I want my dog to be able to protect itself, but not be a fighter, aggressive or dominant. Is this possible?

I have a German Shorthaired Pointer that is extremely well behaved. He is very submissive with the family. As a pup and even now he submits to family members readily. He was never dominant. I have never known him to fight viciously. I am defiantly a dominant owner and am a strict disciplinarian. I make him wait to eat, walk through doors, etc. He is extremely well behaved and obedient. At home, he barks when strangers and dogs go by. He growls at the door. He does not like when too many strangers (work men) are in the house alone with my fiance. He barks and growls at them the whole time. She will have to put him in a separate room.



Historically, I would describe his temperament as confident with other dogs. I have seen him growl at other dogs and make them submit when playing. At around 1.5 to 4yrs. of age, when he encountered other dogs and was even a little aggressive (mildly growling), I would reprimand him. I even made him lay down if he was playing roughly with other dogs and puppies. Again, he was never very aggressive, and I never saw him really bite another dog. Once, I did see him chase a large German Shepherd off my front yard. He never really bit it, but he nipped it and chased it down the block.



Up until September of this year he played with my Uncle's Dog every month or so. They played together sometimes roughly barking and growling. My dog is named Buck and my Uncle's dog is Scar. They would play and wrestle barking and growling. Buck would usually win. He always grabbed the ball first and would take things from Scar. I would GENTLY reprimand Buck for taking things from Scar or growling at him. Last summer, Buck would wrestle with Scar and win. Even though he was winning he'd role on his back with Scar over him. He'd hit Scar in the face with his paws. Then he'd jump up and continue wrestling usually fighting and winning the contest. In September 2000, the dogs showed a little more tension. They had not been together in several months. They were outside playing and everything was fine, but again there was a little more tension. After being together for about 12 hours, they came into the house together and both seemed a little stiff legged. They both seemed annoyed at each other. I think Scar growled at Buck and I went over to break the tension. I said hello to Scar and tried to play with him. He playfully jumped up on me to say hello. At that second, my dog Buck growled and jumped at him. I think he was being protective or possessive of me. They both reared up on their back legs and were growling and barking, and it seemed like they were fighting. I yelled at Buck and called him off. As he turned to walk away Scar jumped on his back. Buck got into a submissive stance with Scar on him. I called for my Uncle, because Scar is not obedient at all. In the seconds I was waiting for my Uncle, Scar stood over him growling. As my Uncle approached, Scar bit him and my Uncle had to literally punch Scar to get him off. Buck came to me very submissively and rolled over on his back. I said "good boy, it's ok." He was not hurt. I petted him and comforted him. Later that day we went hunting and when Buck retrieved several downed pheasants, he growled at Scar if he approached the downed birds Buck was retrieving. So he was still showing dominance.



Buck has not been to the cabin since that day in September. Scar has been up there on several occasions. We went up together this past weekend. Since last September, Scar has viciously attacked several other dogs over the past few months. Most of the dogs he has gone after have been male. Once he attacked a female that had attacked a second female. Buck as I mentioned, has never really attacked another dog. He does bark and growl when people or dogs go by our house at home. When we got to the cabin, we tried to reacquaint the dogs. Scar was there first. Within two minutes, Scar went after Buck. Buck just backed off. Scar was on a leash. A little later, Buck and my fiance went for a walk. A large golden retriever, I know is aggressive with other males, approached Buck. Buck tried to walk away and the Golden jumped on his back growling and threatening to bite. She came to get me. I ran down the road and found the golden standing over and behind Buck being aggressive. Buck was in a crouching submissive posture. I called Buck and he came to me with the other dog being aggressive and growling at him and following closely. Later Buck was playing with two neighbor's female dogs when the golden showed up again. Buck tried to walk away and the golden did it again. He did not bite though. I showed up and Buck came to stand behind me with the dog barking and growling in front of me trying to get to Buck. Later Scar had a muzzle on and went after Buck trying to bite him, but he could not really sink in. Buck just stood there being very submissive with Scar just barely nipping his neck. The muzzle was a little loose, so he could just about pinch some skin and hair.



Later Scar ran into the golden retriever. The golden was on its own property and Scar just walked up to it. The both stood there for a while posturing. Then Scar slowly and nonchalantly backed off. The golden slowly "escorted" Scar of its property with its fangs bared. Scar was not submissive, but he did not really growl back. This all took place within about 3 hours. When Buck encountered the golden it was on common ground. Can you help me make sense of what happened?



I do not want Buck to be a fighter, or be overly aggressive with other dogs. But, I do not want him to stand there while another dog bites his neck. I want him to protect himself. I do not like how he just stood there while this other dog, barked and growled. Especially considering the Dog felt threatening. I have seen the golden the same day and it was friendly to me after he had the second run in with Buck. But, I was alone. I hunt Buck and up at the cabin he runs free. I now worry about his safety. How can I restore his confidence? What could have caused him to be so submissive suddenly? He still seems protective at home. It seemed so out of character. What if he runs into a bobcat or coyote will he defend him self? Over his whole life I've seen him attack and kill feral cats, skunks, and possums. I just want him to be able to protect me and my family. I do not want him to leave his neck exposed like he did, Scar could have killed him if nobody was there and he was not muzzled. If you need any additional info, please let me know. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for any help you can offer.



Thanks,
Dennis