Blame it on the dog park people that treat their dogs like furry humans.

Don't have to correct for a pup backing away, but I would force them to sit and deal with it on a flat collar.

I agree. And appreciate all the great feedback. It is nice to know that there are people who know what they are talking about.

I can relate to what Cheryl said about fixing mistakes being a real drag. Three of my dogs are dog and people friendly with the exception of my GSD. Koda is very people friendly and even submissive to strangers when he realizes they are of no threat but seeing a person or another animal from a distance is a completely different story.
I have taken Koda to Petsmart and to a dog park in the past and he loved to be greeted by humans but not to other dogs. As soon as he saw a human his ears went back, head low, tail wagging and eagerly wanted them to pet him but I made him sit and didn't allow anyone to pet him unless they asked first. As soon as he saw another dog his body stiffened, ears up, head up, tail straight out and he would either stare at the other dog or look at them sideways. I knew right away this was heading in a bad direction so to avoid a fight, I removed him from the area.
Taking him to the dog park was interesting because Koda allowed certain dogs to sniff him but warned others to back off. My husband and I took all of our dogs to the park on leash and never allowed any of the dogs to be off leash. My most submissive dog just layed down and never interacted with any dog. My dominant female was very curious, a little leary but eventually started playing in the lake with the other dogs with me standing in the water holding the leash. There were so many large dogs there in the water I just didn't feel comfortable letting her go on her own.
I kept my eyes on all the dogs and at one point had to intervene a group of big dogs trying to make a little dog lay down in the water. The little dog's owner was standing right next to me talking away and wasn't watching his dog but I was.
I really don't like dog parks just because some owners don't watch their dogs and too many dogs get attacked. In one of Ed's videos where he talks about dog parks, it's so true that these things happen and the owners are oblivious to the danger.

Another thing to note, and I've experienced this first hand having APBTs, is that there are some rather useless people that will ask to pet your dog and then purposefully try to provoke it. Because this was such a problem with a particular group of 'hardcore' young men on my block, I called a lawyer. I was told that even though my dog is leashed, she could still be put down and I could be sued if she bit. It didn't matter that the scum were jumping around in her face to see if she had "heart" as they called it.

Sorry to say, but it's only young children and older people that are allowed to approach my dogs now. Anyone that even looks a little sketchy is told they bite. It does help that I am using those prong collars now. People are scared of those 'evil' things for some reason.

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Blame it on the dog park people that treat their dogs like furry humans.

Nah, I'll take full responsibility for my own stupidity. (But FWIW, It had nothing to do with dog parks. I think they are a horrible concept and I would never visit one.) These were trainers, instructors and experienced canine friends who lead me astray. It's not like I didn't know better .... I did. But circumstances were such that I was convinced to do things a different way. Usually I follow my own path, but in this case I was led astray. So much has changed in the last few years that people who lack good leadership skills can get pressured into using ineffective training tactics. If it happened to me it could happen to others. In fact, many classes set owners up for this to happen. It seems like this country has a discipline problem; the vast majority think using appropriate corrective measures are wrong, harsh or outright "abuse." Sadly, I knew better, but my brains got separated from my backbone for awhile. I've paid the price and learned an important lesson!

Cher

 Quote: mike j schoonbrood

Being social with other dogs is un-neccesary and risky IMO,

Mike, when you say it's unnecessary for the dog to be social with other dogs, are you describing a dog that's NOT dog-aggressive but rather simply neutral when in the presence of other dogs?

I too do NOT want my dog to view other dogs as "play" partners. It's not like Jake knows how to play nice anyway.

I DO want my dog to be able to work unaffected in the presence of other dogs.

You may recall the story I told you about the FHP K-9 officer that came to my home with his dog. He asked me to put Jake away so that he could bring out his dog off-leash. He said his dog would attack Jake if he was around. I complied. I just hope that K-9 doesn't attack a civilians dog and let a bad guy get away in the event he's deployed. That dog needs more work in this area so that he too is neutral when in the presence of other dogs, imho.

Whether the dog is aggressive or not is irrelivent, there is just no need for any dog to play with every dog he sees on a walk around the neighborhood.

As for the FHP thing, the comment he made was pretty dumb, but the action was smart. If I don't know who's house I am going into or whether or not their dog will leave mine alone then I would have reacted the same way. Most police dogs probably wouldn't take too kindly to another dog sniffing at their butts and licking their faces. While the dogs shouldn't attack another dog on sight and should be trained to ignore other dogs, there is only so much most hard dominant dogs can take. Lets say you are trying to work your dog somewhere and someones labrador keeps trying to hump him or sniff his butt, I wouldn't expect any dog worth a damn to tollerate that for very long. But someone is walking their dog on a leash then that dog shouldn't be able to distract a working dog.

I agree with all of that Mike. I guess my point was that we as working dog owners prefer our dogs to be neutral/indifferent to other dogs who are in their vicinity. It's a given that if one's working dog is getting humped by another dog there is going to be a problem.