how do you start helping a dog that has this,
do you start with herb supplements to take some of the stress away from them so it helps them understand that all dogs do not want to attack them .
what is happening is the dog has been under socialised and it now a 9 month old hormonal reprobate, he is fantastic with my dogs and my friends dogs but any outside his social circle he is a nightmare, he thinks that he should bark and fling himself at other dogs and he looks and sounds really agressive, if the other dog barks back he retreats but still barks and barks at the other dog he will avoid eye contact with the other dog and it all seems bluff and bluster but he looks horrendous when doing it, he is a pastoral breed  he is brilliant with children and people, loves a ball, is very quick to learn new things.

when he was first introduced to my pack he had a muzzle on him and he went racing up to my rottie and woof woof woof the rottie walked off so he tried every other dog and they all ignored him one of the bitches took offence to a whippersnapper barking at her so she told him off he ran off and watched her from a distance and then came back barking at her she just turned her lip at him and he grovelled to her she is a spitz he got down on the ground and she placed herself over his shoulders sniffed at his neck backed off puppy bowed and they took off up the field chasing each other,

so i know that he can change just need some adivce if he will always be like this with other dogs ? will giving him herbs like calm down etc help him, has anyone been able to work through this with their dogs, did they get better or was it a lost cause and you just had to be careful around other dogs for the rest of his life.

Any ideas to help us all, we have started basic obedience and agility training but any other ideas thankyou

Do you know anybody else whose dog's would put up with his behaviour.  My Lola for instance is totally non aggressive and just wants to play with everyone.  She makes a great stooge dog though as if I can get her doing a nice watch with her focus on me she would sit and ignore something like that.  I know when I was regularly going to dog club she was a good one to use for reactive dogs as she is totally totally friendly.  She would sit and watch (took some work from me) while the other dog approached but stayed far enough away to be below threshold to the point where they could let the other dog have a sniff of her.  Sounds like you could do with some owners who are laid back like me in that respect and other dogs who are pretty chilled out.

There are various remedies out there but first and foremost, you need to begin proper behavioural work with him.  There are a few things that will help:

1 - keep him below threshold.  That means not putting him in any situations where he is going to kick off.  All dogs have a distance at which they begin to focus on other dogs - that's the threshold.  And I mean FOCUS on them, not aggress at them - it's how close they get before they start to worry, basically.  All your work needs to be done slightly further away than that.

2 - NEVER punish him, not so much as a 'no' in a stern tone.  No 'be nice' in a worried tone.  he'll pick up on it.

3 - if you see him starting to get uncomfortable, get him out of there.

4 - if you find youselves in a situation you know you can't control and with dogs that are likely to come over, get him out of there.

5 - reward anything and everything that is NOT aggression, while he's below threshold.  Rewards do not necessarily have to be food - distance is a great reward for this sort of thing.  For up close stuff (some way down the line though, once he's not charging and barking) I find click+treat for every little good thing he does is very effective for teaching good greeting behaviour.

Have a look at Grisha Stewart's BAT technique - I use it a lot with clients (most of my work is dog-dog aggression) and it is very effective and pretty fast too.  There are videos on youtube as well as the book itself, the vids are useful as you can see it in action and it makes it a bit easier to grasp.

Look at That (or variations thereof) is also a useful tool - in basic terms you click the dog for looking at other dogs, which teaches him that they mean good things.  He'll start to look at them then back at you for a treat.  It turns other dogs into a reward in themselves, and into a game of sorts as well.  All good stuff.  Very useful for work with dogs "in the wild" as I call it (as opposed to tightly controlled setups "in captivity" with stooge dogs).

Setups in captivity help a heck of a lot though - the dog knows they are a setup, and it gives you both time to work on coping strategies and escape strategies without the added pressure of the other dog being unpredictable.

I would do this sort of work first before trying any remedies - having said that valerian tincture (or scullcap and valerian tablets, although I find the tincture more effective) can be very good for some dogs and it's gentle.