What is this? What can we do? Dog Aggression

My Alfie (1 year old Border Collie) has a problem with other dogs. When he was a puppy, he was just frightened and avoided them, walked away or around them, just wanted to stay out of their way! We tried to socialise him with quieter dogs and took him to training classes, but I admit that perhaps we didn't do enough there to help him get over it. In our first class, a GSD attacked him, he was about 4/5 months old, and I'm not sure if that's what made it go down hill or whether it's just got progressively worse.

When he sees a dog, he'll go over slowly, and stands really stiff when he gets there and just touches noses with the other dog. He won't look the other dog in the eye at all, his eyes sometimes go to the side and look the other direction. He'll stand like a statue, and then he'll come back to me when I call. However, if the other dog follows him, he's okay at first but then he'll snap at them and a couple of times has started a fight. He's never harmed a dog at all, it's all noise really, but I'm worried he will. He's worse on lead and I'm reluctant to pull him away from a dog as often that sets him off. There was one time at obedience where we were doing recalls and two of us did it at the same time, and he ran to the other owner, got there the same time as the other dog and started a fight. I'm not sure if this had something to do with the food or if he was after the dog.

I'm just a bit unsure what to do when this situation arises. He literally freezes, and if a dog follows him I'm reluctant to grab him or pull him away as that tends to make him more agitated.

We have another dog, Jessie, who he's fine with! He's also played with the odd jrt, and likes a border terrier at our training. He seems to be better with little dogs, so when we go to training I'm going to click and praise like mad when he's with these dogs. I was just wondering if anyone could tell why he does this, is it fear, dominance, what? And if anyone had any tips, I'd be really greatful

If it means anything, he's very wimpy around humans, rolls over onto his back frequently but very very friendly.

What you describe so well brought an article to mind straight away which might help you consider what Alfie is probably doing - this is by Turid Rugaas :

From : http://www.canis.no/rugaas/onearticle.php?artid=1

Freezing

"Freezing" - is what we call it when the dog is stopping while standing completely still, sitting or laying down and remain in that position. This behavior is believed to have something to do with hunting behavior - when the prey is running, the dog attacks. Once the prey stops, the dog will stop too. We can often see this when dogs are chasing cats. This behavior, however, is used in several different situations. When you get angry and aggressive and appear threatening, the dog will often freeze and not move in order to make you be good again. Other times the dog may walk slowly, freeze, and then move slowly again. Many owners believe that they have very obedient dogs who is sitting, lying down or standing completely still. Perhaps they are actually using calming signals? Very often a dog will stop and remain calm when someone is approaching. If your dog wants to stop or move slowly in a situation like that, then let him. Also, should your dog be in a conflict situation with a human or dog, and is unable to escape, freezing may be one way to calm the other dog or person.

There are many other snippets via the link which you may find very useful in spotting potential problems in time to avert them - and when to let Alfie and other dogs communicate their way initially when safe to to do so

If you are into a bit of reading, her books or DVD might be worth getting hold of, and Fight ! by Jean Donaldson might be a good one for you too

HTH

That's exactly what he does! It's like he's gone into slow motion. I'll give that link a read, thanks

Just to add, the only problem we've had at agility is when the same dog from the retrieve ran off from it's owner and came up the other side of the a-frame while Alfie was going up. Alfie basically chased him off rather noisely :P At agility, we're even at a stage where he can be put in a wait (although he does look quite uneasy) and do a few bits of equipment off-lead with dogs around us.