Not sure if this is the right category conversion but i did not know where to put it. but oh well here it goes...
I have a 6 month old male and I am not sure how to interprete his acts.
Thus far on two seperate occasions he has raised his hackles (as in raised fur, tail straight but no growl or teeth showing) when entering a new situation.
1st incident:
At the age of about 4 months I took him to his 1st pet store ( a large petco). As he entered the store his fur went up yet he forged on, never did he cower behind me or back up. After a few minutes in the new environment , he settled back down. At the time I interpreted this as a reaction to the many dogs inside the store, many of which were large males barking.
Incident 2 (yesterday)
we went to a park. I'll describe the scene. The park is a small one. It has a long wooden bridge that is about 15 feet wide and about 50 yards long. The bridge dead ends to an onlook over the river and at that point maked a "T" with benches on both sides. This was our 1st visit to this park (we have been to many others but never on a wooden bridge or high above ground). At the time we went there about 5 or so park volunteers on bridge. These people were cleaning the leaves off the bridge. most had brooms or rakes. Most wore work gloves. Ok now you have an idea of the situation.
He had no problem with the wooden bridge nor the height, all went well until we were about 20 feet from the 1st person. My GSD was walking slightly ahead of me but not pulling (he does not pull on a leach). His hackles went up , tail straight, wagging slowly. NO growls or teeth showing. The stranger froze and put his hands flat on his sided and did not look at the GSD. At this point I was telling the pup it was ok etc.. Pup continued to move forward toward the stranger (he never paused or hesitated to move toward the stanger). Then as the distance closed, fur went down, tail still up, ears up, and he sniffed the stanger (mostly the large leather gloves), then moved on. The thing that he was mostly focused on were the large leather gloves that this worker was wearing. Once he sniffed those he was fine. The stranger never petted my pup. We then continued down to the "T" of the bridge. 4 strangers were there 2 sitting on the benches. This time no raised hackles. One of the strangers asked to pet him. pup had no problem with this and I praised him for being good.
At no time did he cower behind me or backup.
So what is going on here? I have raised GSDs before and I have never seen this before. it seems that if he encounters something he is not sure of he raises his hackles but approaches the situation with confidence.
Now a little about his character.
He is a very dominent male and the alpha male of his litter. He has acepted me as the alpha of the pack but that has been something we have been working on since he was 8 weeks old. when my vet 1st met him he warned me to never let my guards down with him because he is a "true alpha male". As of late my vet has stated that he is pleased with how good his tempermant is that he had been concerned when he 1st met him.
He is not a "social butterfly" but will aproach stangers and let himself be petted. If strangers come to the house he does not charge them so as to be petted as some of my other dogs in the past have. His reactions is usually to aproach them, sniff them and then walk off. While they are in the house he will place himself between them and the exit. he will lay there and watch there every move. Some of them will pet him and others will ignore him. One of his best petters is the mail man for every day he gets petted by the mail man ( if he happens to be outside when the mail man makes his delivery).
My guess of this is that the large light brown working gloves were what raised his hackles rather than the strangers. When we left we went righ back by the 1st stranger, the pup never paid him attention on the way off the bridge. Is this a socializing issue? He has met numerous stangers and has been nearly everywhere I cant take him. Or is this part of his alpha character

Phillipe,

I would gues that the dog was reacting to the gloves. Dogs notice things that are different or not "right". You will probably see the same thing at Halloween with people in masks. It makes the dog uncomfortable because it isn't right. I would have had the first guy pet him as soon as he calmed down. My guess is that he is seeing something different and reacting with the begining of a defensive posture until he figures out the situation. Increased socialization will probably help with this by exposing him to maore and siverse situations. As this progresses he will learn to take his cues from your level of comfort... "If the boss isn't woried, why should I be."

Is hackle raising a sign of weak nerves?

If it is, how would I tell my dog was weak nerved vs having to expose him more to something so he knows its okay?

Hello Philippe -- Hackle raising indicates that the dog perceives a threat or danger in some form -- Therefore, by definition, the dog is not indicating "self confidence." However, I would not be overly concerned about a puppy that has only shown hackles (raised fur) 2 times in 6 months -- as long as he recovered ok and moved forward to investigate.

Even though his hackle goes up he never hesitates. It is almost as if he raises the hackles and charges into the situation is the best way i can describe him. Several months back I took him out to the back yard to do his business before going to bed. it was dark and windy. The trees were swaying and causing shadows to move on the ground.
He charged the shadows like a madman, growlling and low pitch bark. once he figured it was nothing he settled down. since then he nevers payed any more attention to shadows. One of his sibling also raises the hackles occasionally. One of the Dams ' sons from another sire raises the hackles when playing ball with its owner. The breeder's explanation is that their hackles are hypersensitive.

Phillipe,

I would doubt the hackles are hypersensitive. The dog is somewhat sensitive to new things. His tendancy seems to be to move toward a defense/attach mode to deal with it. I wouldn't worry about it at this point, but socalize him as much as possible or it may become a problem. He may get to be overly aggressive with strangers.

yes more and more socializing is definitevely what we are going to be doing. In fact next week we are going out of state . he is comming with us . we will be staying at different friends, family , as well as probably a hotel (time to introduce him to elevators). we should get plenty of new people to meet as well as many new situations. also bringing plenty of treats and toys

Rosep:

Nerves are a combination of genetics and environment. Proper socialization will bring a dog to its genetic capacity. But never more.