I've just received "8 Weeks to 8 months" and already it's been a huge help, but I have question. I have an 8 week old Amercian Bulldog that I need to begin socializing. I know that it's not a good idea to introduce your puppy to dogs you don't know, but what do you do when you don't know anyone who has a dog you can trust?

When I do happen to see someone with a dog, how do you qualify them as a dog and owner you can trust with helping you to socialize your pup. Any ideas?

My advice would be to seek out training groups of dog people, like at an AKC obedience club, or Agility club, or even perhaps a SchH club and ask around spefically if someone has a *very* dog-friendly, non-aggressive,laid back dog. Let them know that you're looking to socialize your dog with a dog like that. Maybe you'll luck out.
The big problem is when a dog aggressively reacts to your dog - this can set up a life long problem with other dogs and can literally ruin your dog, so be *very* careful!

There are some "puppy kindergarden" classes that do a good job of socializing dogs to others in the group, but I'd suggest watching a class first as those type of classes really vary in quality. The advantage there is that your dog is with other dogs his own age, so aggression tends not to get out of hand.

my puppy was attacked in a puppy class by another puppy! a golden pup lashed out at him out of nowhere! broke the skin bleeding on his muzzle. he still has the scar.

he was 14 weeks old at the time, and had been heavily socialized with other dogs, so it didn't seem to affect his confidence with dogs at all, but i certainly was shocked that such a thing could happen in a puppy class.

I have a couple of thoughts:

First, be very circumspect about exposing a puppy to other dogs or dog waste before it has had all of its puppy vaccinations. Even vaccinated dogs can be carriers, so there is a risk of exposure -- perhaps low, but I'm a cautious kind of guy when it comes to puppy health, and 8 weeks is really, really young.

Second, "socialization" covers a lot of ground. There is the socialization to other dogs discussed above, and then there is socialization to people. Depending on what your plans are for the dog, you may want to make it a point to take him out to public places at an early age. For example, my wife and I took our Tibetan mastiffs with us to our local strip mall Starbucks, sat outside, and got the dogs used to having strangers nearby. Petting was allowed (with permission -- you definitely need to be in control of that), as well. We made it a point to do this because of the general tendency of the breed to be suspicious of (and sometimes hostile to) strangers. We felt it wise to teach them the difference between strangers out in the world and strangers in their territory (our house and yard). It also increased their confidence in strange situations. (Not that we didn't socialize them to strangers in our home, but the standards of behavior are different. They know the difference between an invitee and a trespasser, but that's a somewhat different {but still important} kind of socialization.)

I'm not suggesting that this is appropriate for every dog at that early stage. Whether you want to do something similar depends to a large degree on what your intentions and expectations are. If the dog is to be a family pet or a therapy dog, then I suggest that it would be useful. I know that working dog owners have may other priorities.