Akita behavior

Question
We have an 18 month old Akita (mix maybe) we adopted from the shelter at 8 weeks.
There is a female Rott next door that he is friends with but not much experience with other dogs.  
Whenever we are out walking and he sees another dog he begins jumping in the air!  Sometimes all four feet come off the ground - mostly his front feet.  He usually whines which can then turn into more of a grumble.  Sometimes his hair is raised, not always.  He does not do this jumping thing when he sees the Rott- but he's not usually on leash when he sees her.
He's great with people and especially little kids who come up to him so we wonder if he's being aggressive towards dogs or overly excited and wanting to play.


Answer
This sounds like more of a play thing,and that he probably just wants to meet every dog he sees right now.They generally grow out of it,but it can become annoying.So what you can try is to take him to a leash free park so he can have his 'fix' of other dogs.You can try that once a week to start,and can do it more often if you would like over time-that often cures them of wanting to play with dogs all of the time.