Some of us have rescue dogs who have been badly mistreated/abused. That's another reason for dogs not being fine meeting other dogs. My foster dog for instance was living in an environment where she witnessed physical violence, then lived in a house where she was repeatedly attacked by the other dogthat was living there. She lived with us for 5 weeks, then went back to her owner where she was attacked again by her flatmate's dog. So, she can be quite defensive and understandably so.

I think there are a lot more reasons as to why some dogs are not good at meeting other dogs than the reasons Krusewalker gave (although they are relevant points).

I agree with the point Krusewalker made about people being too overprotective over their dogs and not letting them carry out their natural greeting behaviour. I've lost count of the number of times I've heard someone say to their dog 'Don't do that it's dirty!' when their dog is sniffing one of my dog's back ends

Unfortunately this is just the way that a lot of people are and the only way to avoid it is to avoid other people

You are right Sarah. I rehome rescue dogs for a job.
But that is still my point. Your example comes down to several stupid owners. By nature, and bought up according to nature, dogs do not find it difficult to meet and interract with each other.
There are genetic reasons, but even many of them are down to people, thru bad breeding

Krusewalker - I agree totally with you, although I do know areas where I wouldn`t let my dogs off lead because there are likely to be dogs there who have been abused to make them `fierce`.
I often hear people say `He doesn`t like other dogs` when what they`re really saying is `I can`t train him`. Yesterday a mad labrador bombed at mine. I asked the owners if I could take her for a minute, did a little lead-work to calm her, asked her sit and rewarded her, then she calmly and happily interacted with my dogs without all the hysteria.
I understand that a lot of dogs may have history, but that is a challenge to be worked on.
I think that because people are not brought up round animals now they are sometimes at a loss how to train them, which is why it may be easier for them to just keep their dogs on a lead and avoid the issue.

Not sure I agree with you here. Surely by avoiding other people altogether you'll never allow your dog to socialise? Unless I've misunderstood you, in which case I apologise.

Hmmm My dogs are Malamutes.. the original large & wolfy looking
My dogs are socialised thank you.. but they are also malamutes with a prey drive and malamutes with a passion to run and run they will if they are off a lead.. My dogs play with each other in an enclosed area and are quite capable of playing on a lead with other dogs

I`ve got a German Shepherd and a German Shorthaired Pointer - both large breeds with high prey drive. Why are the Northern dogs different? Just asking...

I have always just watched what others have done. My dogs are as under control off the lead as they are on and they've not charged up to other dogs because i've never let them do it out on walks and to be honest they much prefer sniffing around or making for the nearest muddy puddle If I see others put the dogs on the lead then I will do the same or call them to heal. I don't assume the other dogs are nasty or anything else, just think it's courteous.
I was walking up a forest track in Wales on Sunday and saw about 100 yards in front of me two beautiful staffies. One of my dogs was trotting say 20 yards ahead of me and the other one was on a flexi lead as there can be sheep in the bracken that jump out now and again.
Eventually got to the people and stopped and had a chat and the two staffis were being very friendly with my girl (she's such a tart lol) Anyway it came out they had put their two on leads as being staffies, they had had the odd comment from brainless people that believe everything in the press. I said I had put mine on because I had seen them do it. So in the end we just let our dogs off. So I don't see the problem.
What does my head in is people who have no control over their dogs, unable and unwilling to call their dogs back who then just use the excuse when they bounce all over my dogs, "oh he/she just wants to play"
So to me it is simple, if you see a dog on a lead or the owner putting it on the lead then you leave that dog/owner alone. It's a simple enough signal. If the person continues towards you then I walk my dogs on the opposite so that we pass person to person rather than dog to dog. If that person wants to then stop and chat etc, then fine otherwise I get back to walking my dogs. Maybe i'm a boring, but when i take my dogs out for a walk it's for just that a walk, not particularly to socialise with anyone. I go to agility, showing or group walks for that

They might think you're a bit weird. We are British after all. we DON'T talk to each other!!!

Northern breeds and other spitz type dogs have a tendency to be stubborn. They can be easy to train to do something (like recall) but have to ponder it and decide whether they think it's a good idea before doing it. If they fancy doing something else in the meantime- well tough luck! Luckily for me, although Elkhounds are stubborn, they don't have the prey drive of a Malamute or Husky. GSDs and GSPs have a large prey drive but they are generally much more responsive to their handler. Northern dogs don't have masters, they have PAs.

Louise13. Apologies if I am wrong, but I detect a note of sarcasm in your post. I am not trying to start a debate about what is right and wrong, I merely wanted to know peoples opinions about my (albeit crazy) idea.

I am sorry if you felt the need to be defensive, as I wasn't trying to critise you in my post. I am aware about your opinion of Northern Inuits (as I have read other posts), but this post isn't about whose dog is the "original" wolfy dog.

I don't want this thread to turn nasty, as so many other do on Dogsey, which is a shame because this is a good site, so lets just agree to disagree. I bare you no ill will.