Dogs dont like him!!!

[Karen]

Obedience classes should help with this a whole lot. He needs to learn to walk nicely on a leash, and to give off and read the right signals from other dogs, or learn to take the cue from you.

[Giselle]

There are certainly some dogs who become pariahs. Certain dogs just don't communicate correctly, which can predispose them to being attacked. Very energetic, young adult dogs come to mind...

However, it also sounds like your dog has some fear. Because he's been in so many attacks, it sounds like he has adapted to being overly cautious and aroused around other dogs. So, when he sees strange dogs on a walk, he'll go into a "uh-oh-what-is-that" state of mind. Then, when he sees the dog is producing friendly signals, he himself will relax. I see this with a lot of dogs who don't know how to communicate well. Dog A will see Dog B. Dog A is so concerned/aroused that he'll stand tall and rigid with staring eyes. But when Dog B gives a friendly signal, Dog A will immediately relax and give a friendly greeting.

When he jumps on top of other dogs, does he put his paws on their backs? If so, it sounds like your dog is trying to display dominance and *that* is what's getting him attacked. I strongly suggest hiring a behaviorist to come watch your dog interact with other dogs. They can help you decipher how your dog is communicating incorrectly and give you insight as to why. It's money well spent, I promise!

[Zoeythelsot]

I wouldn't have thought he is being fearful of the other dogs as he is normally the one dragging me to them. And as I said has never attacked/snapped/growled at another dog. But the stand tall and rigid does sound like what he does.

I do feel he has a dominant personality and felt like that may have something to do with it. He pees on EVERYTHING, and is hump happy as times. He is fixed, I get that question a lot. He does put his paws on their back, and well sometimes completely jumps on top of them. But sometimes its a simple sniff that gets him snapped at. Sigh, possible he just smells

[shepgirl]

I agree that obedience classes would be a big help for starters. Maybe he's unsure how another dog will react and he's on guard for the first few minutes of encounter...just enough to read the other dog but it might be that another dog would take it as a threat.

[Giselle]

Fear can manifest itself in different ways. If he's dragging you over to see them, he might not be fearful. However, you have to remember that he HAS been in many scuffles. Even if he has never lunged at another dog under your watch, he HAS been in fights. Therefore, it'd be completely natural and expected of him to be nervous or anxious the first few moments he sees a new dog.

It certainly sounds like your pup is being "not-truly-dominant". A truly dominant dog doesn't have to resort to mounting and humping strange dogs. What he's doing is more overly exuberant adolescent behavior, and the other dogs are telling him to back off. They are giving him warning signs, and, when he doesn't heed them, the warnings escalate into fights.

So your job is to teach him that no means no. If he's trying to hump or engage in rough play with another dog and the other dog turns away/tries to run away/growls, first let your dog walk away. If your dog doesn't walk away and he keeps pestering the other dog, correct your dog and lead him away. Engage him in something like fetch or let him play with a more tolerant dog.

[Zoeythelsot]

Something a little interesting I forgot to add, the first time he meet my aunt's dog, she's 15 too old to play with, he had just come back from 2 hours at the dog park and he greeted her like a normal dog, just sniffed and that was about it. They were even in the back yard together for about an hour and perfectly fine together. The next weekend they met again, same exact place, the only difference he was coming from home so was full of energy, opposed to be completely drained. He did the stiff scarey dog thing with her than proceeded to try to play with her, which he wasn't allowed to do, my aunt's dog is far too old for rough housing. So if he was doing the scarey dog thing out of fear then why did he do it then with a dog he had already met and knew was no threat to him? Its like a teenage boy meeting a 90 yr old woman, while I agree old woman can be scarey, there is nothing fearful about this dog at all.
I like the not truly dominant idea. Like I said I knew he had insecurity and dominance problems from day one, as we had a problem with him marking. He doesn't do it in the house anymore but hes very bad when going to new places. I tried working with him on this by taking him to places like certain large chain pet stores where it is very tempting for him to mark but pretty easy for me to correct him. And he was doing great with this, his heeling, and going crazy around other dogs, but then 4 weeks ago he broke my arm, a whole another story, so I really can't work with him until my arm is healed. I tried taking him out in public last weekend to a pet memorial day event with other dogs and hes completely regressed with this =( and with only one good arm I was really unable to correct him or control him, I was dragged everywhere by a barking jumping crying dog trying to get to the other dogs and to pee on everything. I tried bring him around the other dogs which made things 20 times worse and half the owners were terrified of him. We ended up about I can't express how embarrassing this was. Sorry I'm just venting, thank you for reading my horribly long post

[Giselle]

...and with only one good arm I was really unable to correct him or control him, I was dragged everywhere by a barking jumping crying dog trying to get to the other dogs and to pee on everything.

Uh oh, it sounds like he's become reactive.

I think this problem is deeper than it seems. From what you post, it sounds like Karu is:
- an overly exuberant adolescent with poor dog-dog communication skills
- high-energy by nature
- confident
- strong
- generally dog friendly
- becoming reactive on leash

And, to me, it sounds like your general plan of action is to tire him out as much as possible and correct him when he displays "bad" behavior.

However, these "bad" behaviors are a deeper part of who Karu is. If you really want to hit the core of these issues, you'll have to start training specifically for calming behaviors, proper greeting behaviors, coping mechanisms, and a strong focus on the handler. If this is your first time with these types of things, I strongly suggest contacting a behaviorist. Reactivity, especially with naturally high energy/confident dogs, generally doesn't get better on its own...