fear or something else?

[BrightEyez]

Please help me figure out what is wrong with my dog and where me and my family went wrong.
First some background..
We got our pup from a "reputable" dog breeder. He was the most social pup in the litter, the curious one..sniffing everything, runnng around, the playful one. I did temperment tests on him before i picked him..like placing him on his back, picking him up, throwing him things etc.
He was perfect. He came to our home at 8 weeks, and after about a week he was entered into puppy socialization classes. Where he was a very social pup..he was entered into other socialization classes so he went twice a week.
He also started OB classes, but we had to pull him out when he hurt his leg, because he was very hyperactive and too playful around other dogs..
We still have this problem with him..he goes very very hyperactive when he sees another dog..but not in an aggressive way..but in a more playful way.
I mean, he gets so excited that he gets white stuff coming out of his mouth and he starts breathing like hes having a panic attack.
He is very friendly with people as well because we have really honestly put in a lot of effort into socialization..who ever meets him loves him.

Now i have seen his parents, and they're both great dogs..but he seems a little weak nerved and i need ways to reasses his behaviour so that i can determine if he is weak nerved.
He is at the moment 9 months old..we havent had any signs of extreme dominance or extreme submissiveness from him..if i had to judge between the two id say he is submissive with my family..but with others he holds his ground..but is nowhere near dominant.. i judge this by the way he behaves with others, his body language etc. He lets my family do anything to him, he is very affectionate and very close to us because we spend a lot of time together..he is never alone.

He is both an indoor and outdoor dog, but we live in Australia, and we dont get cold winters here..and he has the garage door open and we have a poragola outside so he is def protected from wind and rain (altho he goes inside the house when its bad outside)..the reason im mentioning this is because i think it can help with the following question.

When he is outside with us or alone, he barks. Not at us, but if he hears someone close to the fence, or the door he goes and barks. His hair stands up and he doesnt have fearful body language. Even when my dad who he views as an alpha is out side if he hears something he'll go and check it out.
I dont know if this is protecting.
I hear him barking at night sometimes too.

But then he also displays fearful behaviour..mainly of large trucks and loud non human sounds. He tucks his tail in and runs towards the house..or when we pass by people working on houses..they make heaps of sounds with the machines etc..he just bends his bottom and sits..or pulls on the lead to get away...

I dont understand how he is fearful in some situations but not in others..
I dont understand if he is a weak nerved dog, or if its an age thing..the fact that he is still a puppy?

My dad is getting frustrated with him, because today he pooped where he wasnt suppose to. We went outside and he found his grass and was about to poop when he heard a loud sound that he got scared of on his walk (people a few houses down are having their house rebuilt)..so in the middle of his poop, he stopped out of fear, and ran towards the door and pooped a bit outside the door. He also doesnt want to poop in the rain. HE doesnt pee much outside or poop, altho he has started marking the territory on his walk. I have only seen him poop once outside, and this was during his OB classes.
I think he holds it in.

[BrightEyez]

also we have tried taking him around heaps of cars..he goes on car rides every single day with my dad..and he is fine inside the car..and even on the streets ..but when he sees big trucks he gets nervous.
Nothing we have done has helped the situation.

[anthony450]

the fear period for dogs happens around that age.
From what I know there are 3 things you have to do :

1. ignore that fear when you're out with your dog - do not react to his behavior as you are higher in the pack hierarchy and have a teaching role - by not reacting he will learn there is no issue with the situation

2. repeat the situation, in a more gentle way - play with your dog and have somebody drop something on the floor or shout - keep playing with no different attitude if your dog reacts to it

3. when this happens - do not run following your dog to the house or tell him "that's ok, good boy" in a soft tone as you will reinforce the undesired behavior.

Protection / aggression is related to fear - your dog barks to strangers as he is confident enough with some situation ie people coming - but when a threshold is reached - it comes to flight. that's survival instinct. So if you want that barking attitude, when he does so as a stranger is coming, you can tell him "good" (thanx for the alert) and make him step back and sit or down as YOU go check who is coming.

Or you can say "NO!" if you don't want it (never say "that's ok baby" if you want that behavior to stop..)

doing a quick search on "fear period" I found : http://www.bcrescue.org/scared.html

[anthony450]

and also - BE PATIENT - you wont change a behavior in a day

[BrightEyez]

thanks anthony
Its very odd with him..he seems to show a lot of confidence which confuses me as to why he is scared of silly things at times..

He approaches all kinds of dogs and people without any fear.
When outside if he hears something..like often me and my mom and dad would be outside and he would hear something...even if he is on the ground napping he'll get up fast growling with his hair standing up to the front of the house where he has like a "wall window" where he can see through the bars the outside of the house and street..
He takes a look..then comes back. This seems confident to me because he goes all the way to the wall and looks through..he doesnt stand and keep a distance while barking which a lot of "yappy" fearful dogs do.

Hmmm

[RottsNScotts]

However, he is getting up growling and hair up without even knowing what the sound was. A truly confident dog would go see what the noise was before such an "overkill" reaction.

[BrightEyez]

I dunno, thats how he responded and he went all the way to the front to have a look..i think someone bangged on the fence with a ball (front fence).

[Wolf355]

When I got Tatou (my previous Rottie, he would growl at his shadow at night, growl at ten wheelers parked where we used to go excercise him, etc. I just made sure to keep doing OB and playing where there where lots of shadows and ''introduced'' him to a ten wheelers. Things got better fairly quickly. Tatou was about 10 months old then and was a rescue from a HS.

I guess it's when they learn about new things that they're a bit scared. They don't know if those things are dangerous or not. I would just correct the growling if there is any and try to have him confront his fears. Tatou turned out to be a great dog and I'm sure yours wil too. Going to play in the rain and going to meet the workers on the construction site may be good ideas. If he can see that there is nothing to fear, he'll come around fast enough.

Just my 2¢

Wolf

[dmoniz]

Logan was a little over reactive at that age. He would run into the backyard with a low grumble, but as soon as he learned there was nothing there he would trot back inside the house all happy. Now he hardly lifts his head at strange noises.

[damp]

Originally Posted by BrightEyez

When he is outside with us or alone, he barks. Not at us, but if he hears someone close to the fence, or the door he goes and barks. His hair stands up and he doesnt have fearful body language. Even when my dad who he views as an alpha is out side if he hears something he'll go and check it out.
I dont know if this is protecting.

Barking and hair up are signs of an insecure dog, and has nothing to do with protection.He is trying to chase away the scary thing and obviously has succes, which is self rewarding and self-perpetuating!

[Judi W]

It is called piloerection and always signifies unease and fear. It is the dog's way of trying to look bigger so it can scare away that which is frightening it.