My boy Petey was adopted at a year old. He was neutered at about eight months or so by the shelter. We would bring him to our local dog park about three times a week, if not more. For the first six months we owned him, he never had a problem with a single dog.
Around that year and six month mark however, something changed. The incident which started it was when I was bit by a dog at the dog park accidentally. My other dog, Loralie an eight year old aussie shep mix, was attacked by a little dog (probably about 25lbs, she's 70lbs). Loralie is very docile until she gets bit, then she lays down the law. She had the dog pinned on his back in about half a second, and I grabbed her by the collar and pulled her up. Unfortunately, the dog on his back wasn't through and tried to bite her on the side of her neck as I pulled her up. He got my pinky instead.
No serious damage, just a little gash and some blood, but I was pissed off. The little dog had been going after pretty much every dog in the place over any little thing, and the owner was very "ladeedah" about it (until I got bit anyway). From that very moment, things changed. Every single dog he knew before that moment is his absolute buddy (probably around 20 dogs or so), but on that very day the next dog to come into the dog park he didn't know he went after.
I honestly think it's just a posturing thing, he makes a lot of noise and looks the part, but he has never left a mark on any dog he's tangled up with. He honestly is a big scaredy cat when it comes down to it. Loralie has had some spats with dogs before where there were bites that broke the skin, but him not a one.
The problem, as you all know I'm sure, is that Petey doesn't get a second chance. He has to be perfect 100% of the time, he's a Pit Bull and the same rules generally don't apply. What we started to do, and still do to this day, is bring both of them to the dog park but Petey sits outside and meets dogs through the fence. If he is OK, and his body language is good (and the other dogs as well), then we bring him in. This has worked well, but we still have to be very alert when it comes to another dog coming into the park (especially males of bully breeds).
I guess I just wanted to know if anyone else has had experiences similar with their dogs, and how they have handled it. I don't want to avoid socialization with other animals because that will just make things worse, but I also have to worry about his safety as well as the safety of other peoples dogs. It's not right for anyone to use someone else's dog as an experiment for their training theory, ya know?
Maybe I'm just too vigilant. All comments/insights are welcome!