A couple of months ago my little dog Alfie saw his mate get beaten up and lose an eye. Since then he has become progressivly more nervous around other dogs. Prior to this he would happily go and say hello to any passing dog. It is getting so bad now that he will either freeze when one comes near, or worse will start squealing and run away (this is without the other dog even approaching). When this happens I call him back and ask the owner of the other dog if we can introduce them so that Alfie can learn that its OK, and then he's usually alright, and sometimes will even play with the other dog. Its a real shame as hes a lovely little dog. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to rectify the situation? For background info, he is two and a half, was castrated in Aug 05 (for the reason that he kept meeting bitches in season and was frustrated) and was brought up on the advice of Gwen Bailey's puppy book.
Any advice would be much appreciated...

How awful! What a terrible experience this must have been, both for the dog that was hurt, for its' owner, and for you and Alfie. No wonder Alfie is a bit wary of other dogs!
I think you are doing the right thing, at the moment. It may take some time, though, for him to regain his confidence. Make sure the dogs you let him say hello to are nice ones, a bad experience right now might just confirm his suspicions.
Good luck to you and Alfie,
Karen

I think you've got to react to your dog and show him YOU are his protector. Make sure the tension you must be feeling doesn't transmit down the lead by relaxing your shoulders.  Lure him behind you and greet the other dog first.  Alternatively, you can use a 'watch me' command which you've already trained by holding a small tasty titbit infront of his nose, let him lick and taste it and then slowly raise it to your face, when he makes eye contact, give him the reward.  Slowly extend the length of time you ask him to maintain eye contact before he gets the reward.  He's reading the other dogs body language and decided something about their approach reminds him of the attack, and reacting accordingly.  You need to teach him that the same thing isn't going to happen, and how he should be reacting in this situation, by deferring to you.

It might also help to take him to training classes if his fears can be accomodated, and to try and avoid forcing him to face these fears by walking in less doggy areas.  The more times he gets to repeat this sort of behaviour, the more common it will become.

Does he go to training classes?  If you just went back for one set of classes, I think being around other dogs and having fun with you would help him learn that all other dogs aren't out to get him.