H have to admit, when the op mentioned "used to think it was other dogs....now think it's him" or something like that I did wonder if maybe he has put up with a few too many "grumps" from other dogs...and now is a bit defensive...

iv got a 18month pit who is now showing sign,of confidence,within the pack of 4.i now have to curb his behaviour, i don tlet him get to excited,i will calm ruff play and im able to get him to comply,if i where to miss this time in his life and get lazy .i would be failing at having a well balenced dog.imo.very important time,he is 100 pound, not sure of conversion,hes big now and is still growing,iv got a huge responcibility to the public,to see my dogs are trained and trained well.and a bigger one if there not.

It's hard to explain, he generally is strainI find it hard to explain, as I’m far from an expert at dog body language, and it happens quite quickly and suddenly.

We can be walking down a path, with another dog passing, so I will keep him on a shorter leash on my far side from the oncoming person and dog. Then with some dogs he lurches across in front of me and is straining to get to them, and it sounds like he’s growling, but I can’t be certain it is growling, as the noise is clearly affected by straining at his collar, so he sounds strained like he’s breathing heavily against the collar. As growling is not something we’ve ever heard him do, he barely barks either, maybe 10 times since we’ve had him, it’s hard to say if it’s growling or just straining at the collar & lead.

He tried similar behaviour when we had him on a gentle leader, but was obviously unable to strain/pull anywhere near as much trying to get to them

So is that the behaviour you are basing his aggression on,?? what does he do if he is off the lead, has he actually gone up to a dog and attacked it, /starting a fight,?

Its difficult to say if the lunging is aggression or frustration because he wants to go play , and because you have him on a tight lead, he is getting more and more frustrated.

Have other dogs attacked him, has he had any bad experiences with other dogs..??

I think David, you need someone to see him in action, to give you a better view of what he is doing.

But I am not sure the behaviour you describe is aggression.

He hasn't been off lead around other dogs for a while now.

A couple of months ago I did let him off lead and he ran head first straight towards another dog which was playing with its owner and the owner had to keep between the dogs, as apparently Marco was trying to nip the dogs tail. I couldn't see from where I was as it was about 50 yards away that he ran. It didn't help thoguh that it was the one dog we know that they have a dislike for each other.

have to say what you're describing doesn't sound like aggresion to me, but would agree with Jackbox that you need someone to see it, even with the other dog it sounds like its bad manners rather than agression.

I hope that is the case, I'm a bit embarrassed if that is the case after telling you all he is being aggressive. But I still need to improve his behaviour in such circumstances, I assume all the advice still applies to bad manners too?

Are the height of good manners passing by without a flinch?

Ultimately I guess he needs more opportunity to play with other dogs!

No need to be embarrassed, if you don`t ask , you will never know, and we are only going on what you describe, so untill someone sees him in action, we are all still only guessing

P.S...... its been a while since we saw him ....hint , hint

UPDATE: Upset.

We started a training class over in Chilwell about 2 months ago, and although we weren't impressed with the class, we persisted as we'd already paid for 4 weeks. On the 3rd week Marco decided to become aggressive towards a black & white collie. The trainer saw it and immediately asked if he'd been neutered, as that after talking to us, said that was what it was.

Given that we had been 'umming and 'ahing about getting him neutered for a while, we decided to do it. So about 3 & half weeks ago we had him neutered. We had a couple of hard weeks where he had a cone/collar on and wasn't allowed to barely exercise him until his wound had healed up.

In all honesty I don't know whether it's made any difference. However my OH is convinced that it has made him worse. He's been fine around some dogs we've met, and we went for a long walk with a lab the other day and he was happy. He is generally seeming very happy in himself. But again he is still unpredictable.

He seems fine most of the time, even meeting other dogs is generally ok, but then after 5-10 seconds of meeting the other dog and seeming fine, he seems to snap and growl.

My OH came back in tears the other day as he pulled her over. She said they came across a Springer, which he greeted for a few seconds, seemed fine.... and then started being aggressive towards. She got him under control and calmed down. Then spoke to the 2 chaps who's dog it was. While chatting to them she had Marco calm between her legs, seemingly haven calmed down, and then she had relaxed while chatting and he'd lunged for the springer and pulled her clean over. She tells me that he went for his neck. After that apparently she passed 7 other dogs on he walk, and that and he was a ****** with all of them, trying to get at them.

So we've gone back to having him on a 'gentle leader' (dogmatic type collar). When we took him out yesterday morning a similar thing happened. We came across a little terrier, he was dying to meet it, and so was the off lead terrier, so they did. They sniffed for a few seconds absolutely fine, and then they both flared up, the terrier yapping and growling and Marco doing the same, my OH said that was exactly what happened with the Springer when they'd first met.

We've been building up his recall well recently, with dreams of finally being able to let him off again without him doing a runner, but this sort of thing makes us worry about doing that too.

We are starting to get really upset about it and don't know what to do. I hope we aren't misreading the situation, but we are worried.

David & Christina.

If it is aggression due to his insecurities then neutering would probably make him worse due to the removal of confidence-giving testosterone, however, I would say that 3 1/2 weeks is too early for the neutering to have taken affect.
With the male I had neutered and from hearing from others, it does seem that shortly after neutering males can become much worse...I believe it is a surge in hormones that does this, my male was terrible for a month or two after neutering and then returned to normal.

It is really hard to comment on his behaviour without seeing it but I really really would either find a good trainer or even have a consultation with a behaviourist (someone who is recommended so know they are good) and see what they have to say after assessing his behaviour.

I know its easy for me to say, but try not to let this stress or worry you as he will feel the tension coming from you. In the mean time, do you have any friends with dogs that you KNOW he normally gets on fine with...I would say friendly, playful bitches would help with his confidence (and yours too!).