No there's not much you can do about a Pugs face being hard to read, Boxers tend to have the same problem, How is he with Boxers?
Do you know if the males he has issues with are entire or neutered ?
The subtle signs dogs give off can be extremely hard to read sometimes even when watching closely.

thanks Jackie. He is not aggressive to all males maybe just 4 out of 10, thats why I was wondering if that could be just teenage manners...and he is very confident and not castrated.But it seems like (experience we had in a dog park) that he looses his confidence with some males.I know most of you think that this is the breed, but I know Malamutes and Huskys too and they are sociable, we have a lot of Huskys in our Area and country they get along quiet well.But what my dog doesn't like is,if a dog is dominant or just has no good manners...un?!fortunately we don't have many or even any boxers in our area..so I don't know.The males are not neutered I guess but maybe some have been.Hard to know everytime

Oh what about older male aggressive dogs? would it get worse or better? I thought its normal if a male dog doesn't get along with every male. The same with females...Maybe if I explain the signals you could help better with a "treatment" Myrsky gets very excited and pulls towards the trigger. His ears are up, with a deep growl sometimes.I hold him short and we can pass when there is about 3-6 meters distance.It depends on the dog.I just walk away from the trigger and try to get his attention on me. Right what Im doing? Should I be very firm and say NO ?

Hi Myrsky! It sounds to me as if the mal side of his mix is coming to the fore - both huskies and mals can be same sex aggressive, but my personal thoughts are that this is the case particularly with mals. Our Ben is a mix of husky, malamute and low content wolf but he is all malamute in character. Our struggles with Ben over the years since we rescued are well-documented on Dogsey, but we are now in the situation where I believe is the best we can possibly achieve. As with Myrsky, Ben is about 60% OK with other dogs, but I believe I have worked out what triggers his aggression - solid coloured dogs! Any dog large or small who is one colour - black being his particular hatred. Also dogs who he cannot read - boxers, pugs, any dog with a very hairy face are at particular risk of attack. Dogs such as springer spaniels he finds very challenging because of their tendency to be very hectic, always dashing around in an excited fashion. All this is very Malamute!

Ben does exactly as Myrsky - pulls towards the trigger, goes rigid and looks very assertive. If I am on my own with Ben, I put myself between him and the other dog and walk forward with a confident gait and firm commands - "Ben, walk on!" I have him on a short lead, controlled but not too tense, a slightly relaxed lead but with enough tension to give Ben a quick jerk if he reacts in a negative way. I walk him briskly past the other dog, head up and looking forward and invariably this results in Ben staying calm and moving nicely without any growling or signs of aggression. He then receives a lot of praise, and when safe he is let off the lead to run free. My husband and I have started cycling along the canals again with him running loose beside us. As soon as we see a dog ahead my husband places him on the lead and cycles on with Ben running beside him. He is usually too tired to be aggressive, so this has proved to be very successful - we even passed an entire male Rottweiler last week who was lying loose on the bank beside his boat. Ben ran past him quite happily without incident. I stopped to say hello to the Rottweiler, and we all parted the greatest of friends! With huskies and mals it is all about calm assertiveness - yes, you most certainly should say NO!! if and when Myrsky growls or shows any aggression. He is so young, you have a window of opportunity to address the problem whilst still maintaining a sense of reality - that you most likely have a dog who is more Malamute than Husky and therefore always potentially liable to be assertive towards other males. Castration in this case will make little if any difference. Hope this helps!

Thank you Gnasher! That helps a lot. I was hoping you would post on this
Yes I guess he is also more Malamute then,but I handle situations the same way you do and he knows its not appreciated when he is not nice. So I reward when he is friendly.I do run with him and I can easily pass the "enemies" but if a dog runs and passes us, he is freaking out. maybe he feels intimidated?! I don't know. And thats interesting to read, that your Ben also doesn't like Pugs. Myrsky doesn't mind black dogs, and he does have a schapendoe friend, there is not really a pattern he follows.Most of the time when myrsky gets crazy is when he reacts back to aggressive dogs or dogs who get really excited. I think Myrsky has an excitement problem at the moment. That is what makes him overreact too maybe.We will work on our problem.

But that's understandable. Lots of dogs react like no matter what breed or age.
How does your trainer tell you to handle Myrsky when he reacts like this?

I agree about the stooge dogs. They are usually unrealistically placid dogs (honestly they often seem sedated or something) that will often NOT mimic how another dog would react to your dogs aggression and thus often cannot help truly solve the problems.

My interpretation of Myrsky's reaction when other dogs run past is a very normal reaction of a teenage Malamute! Malamutes cannot stand what they consider to be intransigence, insurrection, stepping outside the boundaries - unless it is themselves acting like this, then of course it is acceptable!! He wants them to stand still, not to run past him - in his world this is very bad manners - they should stop and introduce themselves and "exchange business cards" - this is very much a wolf trait, and one that a lot of the more wolfy breeds will show. Myrsky is telling them off basically. To a young malamute teetering on the brink of adolescence, the sort of excitement that a springer spaniel for example will show is totally unacceptable! So at least you know that he is not being aggressive, just displaying the normal malamute trait of assertiveness. What we have done with Ben is just to be hyper vigilant and never let him off the lead around other dogs, however much they seem to be getting on (or not!). As I said before, when we are biking along the canals with him, he is much better behaved and will mostly ignore other dogs in his efforts to run to keep up with us. Nonetheless, we take no chances and he is always put on the lead by my husband just in case, but once or twice we have been taken by surprise, but with no negative reaction. The most interesting thing about Mals is that they are very fair in their criticism! If the other dog is barking or growling from his own property, on say a boat, in a car or even in his back garden, this is perfectly acceptable behaviour to a Mal - because the other dog is guarding his territory and in those circumstances unrulyness is perfectly acceptable!!

They are a fascinating breed and it has taken us nearly 20 years to work out what's going on in their heads! Myrsky sounds just absolutely wonderful - you are doing everything right!

They are supposed to be placid. It's about desensitising and counter conditioning your reactive dog so he becomes less reactive. Its part of behavioural adjustment but not the whole of it.

I think a lot depends on how experienced the trainer with the stooge dog is.

Gnasher , I think that's a great idea to cycle. I thought of that with Pip JRT but I'd need a bike with stabilisers or a tricycle.

I think its better to say walk on as you suggested rather than just saying no, as it gives direction . Its not easy with a powerful young dog , I'm glad I have small dogs!