I do base my opinion of dogs when out on body langauge but if other owners could do the same (which most cant or choose not to do round my area) then they would know how there own dog was reacting and could choose whether there dog is happy to stay off lead or not and whether its not happy in situAtion etc , but i do have the odd breed round here which i dont love!

Only dogs I'm truly worried by are rough collies but thats not their fault. Ever since I was savaged by one as a child I have had a slight nervousness of them & try as I do it goes down the lead to my dogs, so I have to be cautious, With others its the individual dog. One of mine was attacked badly by a newfoundland when he was a puppy. With that dog I was warry of any large black dog but not with other dogs I've owned. There was one pharoh hound we used to meet I was very nervous around as he was totally out of control & his owner was often three fields behind. but I've never met another pharoh hound when out walking so am not sure how I'd react in that situation,

I have no breeds that I am wary of, and judge each dog as an individual. My way of thinking is that any breed of dog in any situation can be aggressive.

Of course there are breed traits, but these don't have to turn into aggression. A large majority of it is I believe down largely to poor ownership, not necessarily by the current owners if the dog is a rescue, but the way a dog is treated in the early months of it's life plays a huge impact in their overall personality. Not saying that this is the be all and end all though, I'm sure there are some dogs who have these personailities 'in-built' be it through poor breeding or other reasons.

I have Border Collies and a JRT, and working in my profession I can confidently say that these are two of the breeds that I have had the most 'bad encounters' with, and yet I still own them. Alongside them tend to be the Chihuahuas, and most of the time I find the ones that are aggressive have the owners that find their behaviour amusing, because they are so small and acting so 'big' and so it has never been corrected. That said, I also meet some lovely Chihuahua's just unfortunately less so. Of course fear plays a large part in the dogs that I meet being in a veterinary surgery, but I have seen these same dogs out on walks and their behaviour tends to be very similar.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that yes, I can understand why meeting a lot of dogs of the same breed in a negative fashion can built 'breed prejudice' but it comes down to 'Deed not Breed' for me

I am weary of any breed of dog out by itself or running loose and the owner does nothing when the dog comes in my direction. Especially if they are gassing on the phone or to their friend.

Responsible owners tend to take notice of their surroundings when out with their dogs

I find it very difficult to assess the body language of a dog that's just charging towards you full speed. Some have turned out to be fine if rude, others have turned out to want to kill my dog. And it's impossible to assess the body language of an owner you can't even see. I'm concerned about ANY breed of dog that's charging towards mine like that but due to past experience that worry is worse with some breeds than it is with others. Not something I can help I'm afraid, it's not like I purposely think "oh that's a shih tzu, I'd best be extra wary" or anything.

It's body language observations for me too.
Whilst i was growing up my dad was always one of the ones saying, 'that breed will bite you' etc. so i'm a little iffy with rotties and dobermans but i am working on that.

In my area Border Collies are the worst and a lot of them have check chains on with retractable leads O_o

I walk small dogs and I am wary of any dog that has a size advantage over mine.

Mine walk politely unless they are being run on. They have been full out attacked by a Saint Bernard, a Labrador Retriever, a Great Pyranees, a Husky mix and a Rottweiller/Pit mix. In four of those instances the owners were less than 20 feet away and mine were placed behind me or my walking partner . . . but we were plowed through (we took bites ourselves while protecting in fact). In three of the cases the attacks were silent - meant to kill. The first three of those dogs have been put down due to their continued patterns of aggression. The last one is tightly managed and the Husky mix owner is an irresponsible git who could care less.

I no longer have the luxury of seeing a dog strolling along with his owners and being relaxed about the idea of walking by . . . but my trepidation is not set off by specific breeds.

Ruby

Staffies
GSDs
Saint Bernard
Labrador Retriever
Great Pyranees
Husky mix
Rottweiller/Pit
and....
Small dogs

Not much left really!

I try not to judge based on breed alone, I look at the owner and how they behave as well as the dog. But then I've been lucky and so far not had any attacks happen to Axel so I've not got that fear.

I find that statement quite strange coming from someone who OWNS a small breed themselves?

You own a cocker spaniel, that to me is a small breed.