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We took Leo on the school walk yesterday as usual...Ive been diverting him away from other dogs lately...and we bumped into a nce old lady walking her 5 year old shi-tzu. I stayed calm , keeping Leo on a short leash and reassuring him, saying good boy while he was quiet...we came nose to nose to the lil shi-tzu and WOW! Leo made a fried huzah! lol
We also bumped into the little black dog a few days ago, who he had gone for in the past, and before anything could happen i hooked my arms round leo's front legs and started fussing him...the little black dog came racing up and I put my hand out to him, greeting him and fussing him beore he had the chance to jump up and YEY! Leo was calm and quite excited to see the lil guy.
So I think progress is finally being made
Oh and also he used to bark at every dog that wen by the window...but since I reinforced the "Quiet" command with a vengance, he has more or less stopped
do be careful of too much success. when Jack started having calm encounters, he could handle say 5 dogs in an outing, but the 6th dog was too much for him. So while Leo is reacting calm, do be aware stress could still be building and 2 dogs maybe his limit, but 3 is too much for example.
I would also still caution meeting with strange dogs. watch really, really closely to Leo's body language and if continuing to get closer to a dog is suddenly too much for him, back off. even if you just had a calm encounter 5 minutes ago, the "new" dog may send of different signals or even just be another encounter too soon after the previous one.
You want to build the calm as a new habit, rather then flying into a barking frenzy.
Thanks jacksdad I noticed that today funnily enough! There was a huge german shepard who passed us by and I could see the dog looking quite scarily at Leo and Leo bristled right up and pulled with his ears bolt upright (or as upright as the floppy things will go ) and he went nuts! He doesnt like dogs pulling to get to him Ive noticed, so am very careful about what dogs he meets etc
When another dog looks at yours with a steady stare, that is a huge threat. So you must break the line of sight by getting your body in the way, and if your dog tries to eyeball the other, you need to keep breaking the line of sight while at the same time moving away from the threat. When you are far enough away that your dog is no longer reacting - reward him.
It's quite a little country dance to begin with, because the dogs will keep trying to eyeball each other - but you must not let them do this. Just keep moving and breaking the line of sight, keeping your body between your dog and the other one.
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog
After Leo's update a few more things started going our way
We've figured its very energetic dogs and aggressive dogs he doesnt like lol, but he likes calmer dogs and dogs who dont run up to him. Also we discovered he responds quicker iof we clicked our fingers so have bought a clicker and started clicker training (to which he is responding VERY well! ) so things are going slowly but surely (hes only 7 1/2 months) so lets hope its all on the up
) and he went nuts! He doesnt like dogs pulling to get to him Ive noticed, so am very careful about what dogs he meets etc 
