Miniture Poodle - agreesive towards other dogs

Question
We have a 6 month old male, miniature poodle who is going through dog training and is good at most commands such as sit, lay and recall. However when ever he sees another dog in the park he gets very aggressive towards them.  We can't let him off his lead in fear of what he will do if another dog comes near.  He also barks a lot when he is in the yard at all sorts of noises.

We are thinking of having him neutered but our dog trainer says he is timid and this might reduce the testosterone he needs to help improve his timidness.  Not sure what to do for the best.

Answer
Hello David,
I think that first and foremost you should consider getting your dog neutered if you aren't planning on using him as a stud dog.  Even though the testosterone would help with his timidness, it can also make a dog more aggressive.  Getting your dog neutered far outweighs the benefits of keeping him intact.  It will help calm him down, keep him focused more on you than other dogs or distractions around him, will help stop him from marking in the house, will keep him from breeding with other dogs around the neighborhood, and will also keep him more healthy by taking away his chance of developing testicular cancer at a later age.  

As for the aggression towards other dogs, you need to assert yourself over him as the dominate member of your pack.  To do this, you need to lay him down on his side with his head on the floor and not let him get up or move until you feel him relax in this position.  You can stare at him in the face and make him look away so that he sees you as the boss.  You need to do this when he acts this way toward other dogs.  Once you have laid him down a few times, you may be able to get to where you just tap him with your foot to distract his attention from the other dog.  The main thing you want from your dog is to keep him from focusing his attention on the other dog, because while he is looking at the other dog he is building himself up to an aggressive state.  When you break his stare and redirect his attention elsewhere, you stop him from becoming as aggressive toward the other dog.  You need to turn him away from the other dog, then have him do something such as sit or down, something that will keep his mind off the other dog until the dog has left.  Praise him if he ignores the other dog or keeps his focus on you.  You can also use a shaker can or squirt bottle if touching him isn't enough to distract him.  (you can make a shaker can by putting pennies in a soda can and tape the top closed)

You also say that he barks at things around the yard.  To understand why he does this, you need to see it from his point of view.  He sees (lets say a person) walking down the sidewalk by his yard.  He barks and the person continues walking away.  From his vantage point, the person is walking away because he barked, not because the person was continuing his walking.  Your dog thinks that his barking made the person leave, so he continues barking at other people, dogs, cars, etc.  The best thing you can do for this is to bring him in when you see approching people or dogs.  

Your dog is 6 months old and he is still able to be shaped right now.  By working with your dog now you should be able to make him into a dog you can live with confortably, now through his senior years.  

Give this a try and if you have other questions for me, please feel free to ask me.  

Thanks for using AllExperts.com,
Kim