Backyard aggression

Sounds like puppy behavior.

yes, it does sound like puppy behavior,but at this size, it's not so cute.  What sort of professional training have you done with your pup?

MalOwner

This only occurs in our backyard when we are out there playing with him. 

What type of play/interaction is happening when this happens?  Chase me type games and wrestling type games tend to encourage this type of behavior. It sounds like rough puppy play but I would want to extinguish this behavior.  I recommend you start spending your time training when you are in the back yard.  If you want to "play" at training, a game that's fun is to get yummy treats and call the dog back and forth between you and your BF from across the yard.  Make yourself attractive to the dog by crouching down or whatever it takes to get him racing back and forth between you. Don't allow him to crash into you.  As he gets close make sure you're standing upright.  It's good exercise and good training.  Use a leash if you need to but just don't let the jumping happen anymore.  Training is such fun for dogs and I think it's underrated as a form of play. :) 

How old is your dog?  My Dane does this occasionally...when he is really over excited...I believe its a puppy thing.  My dog also...is too big to be doing this...but when they are too excited they don't think...PERIOD.    My best thing is to not play the way he get too charged to play with.  For a long time I could not run with him because that would make him run to me and jump on me...he doesn't do that as much anymore because I stopped playing that way with him.  I personally don't call that aggression.....maybe it really is. Over stimulation is more of what I call it.

He has had 3 professional puppy/training classes -- basically he's been in a class since he was 10 weeks old.  And he's done exceptionally well in all of his classes... I'm hoping it's just puppy behavior, but sometimes it just doesn't seem like he's playing.

We don't really wrestle him or play "chase me" games in the back yard -- it's mostly just when we're playing fetch.  And sometimes it isn't provoked by play at all.  He'll just start running at me and I know he's about to jump on me.  Maybe more training in the back yard is in order... He really enjoys when we do training sessions -- but these little episodes are getting frustrating.

It sounds like the behaviour he's been exhibiting since he was a pup (jumping up etc) was never really dealt with or eliminated so now he's bigger and stronger the problem has just gotten worse. As you said, it's not new behaviour. Lots of training is in order IMO :)

Ya, we've definitely tried to deal with it, but nothing seems to work.  I've tried yelping, turning my back, telling him no, etc. but nothing really seems to work.  Any suggestions?

With a dog this size it won't be easy, but, completely ignore him.  Turn your back, don't speak, don't look at him, just IGNORE.

 Yah I would definitely consider this puppy play over aggression.  The fact he has never landed a bite tells me he isn't trying to attack you because if he wanted to purposely hurt you he would have done it long ago.  Since this is only happening outside I might mix this with the second it starts ignoring him and promptly going in the house.  If possible try to stand near the door/gate so you can easily make your exit.  Might help him realize jumping and getting rough equals being left all alone with no one to play with.  In the meantime I would leave a dragline on him whenever you got outside in the backyard with him.  That way if this escalate you have a means of controlling him should he become so rough you need to gain control.

I would consult a good trainer or behaviorist.  Like the others say, I agree this is not real aggression, however I know I personally would not tolerate a 75lb dog treating me like that.  8 mos may be a puppy but what he is doing is potentially dangerous, could escalate, and if he's doing it to the owners, he could easily try it on any guest who might take more offense or get hurt.  It sounds like he is not really respecting your space and testing his boundaries.  I've seen a dog about the same age and size do the same thing, basically molest his owner and treat her like crap (he was totally running the show) and our trainer put a stop to it in about 5 minutes.  Some way, somehow he needs to clearly understand that his behavior is not acceptable, and also be shown what type of play *is* acceptable.  How exactly you go about it I think would best be left to a good trainer or behaviorist that can see you and the dog interact.  I know how I would stop this with my young'un but I'd use a totally different method on my other dogs.

My Alaskan Malamute is 19 months and 125 lb. Your dog is overly excited and yelping contributes to feed the excitement, turning your back at him just makes him trying to get back to play, he for sure is not aggressive but mals are really playful

When mine gets also overly excited i just change my attitude to something like "ok Mr. you are out of line" (almost like if he just slapped you in the face) and I MEANT IT, he knows you got mad but he will try to bring you back to your "playful human". He will bark, do a play bow, etc.

If he does not stop just put the leash on and walk around the backyard a couple times so his excitement slows down.

Mine already knows when i dont want to play anymore, he already learned to read my body language but your puppy is still learning what you do when you really want him to stop

Thanks for the tips!  I'm sure you're all right and that it's just puppy behavior... but it's so frustrating!  I'll be sure to give all of these methods a shot -- he seems to be testing my boundaries, and we just need to step up and be consistent. 

And, espencer -- your mal is beautiful!

I'm not sure how old our lab was when we got her from the shelter but she had the same types of behaviors. I used to swear that we'd rescued Cujo. She was about 75 lbs too and her reaction scared me. What I found that worked best was as soon as she charged at me, I'd ask for a "sit" from her and then I'd rub her chest and praise her. Sometimes she'd seem to amp right back up but I just kept asking for a "sit" until she got bored and dropped the energetic behavior. It worked beautifully. You might give that a try.