who do traditional style, or Schutzhund training. 

corgipower

An awful lot of assumptions there. Even a B&T using positive motivation training can go to waste if the owner doesn't maintain it afterwards.

I think the idea being that the OP has already done a lot of hard, consistent, patient training with the dog, so leaving the dog in the hands of an unskilled trainer could not only un-do all the good work but could do some lasting damage to the dog's psyche.

How's the boarding search going, anyway? One thing to remember is that boarding at a "board & train" facility doesn't necessarily have to mean you also are requesting training.

I train Schutzhund and use LOTS of positive reinforcement and clicker training.  I think this is the biggest problem for Schutzhund.  Everyone seems to think that everyone beats the dogs so that they bite or something (not saying that that's what you were saying, spiritdogs, but that does seem to be in everyone's minds).  It seems to me that training for Schutzhund obedience is much more difficult than AKC obedience.  In Schutzhund, the dog actually needs to be and look happy while it's working.  That's a HUGE part of heeling.  I don't know many dogs that would look happy while heeling if they'd had all this rough/hard techniques used on them.  I could be wrong, of course...  I'm not trying to bash anyone here, but it just irks me when people find out that I train in Schutzhund and they automatically think that I'm some kind of crazy dog-beater that doesn't care about my dog. 

 As far as a boarding idea...I would probably be against the boarding with training, just because you never know how someone is going to be training your dog when you're not there, unless you have time to really interact with the person who will be working with her, and approve of the training they will be doing.  Our boarding facility has concrete painted walls that separate runs and the dogs are taken out separately to do their business and get a little outside time.  It works out really well for dog aggressive dogs.  We take them and rarely have problems (the biggest thing we have is taking them outside and back inside to their kennel, since their are dogs on either side of the aisle).  If you could find something similar, that might be your best bet.  :)  Good luck!

As far as a boarding idea...I would probably be against the boarding with training, just because you never know how someone is going to be training your dog when you're not there, unless you have time to really interact with the person who will be working with her, and approve of the training they will be doing

 That is sort of my fear of leaving her with people I don't know in general. Now, I know I am not dog training expert, but I know what works for her, I know how she will react in the majority of situations, I know what her "calming" mechanisms are, how to deal with fear aggression in general since I have lived with it every day and every walk (all the things like no coddling, being calm and assertive, giving them an outlet to their fear by directing it towards something they know how to do and is familar for them - for Ginny, it is the 'sit' command and the 'wait' command since we have worked on that since I first got her, and she knows it very well.). And I am very pro-positive training, don't worry spiritdogs! :) The one, and I mean only, time I ever slapped Ginny on the nose (I was tired and frustrated and she had jumped on my and accidently scratched me) the little "eep!" yelp she let out just broke my heart. That was three years ago and I have never even come close do doing that again, and we have made tremendous strides using + training - she thrives on "succeeding" and getting praise.

Of course, I am not saying I am better than a professional trainer in terms of what is best for my dog. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that since I know her so well, if there is going to be "professional training"  I should be actively involved. I can see her getting confused if trainer X or Y does something different than me. Plus, training around here is limited (although actually very + based). I would only be gone a few days, and I  would think that it would take at least a week for a trainer to really "understand" Ginny - as we all know, no two dogs are alike in their aggression/social issues/fears! So by the time "tailored" training would start, I would already be back and probably very anxious to see her again.

I talked with my folks and they say they would be ok keeping her, and I do trust them to take the "right" care of her because they have done it before and know my instructions (my dad is very dog-oriented). However, I will keep looking...because I know sooner or later in her life I will have to board her, so there is no use putting it off. Might as well try to get her used to it now, right? Just so a few years down the road if I have to go to a conference or something, I don't have to race around looking for friends/pet-sitters and feel relatively confident she will be ok.

I would look for a pet sitter who will stay in your house.  I know a number of people who use these type of sitters and they work out very well.  I know there is a assocaition of pet sitters at petsitters.org.  They might have listings in your area.