Untrained Owners and Their Dogs

My most recent encounter with an un-trained human:

So we've been taking Alvin to a local park to work on recall and basic leash training for the past few days. He's been doing great, he still tries to meet people and dogs walking by but speeding up snaps him out of it. yesterday we were taking a break playing fetch on a long lead and this woman was letting her dog pull her towards us. They were coming from behind us so Alvin hadn't seen them and it looked like they were going pass us so I ignored them. All of a sudden this woman's dog comes out of nowhere 10 feet from us on the right. Still pulling still barking. Alvin put himself between the dog and I and let out the deepest barks I've ever heard out of him. Luckily I had him held close to me. His fur was raised, ears up, tail straight. This dog had 40lbs on Alvin and he was not backing up. I told the woman we were training so we couldn't really socialize right then but she KEPT LETTING THE DOG COME CLOSER. I got up and put myself in a position where I could keep Alvin behind me and got ready to get out of there. She said "sometimes we make make friends sometimes we don't" and she kept talking about how deep Alvin's bark was and just small talk. I had to be rude and told her to please keep her dog back and she rolled her eyes and drug the dog away. I drew pictures of the situation. (get ready to laugh)

This kind of thing happens all the time. We've all seen owners that allow their over-excited dogs to drag them towards other people's dogs while saying "Oh you wanna say hi to the puppy?! Oh yes new friends!!" in a squeaky baby-talk voice... all this does is reinforce their dogs' bad behavior. It is a big misconception that in order to properly socialize a dog (especially a powerful breed like GSDs) they need to meet as many dogs as they can as early as they possible. This "all-or-nothing" approach to socialization is actually an incredibly reckless way to go about getting your dog socialized. Of course you should have your dog meet other dogs, but it is important that you select dogs that have been taught good manners.

When approached by a dog that is too hyper and jumpy and has a clueless owner, the best thing to do is remove your dog from the situation. It is your responsibility to protect your dog and to avoid altercations at all cost. In the park story, I tried to be polite by saying we couldn't play at the moment, but people don't listen/care. I had to be direct with her and you shouldn't care that the owner gets upset, think of a fight breaking out and having BOTH dogs investigated by animal services. This why I do not go to dog parks, but that's a post for another day...

As far as Alvin's reaction is concerned:
Alvin alerted that he did not want this dog near us. By that dog approaching Alvin face-to-face, the dog challenged him, and Alvin accepted it. We did not punish him or tell him to be quiet during, I calmly stood up and stepped in-front of Alvin (facing the other dog), Alvin backed down and let me handle it. This is exactly what you want to happen! Even when he was snarling, barking, and telling that dog to back off, he snapped out of it when I took over the situation. Ive never been prouder of my little dude :)