Type of agression?

[Rush]

Hey everyone.

I was wondering if anyone with some experiences in dog psychology could tell me what type of agression would you mark what i will describe. If that will be posibble at all just by explaining how it looks.

So. It is mostly about dog to dog agression, it doesnt matter what sex other dog is( i have a 2 year old male csv), small kind of dog or big dogs. Similar could be here and there with some strange unknown people, but even more similar would be reaction to some small kids. I couldnt socialise him with kids, becouse i couldnt get to them and you cant just ask someone if he borrows his child for socialising wolfdog . So he fears them if approaching him alone and reacts simillar as to dogs.

So as we approach a dog, even known dog on the distance he still cant recognise him, he will start barking/growling, when closer, specially when unknown/hated dog is present, he will be jumping towards that dog to reach it and still be audiable a lot. If that dog isnt calm and is agressive, there is a big chance for fight on contact. But if other dog is ok, he will go to smell him and that will lower his nervousness a lot or totally calm him down.
But before he calms down, i often noticed fear, just like with small kids. He started such behaviour at around 11months, as i was told to expect.
For example, about 2 weeks ago i went to a friend who has big german shepard, but wouldnt attack without his command, altrought he seems pretty bossy.
From car when he saw that shepard(before that he saw him last about half a year ago, so didnt know him anymore), he gone mad..
So i asked a friend, will he attack if i let him face his fears with his dog even if mine shows agression, he said no.
So i let him out, and he was very very afraid, altrough soon he wanted to play, he ran away as soon as shepard got behind him, out of sight, to smell him for example.
He was also biting in air, as warning him that he is afraid when too close. After 15 minutes he was much more calm, but still not totally.

In other cases with more dogs is more obvious. Like organised dog meetings, going at show enterences to socialise. He was afraid of other dogs, but becouse of big crowd, he was calm, just afraid and isolated from others until he got used to them. Then he played normally.

The problem about it is, that he is very strong and sometimes i barely can stop him. If he doesnt ignore in such situations i can calm him down with words or so, but mostly i cant get his attention, even with food when there are other dogs/fear.

I am pretty sure he is not just agressive dog that hates other dogs, but kind of fearful agression, feeling unsecure.

When undistracted he is very obidient, does what i want him to do and he was socialised from earlier then 6th week of age, maybe not enough, but sure he met a lot of dogs and things up to his first year.

What do you guys think? I will add more if i remember anything else, i have some work now..


p.s. One more thing i noticed yesterday. I am trying hard to avoid psyhical force and "alpharolling" things, but sometimes is only way at such strong dog to get his attention and make him stop. Well at least at him, i tried a lot of advices and tips.
Well yesterday i had to do it and i did make him to shut up mostly and stay down, but he was shaking big time. nerveousness? Same reaction was with dog of friend described above. His dog was shaking like that when he was waiting on command to attack or otherwise leave, as mine was showing that "agression towards him".
How is that called, what does that tell?

Thanks everyone

[saschia]

Well, it doesn't seem to me that you can get some help with this kind of problem through web and forum. I would suggest to you to consult a pro, best someone experienced with fearful aggression (what you are describing does seem to be driven by fear mostly), best in so called "primitive" breeds.

Also, I don't think alpha-rolling will help you at all, your dog doesn't seem to have enough trust in your ability to solve the problem he is afraid of. Your position of alpha shouldn't stem from your power, but from your authority. The dog has to believe in you, if you know what I mean.

But it is very hard to advice online, especially in this case, I think it is pretty complicated.

[Rush]

Thanks for replay.

Yes i am aware of everything you said. Just wanted to know how would it be called, so i can research further.

[saschia]

Well I am not sure about the proper name for it, but I guess trying looking for fearful agression will not hurt. Your situation may get complicated also by same-sex aggression now, when your dog starts to be physically adult, don't forget about that too...

[vila]

You should always keep in mind a thought that I find very helpful - Aggression is never the problem, Aggression is only an outcome of a problem.

Based on what you described, I recognized fear, low self esteem, nervousness and bad social skills. The fact that the dog is able to play and socialize after a certain point is a very good sign. But you have to understand that dog parks can be a very bad place for an unstable dog to socialize. Always bring your dog to a dog park after good physical exercise, so he drains some of his bad energy (fear, anxiety, etc.). This is what every dog owner should do before bringing a dog to a dog park imho. You have to master the ability to read your dog and his surroundings and you have to enforce a protocol how other dogs approach and meet your dog. There is nothing wrong that you ask from another dog to approach your dog very calmly and respectfully - this is the key aspect that your dog is looking for. You are your dog's teacher, mentor and protector and with him being unfortunately unstable at the moment, you have to provide good experiences. Try to connect with people that have stable obedient dogs and have him socialize with them, they learn from each other very quickly.

Be careful before letting you dog in a dog park, read the other dogs first. Develop your instincts, because other dogs will always gang up against an unstable weak-energy dog (fear, nervousness, anxiety based aggression are all weak energies in the animal world). Your dog has (for now) bad social skills, he will regain confidence after a lot of good experiences. You have to provide those experiences, meaning you have to give him a good chance - as I said, dog parks are (usually) an unstable chaotic situation. The ultimate challenge for a dog is to remain stable in an unstable pack of dogs. So that is asking too much for now from your dog.

Good luck, hope this helps some

...ps. I'm talking about dog parks, because you mentioned organised dog meeting which can be very similar.