Barking at dogs

hi everybody,

i got a 9 month old unspayed maltese boy. at the beginning he would run from every dog he saw but he got more and more selfconfident. hes always been pretty calm around dogs. but now he went from "being afraid of dogs" to "ignoring dogs" to "wanting to go greet and play with every dog" to latly "barking at every dog".

the barking started maybe a month ago. he would go up to a dog and try to make it play with him, laying down having his butt in the air and when the owner left with the other dog he would start barking at it and trying to run after it.

now the last two weeks he started barking at dogs even if they where right infront of him. mainly bigger dogs as him and i dont know what that behaviour means. i dont think he is scared as his tail is up.

just now after we came back from a walk we met a pit. my dog walked up to it and they sniffed noses. the owner said to her boyfriend "be careful in case he (my dog) bites"
(my dog has never ever bitten anybody. we play with him with our hands and when he takes them in his mouth and chews a little bit on them he is very very gentle, i just cant imagine him biting anybody)
now baily all off sudden starts barking again ( didnt seem agressive to me though, i more think he wants to play with the dog) so the owner of the pit says "oh yes see, he did" and dragged the pit away from my dog.

he didnt bite the pit at all so i have no clue why she said he did. all he did was bark two times.
it really makes we wonder and be concerned now though.
is the behaviour of my dog agressiv? what can i do to make him stop barking at dogs? and how can i tell the differense between "wanting to play" and "being agressive"?

what are you doing when he stops to bark? Are you talking to him when he does this? Do you scold him?

If you do any of the above you may have encouraged the behavior when it first began.

Best suggestion i can give you is take some super yummy treats with you on your walks. If your dog knows any commands at all such as "sit," "lie down," "look at me," "give paw" or whatever utilize them to distract him.

Meaning - if he starts to bark at another dog, say his name, show the treat, get him to do a trick. Only give him the treat after he does the trick. Keep doing this to keep his attention on you and off the other dog. Don't give him any praise, attention or treats unless he is working for it (by doing the command given,).

Also you should consider getting him neutered. He's getting close to breeding age and he will become a handful and a half if there are any in heat females anywhere near him. AS well as possibly more aggressive towards male dogs.

You could try a spray colar

first i said good boy and praised him after he stopped barking for 2 or 3 seconds, but then i got the feeling that he still connects the praise with the barking and that i would actually encurrage him to bark so i stopped that.
i dont talk to him while he barks except for one sharp (not yelling though) "NO". he does know what no means when he pick something off the ground that hes not suppose to have and he puts it down, but he doesnt listen to me when its about other dogs. they are more interesting to him then me.
he knows: sit, lie down, come, up (stands on his back legs), please (sits with his front paws in the air moving them up and down) and give paw.
he does it perfectly at home and outside if there is no dog around. if there is a dog he gets soo distracted. when i tell him to lay down while a dog is there he does it sometimes but is moving around a lot wanting to get up again. he likes his treats at home but he couldnt care less about them when we are outside. i make him do a trick outside and he does it ( as long as no dog around) but if i want to give him a treat for it he only sniffs at it and doesnt eat it.

i havent made up my mind about getting him neutered yet because i might wanna show him. i got to admit that latley he has gotten into a stubborn phase what makes me be more strickt with him (me walking through doors first, him getting food ONLY after i ate, most toys only when i am playing with him except some chew toys, attention only for good behaviour and ignoring him more during the day).
i thought that every dog gets a little bit more difficult around that age till they are mature, i didnt think that is because of not being neutered.

hes doing really fine except for the "other-dog-thing".
i wish somebody could explain the dogs bodylanguage a bit more so i can tell when he is friendly with another dog, when he wants to play or when it is actuall agression. and does barking at a dog automatically mean he doesnt like the dog???

and has anybody a suggestion how i can attract his attention outside when he doesnt care about treats? ( i tried all his favourits, cheese, even yogurt and icecream treats.....)

i thought about spray collars before, but if he sees a dog and barks and i use the spray collar couldnt that kind of backfire?
making him be scared of DOGS ingenerell instead of connecting it with the actual barking only???

i would rather use positiv reinforcment but i am out of ideas.......