A few weeks ago my youngest boy (2 1/2) and I were in a local park (he was off lead,but usually stays close by and has great recall) when we met two unfamiliar spaniels. Dogs often have trouble reading my OES - think its the coat - and they are often snapped at-even my really submissive oldie.  However my boy stopped still on the path to greet the spaniels which were posturing and one attempted to mount him from the side, at which point I casually called him on and he immediately looked to me and began to follow. Straight away the mood changed,they charged after him aggressively. He is such a mummy's boy that he sped up to get to me which exacerbated the issue,by the time we got to each other the dogs had caught up and were biting at his back end. Luckily he is in full coat so apart from a few small wounds  on his hocks and tail they mostly got mouthfuls of fur. Their owner and I managed to separate them from my boy and she got them back on lead before marching off saying they were just 'playing' and 'yours is bigger anyway'! I admit once they had hold of him he did turn and try to defend himself but didn't make contact with them and by the time we broke it up he had flattened to the floor,and wet himself with fear. Anyway,since this my extremely laid back and friendly boy has decided he is going to get in first and had started to growl and eyeball any dog that he meets on walks, and lunge if they are close enough. So using high value treats  we have been resocialising right from square one,rewarding positive behaviour when he saw dogs in the distance etc before gradually working up to smaller distances/passing on opposite sides of the road etc. he already knew 'watch' so have retrained him to watch me or 'finish' when he sees another dog so he has something to do other than eye balling.  I have been stopping to have long chats with owners of calm dogs who have then offered him the chance to have positive interactions once he had settled.  Funnily he obviously views the show environment as totally safe as he has remained as chilled as ever,whether on his table,in the ring or wandering around trade stands. This was all going brilliantly with his anxiety levels much lower until today when we were out and were passing a small utility breed which I hadnt realised was on an extending lead (my boy walking beautifully to heel,gazing up at me whilst I praised him-yay breakthrough!) when the other dog shot around the back of me growling and nipped his back leg. The owner laughed and said 'oh she's so grumpy she's always doing that'.  Although my boy retaliated i managed to calm him fairly quickly and get his attention back with food but the rest of our walk we were back to square one every time we met a dog....oh well we will start all over again!! I could just cry though, I always pride myself on having well socialised obedient dogs and the irresponsibility of a couple of other owners has led to such upset. Grrr! In 32 years of dog ownership never had this problem before-anything else anyone thinks I should try?

You are doing all you can, and doing all the right things - your only 'error' is in over estimating the common sense/intelligence of the people you have to walk past or come into contact with, and thats hardly your fault!

Just carry on doing what you have been doing, but now assume that EVERYONE is a complete idiot who has no idea of their dogs intentions or behaviour and therefore will allow something to occur, until they prove otherwise.

Good plan,theemx-ive been doing that for years!Theyre idiots until proven otherwise,in my opinion!Mine are quite reactive,although pretty obedient,and Ive just learned to keep out of everybody elses way,after a few annoying incidents.Sad,though,as Id ideally like my dogs to be calm round others.And when forced to meet others,In often surprised how nice people can be!One chap incensed me, though,-Id seen him coming so collected my 3 up on leads,and as he strolled past with his 2 calm little dogs,sneered"ooh!put them on leads,quick,these two are killers!"I wasnt sharp enough to say"its not your dogs Im worried about" - I seethed about that for ages,sarcastic s@d!

I thought it was the lack of eye contact that the other dogs don't understand with OES?  I knew a woman that owned one and this poor bitch was attacked loads of times by normally well behaved dogs.  She started tying the dogs fringe up and the aggression eased up.  A behaviourist that came to our dog club told us that it was the 'lack of eyes' that freaked the other dogs out.  Same as dogs with only one eye, other dogs see this as a sign of weakness and act aggressively.
Themix is right, people are idiots until proven sane!

I always tie the fringe up on all of mine when not being shown,so began to come to the conclusion that it is the bulk of the coat that bothers some dogs (two of mine are undocked too and are expressive with their tails).  Theemx you are right,I have given too much credit to the eejits that make up the general public!

You have my sympathies, my girl was the victim of a prolonged attacked a couple of months ago. Fortunately in her case she hasn't decided to get in first, but it has knocked her confidence moving in the ring with dogs behind her.

Latest thoughts are that teaching an already anxious dog to watch you can make matters worse and increase stress levels in an already stressed dog. Google BAT and LAT Grisha Stewart. A lot of people are having great success with this technique.

I had a similar experience with my male westie, once when he was six months old and a man refused point blank to call his two adult German shepherds off of him and recently with another dog. You're definitely doing the right thing but I also find remaining calm when confronted with dogs helps considerably, if I am calm then he is calm and this is helped no end, he has even played with German shepherds using the 'calm vibes' technique?! A hig breakthrough as normally he dodges them! Also, I agree with you that it might be something to do with the Old English breed, when we had our male no dog would ever attack him when he had a short coat, as soon as his coat came in then every dog wanted a piece! Fortunately his temperament was always 'chill out dude' except for this one time when he decided he was Rocky, when what can only be described as yob told me to put my f-ing dog on the lead (he was walking to heel?!) because his staffy cross would 'eat it up and spit it out', when I asked kindly for him not to swear he let the dog go and the inevitable happened! Sam wasn't being a 'cool dude' and put his rocky act on!

Thanks all. I have had a look at BAT etc and we are making progress-he has started to automatically look up at me for a reward when he spots a dog approaching. I am also trying really hard to use encouragement to control and avoid the lead becoming taught at all costs. Just a shame knowing he will probably never return to his super laid back self.