| Seriously major problem.
Some background:
I have a 15 month old English Shepherd/Cattle dog mix. This means I have a dog that thinks a great deal for himself... and is subsequently a bit of a training nightmare . For example, "Stay! must mean mommy wants me to stay... laying down! So that means that if I inch my way forward over several minutes... I'm still in a stay!... but for some reason mommy says "wrong!" when I inch forward. Gosh she's weird"-type behaviour is very common with him.
Over the last few months, more and more of the ES personality has been showing through. This means he's getting more of a herd/prey drive and he's getting more protective of our territory and my person.
It is that last that brings me to my major problem.
Last week, I was walking him around 11pm and things were going find and dandy. I live in a good area, so not much to worry about even at that time of night. We passed by several other people, including people with dogs and everything was fine. However, at one point I stopped to talk with a woman. Kumo was paying very strong attention to something behind me... just standing real alert, not pulling. I look down at him, and turn to look where he is, and there is an older woman standing in the shadows of the gate that leads into her garden. This gate is perpendicular to the sidewalk, so she's not particularly visible.
After a couple moments, she then began to walk forward toward myself and Kumo. It was at this point that Kumo went absolutely ballistic. He was lunging and barking and generally sounding like he wanted to rip her to shreds. She stopped moving and I got him into a 'down' in an effort to get him to stop, and while he'd listen to the initial command, the moment the woman would move he'd pop back up and begin barking his head off.
He clearly wasn't surprised by her, as he'd seen her first and due to his failure to show even the smallest sign of aggression towards anyone else we met as we finished our walk, I assume he thought the lady was "hiding" and then coming to "get me".
It was startling and scary because normal attitude for my dog is "everyone is my absolute bestest friend in the whole world love joy cookies." True, when at home if he hears something strange he'll do these soft "wuffs" until he sees that I've assessed the situation and proven it harmless, and he'll "wuff" or bark at the door if it's late at night and someone comes up the stairs, but never anything like this.
It seems most specifically tied to time of day as people popping up out of nowhere in broad daylight only elicit "PLAY!" not "maim-maul-rawr!"
So. I need advice. I tried looking up local trainers, and have found one place "nearby" (read: 1hr away) that does protection dog training. Kumo is getting evaluated this Sunday. Basically, I'm trying to find a way to direct this instinct, not fight against it. I have this very strong feeling that trying to stamp out his protectiveness will actually lead to him being *more* unpredictable and potentially dangerous in the future when instinct finally triumphs again. After all, part of what English Shepherds were bred to do is guard. Trying to get him to not do that is like trying to remove a working-line border collie's desire to herd sheep.
I only wish this was something as 'harmless' and ankle nipping however. | 
