Payson is not doing well in his class. In the class they use food a lot as a motivator. Most of the dogs will happily sit or give their owners attention for a treat. Payson does react to praise, however we seem to be unable to get his attention. He's so distracted by everything around him it seems. We can't wave a treat in front him because that doesn't get his attention, most of the time calling his name doesn't get his attention either. When we do get him to pay attention to us, it's seems that he is distracted by us and unable to really focus on anything. It's not like we can wave pets in front of him as a bribe as everyone else in the class is doing with their treats. How can we get past this?

Payson also does not do well with other dogs. He is fear aggressive. Yesterday I took him to a friends house for a doggie playdate and he did not act well at all. My friend's dog Moses was as sweet as can be. Not aggressive in anyway, very playful and friendly even when Payson would snap or growl. Payson did not activley seek out Moses, but as soon as Moses would get near him he'd snap. I tried petting him and telling him what a good boy he was and giving him tons of praise but that didn't seem to help any. He also seemed to really avoid eye contact with Moses, if possible he would turn his head away every time he saw Moses.

Is learning to handle other dogs something that he can learn? Should I keep trying to socialize him with Moses or should I give up?

I did want to add something positive. Moses and his owner were playing frisbee which really seemed to excite Payson. I could tell that he really wanted to play too, but was scared and also didn't really know how. During his excitement I tossed a ball for him which he ran after and grabbed twice! Now this might seem like something small but it really is a big deal. We've tried so hard to get him to play but he just doesn't understand how to.