curbing fear aggression in my 7 month old puppy

[diane]

My 7 month old puppy Oscar can become a real hot head at times. Normally he plays very nicely with other dogs in the dog run or off leash in the park, but when a dog barks at him aggressively, he starts barking back very aggressively and it escalates. It hasn't resulted in an actual fight yet but it appears to be heading in that direction. When my husband pulled him back from aggressive barking at another dog today, he bit him on the arm. Oscar is about 30 lbs and probably won't get much bigger. He's a rescue mix, maybe some pitbull, shepard and something else that's keeing him relatively small. He also barks agressively at much bigger dogs he encounters, not ususally in the dog run but off leash in the park or when both he and the other dog are on the leash. We live in the city and he encounter all sorts of dogs constantly and is fine with most. He also really loves people. We took him away this weekend, first time in a car and visiting a new place. He seemed freaked out by the experience and barked at people as well as other dogs. Otherwise he's a fun and loving puppy. He's also pretty good with our other dog, a 10 year old cocker spaniel. Any advice for dealing with this type of aggression?

[bex_a_stead]

A squirty water bottle could be your answer. Take one with you when ever you take your dog for a walk, and if he barks, squirt him in the face. It's often better to try and get the squirt in before he barks, but not always possible.

I've not had to do this with a dog of my own, but have seen it done to other dogs during training classes and it worked.

Worth a try. :-)