So far today we've been on our long trot in the woods (morning) and our short lunchtime potty around the neighborhood.

I realized that 3 out of the 4 dogs we passed,
lunged and barked/growled at us.

1) older golden retriever = calm pass
2) bulldog = lunging, barking. apologetic owner got dragged over & says she has tried everything to train him.
3) small terrier = lunging, snarling, growling, scary. (bizarrely, owner waved Hi in a friendly manner?)
4) med. brown & white mix = barking, lunging, rearing up on leash.

Rumo is friendly, but he used to pull like crazy to go say Hi, and he would whine/howl if he didn't get his way.
I have worked hard (months) to train him to pass calmly (now he keeps walking, and makes eye contact with me).

It was depressing to realize that dogs who can pass each other calmly, are actually more rare than dogs who bark/lunge. This is one of the first times I've kept count...statistics were not good!

It is a rare occurrence. One of my three can pass other dogs calmly. Two of my three can at least manage to not try to eat the dog they are passing. And one is a nightmare with other dogs even after thousands of dollars in training and desensitization work. It gets really interesting when you start breaking it down deeper. Little dogs and their owners tend to be my worst even though far more large dog owners think it's okay if their friendly dog is off leash. The little dog owner tends to be the one with a loud unruly monster but because it's little and not dragging them they just don't seem to find time to care about the behavior. After all, what's their little dog going to do to your big dog. Never seems to cross their minds that your big dog could turn their little dog into a stain. There are a lot of rescue dogs out now that I don't think used to be taken quite so many places and you just never know what's happened to those dogs. All mine are that way. My female that's bad clearly had some bad experiences with other dogs, but there are too many people who don't plan accordingly when they know good and well their dog is reactive. If you meet me on a trail with my three you're going to see me pull them way off to the side and make a fair amount of distance between us to combat lunging that may happen. It's for all our protection. Not enough people do that though, or take it seriously. I don't know how many times people will tell me their dog is friendly it's fine. No, no it's not fine.

when we go out on our morning  walk we usually pass by other dogs and they will bark or lung or pull the owner in our direction. Leo usually avoids those dogs. and we have also had a small lose dog run up to us and try and bite him before returning to the owner who was yelling at her dog to come back. yeah i have had people tell me that their dogs is friendly and i have had to catch that dogs collar our local dog park to keep Leo from getting bit. thank goodness that the owner has never returned since.

One of the bennies of living in the boonies...it's rare that I encounter dogs that aren't tied up. Not that I'm happy to see tied up dogs but that's the way it is out here. The exception was the Boston Terrier down the road but I'm guessing she has been hit as I haven't seen her in quite a while. THough, its also possible she moved. The property is owned by my neighbor to the north and is lived in by his mother and grandmother. And the wife is NOT happy with the mother though adores the grandmother and has been wanting the mother out for some time.

I also think, walking Ami, who is huge, may act as some intimidation elsewhere. Or we are just lucky that dogs are leashed. Glad I do not have this experience. And, I have to say, I've become soured on dog parks - not from personal experience but reading here and on FB about others less than wonderful experiences.

When I was training Rumo, I was grateful for owners that would give us Space, instead of walking right at us!

I have been noting our calm passes (where both of our dogs are calm) and so far it's been that 1 golden retriever, 1 black lab, 2 large poodle mixes (labradoodles maybe?). Interesting that all of the calm passes so far have been large working dogs! ( Black lab went by in perfect Heel, leash hanging in a J...ha, we will probably never get to THAT. I'm happy if Rumo can just keep walking without acting up! )

So...yappy Boston terrier is still around. This time, instead of continuing to walk, I stopped with my two on leash and walked towards the little yapper. (I can do this now that Z'ev is much less reactive!) She stopped in her tracks, hair raised along her whole back, looked left, right and turned around, went back up the driveway, tail between her legs.

Laughing! Good for you and good on the pups for behaving. My comment to people who have little yappers is something like "If you don't shut up, I'll let my dog come out to play."

I have a neighbor who has three terriers - don't ask me what type, I don't know and don't care - but when he's working, I go over and let them out. It hasn't taken them long to figure out that I can stand outside a long time if they keep yapping ...

Yeah,  my thought when we turned and faced the little yapper was..."Do ya feel lucky, pup?  Do ya..."   Guess she didn't!

LOL. Smart terrier :-)

I have seen Rumo greet little dogs before, and he is so polite/careful.
He sniffs them as though they might break.

But he does make the owners of little dogs nervous - some of them actually snatch their dogs up into their arms! Most of them don't let their dogs near him. I dunno...I feel a little offended, because they are making "breedist" / "lookist" assumptions? Like, because my dog looks wolflike, he will see their dog as prey and eat it?

We used to have a miniature pincher down the road. Who regularly came to visit. This dog was no bigger than my ski boot!!! I was terrified Ami would either see him as prey or hurt him in rough play. Neither happened. He was as gentle as could be.