Greeting dog friends on leash

I think it's normal for puppies to behave like this, and dogs can still mentally and emotionally be puppies even when they look full grown or near to. I'm yet to meet a puppy (besides very small ones) that don't practically explode everytime they see another dog. They will generally grow out of it and a little help training wise goes a long way to calming them down. Sounds like he's not too bad for a 9mo! []

You should work on it IMO, those kind of hyper behaviors are not well seen by some dogs, they might think your dog is annoying and try to correct your own dog to stop doing it with a bite, if you dont want your dog to be bitten i would not wait for him to grow out of it, re direct his attention is the key

Max greets other dogs on leash.  He does the same goofy thing - if he notices a dog coming behind us he sits to wait for him.  If I try to make him move, he lies down to wait. I guess he figures if I can stop to chat with my friends, he can wait for his. []   He's gotten pretty good (with reminders) at not jumping or leaping.  Usually the other owner will ask "Is he friendly?"
 
Joyce

Personally, I think it's foolhardy to allow your dogs to meet on leash, unless you are in a safe fenced area and the leashes are dragging, not held by a human (that allows you to pick it up if you need to bail your dog out, but the dog gets no "vibes" from either handler).  And, I don't believe that you can't avoid these meetings.  I avoid them just fine by saying "I'm sorry, I don't allow nose to nose greetings on leash, it tends to cause fights."  If the person persists with "Oh, he's friendly", I simply say, "Mine isn't always", and I smile, but just go the other way, quickly.  I own herders, most of which hate other dogs to come right up to their faces, but I don't allow it with my hound either.  I know my dogs, but I don't know theirs, so if they want intro's, they either do it my way or not at all.  I tend to be quite careful about who my dogs' play partners are, and I usually confine them to dogs that have been through classes, and respond to "come" when their owners issue the command.  They've never been at a loss for playmates. []

Anne is right -- at the very least you put your dog in a "sit" safely AWAY from the other dog and just wait it out.  Allowing the dog to get all enthusiastic is either going to get a human ticked off or something bad is going to happen. 
 
The AKC sees this as SUCH an important thing, it is actually part of the AKC "Canine Good Citizen" test.   The dog has to sit or stand NEXT TO YOU and not 'cross' that invisible line across your toes (and sitting IS preferred).  so starting NOW to make sure your dog is under control and remains in a 'sit' is critical.
 
Right now your dog is pretty young to control -- so you cross the street, you turn around and walk the other way, you go way way around ... you do ... emphasis ***YOU*** the guardian does whatever it takes to avoid such a confrontation.  You don't want the dog to pick up negative habits from YOU -- as in you get nervous, pull back. etc which then tends to make the dog think it needs to 'protect' you and suddenly AGGRESSION rather than friendly-ness is borne on leash -- bad bad guardian!!!!!!!!!
 
Truly --until your dog is of an age, and YOU are of an experience where you can successfully deal with such behavior successfully then you are better off avoiding it.  It's not anti-social -- it's responsible. 

I have a firm policy of never letting my dogs "greet" other dogs while on leash, and I will be extremely rude if necessary if other folks try to let their dogs come up to me and greet my dogs. I need my dogs to learn to ignore other dogs when they are working. I think letting your dog "greet" other dogs on leash sets you up for all sorts of possible behavioral problems. And what benefit do you get out of it? none. Let your dog socialize off-leash in safe locations.

Also, if you live in a place like where I live, you'd never get anywhere. I also don't do meet n greets on leash while we're walking if I can at all help it. We encounter another dog on just about every block and we'd be stopping and sniffing every 30 seconds if I did allow it.

Being on leash is just too weird and artificial of a situation for dogs to be able to do proper greeting. The leashes get all tangled up, the dogs are inhibited from doing what they'd normally do to greet and interact, it can cause misunderstandings among the dogs, etc.... We go to the park to meet other dogs. The sidewalk just is not the place for it.

Thank you for all your responses.  I understand what you are saying and see the wisdom in it, but maybe I should explain myself better.  In my apartment community, there are only two dogs/owners that I will approach with Buddy.  Even then I am keeping him back on his leash, which isn't sending him the best signals.  So, thank you for that advice. 
 
What are your suggestions on how to work on training him?  We are going to be starting a new obedience class next month, but what can I do with him now?
 
Sue

'sit' him to death ... in fact, if you aren't already doing "nothing in life is free" TRY IT!  There's nothing like getting a dog to the point where their butt will hit the floor at the slightest provocation.  It is handy, it is wise, it is WONDERFUL and it is the best help in 'controlling' your puppy/mature dog/older dog of ANYTHING!!!  (if you go to Google or any decent search engine and literally copy the next line into the search
"nothing in life is free" training
 
The key is consistency -- and that's habit on *Your* part more than anything.  You want your dinner?  Sit.  You want to be petted?  Sit.  You want my attention?  Sit.  But then the ball is in your court to ***NOTICE***
 
I have seen Luna (my basset beagle mix) who is a total 'not-quite-grown-up' wild child pup go from totally controllable to "ain't I perfect" when we are at pet theray just by doing nilif with her.  Now granted -- we had the best impromptu training session there when we took her the first time and my husband was trying *valiantly* to get her butt on the ground before people came up to pet her.  *sigh*
 
JUST as he finally got her rear end to touch the concrete this little Wish Child comes up to her and plants this big old 2 year old kiss smack on her nose.  Luna's eyes got the size of saucers "WOW--- I SITTED AN I GOT KISSED YAAAAA HOOOOOOO!!!!"
 
At this point when we get there her butt hits the ground and STAYS there.  I have seen her watch people as they walk by with this absolutely incredulous look on her face that says "HEY.... you .... foolish human!!!!!! I am ****SITTING**** here !!! Can't you SEEE me??? Don't you UNDERSTAND???????  HEY YOU COME PET ME!!!"
 
It is absolutely hysterical to see -- and obviously this perfect little behavior comes into focus in this one spot in the universe -- but it was the ultimate in "positive reinforcement" -- she got the attention she was desperately craving that one time and a 'higher value' treat could never have been found. 
 
But that's how you train this -- you bring with you something your dog values highly -- doesn't always have to be food -- one bounce of a favorite ball can be a valuable reward.  But you see someone coming off in the distance.  Get him to 'sit'.  Then walk a few paces to the left. Sit again.  He gets up in excitement?  Nope ... Sit.  over and over if you have to.  But your goal is a calm 'sit'.  And if he gets way too out of control so that he hasn't heard your command for excitement -- it's time to terminate the exercise and go the OTHER way. 
 
There's a fine line when training a pup -- you work on a 'thing' as long as it's productive.  But When you begin to bang your head against the proverbial rock, turn him around the OTHER way, walk briskly elsewhere, and then right away "Sit".  PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE.
 
Sometimes when we are training a rambunctious pup we forget to set him up to succeed.  WE try a 'thing' and it's a dismal failure.  So we walk away half annoyed and the dog is frustrated.  Don't terminate your training on a sour note.  Walk the other way, get a bit out of sight and give him the one common command he will do.  
 
If you don't have 'sit' down yet -- work on it constantly.  Work on just having him respond to your voice saying his name.  Saying his name and having him look up at you with a happy wag ... PRAISE HIM FOR IT.  Then tell him to 'sit'. 
 
They like to 'win' as much as we do.  So make sure any little 2 minute training sessions you do end in a 'win'. 
 
Now-- as far as truly 'training' a greet ... it needs to be set up.  Before you leave next time pocket a pen and a few 3x 5 cards.  You see Ms. Schmuckatella and her boxer in the distance, make sure you have YOUR name and phone on a card.  and IF you can possibly get to her, hand her your card and ask her if she'd mind giving you her number that you are training your dog, know you meet her and her dog all the time and just want to run a couple of things by her.
 
THEN ... call her if you can and just chat.  Tell her what you're trying to accomplish with YOUR dog and set up a time to meet her at that same corner or someplace out of the way in the complex so you can both kind of be "in the know". 
 
"I want to get MY boy so he will sit even tho he sees a friend in the distance ... so next time we see you, and I keep dropping him in a sit if you'd let me approach you two slowly I'd appreciate it.  And if i 'ask' you if we can say 'hi' will YOUR dog sit too??"
 
You just set up whatever you can ... but warn her that you aren't being rude if you turn around and walk away-- it's just 'too much' for him today.  But if you can get a few people who know what you're doing it's much easier.
 
Sometimes exchanging numbers with someone can simply avoid conflict.  If you explain to them what you are trying to require, and tell them you're starting another obedience class but you just don't want to allow YOUR dog to jump and be a royal pain. 
 
But if they are the type who blissfully allow Poochie to wreck YOUR training ... you might just plain say "I just didn't want you to think I was being rude if I don't bring my dog near yours ... I'm just trying to avoid situations where he'll be over-stimulated until I can get him trained."
 
Setting your dog up in training situations is more helpful than you'd believe.  You can accomplish a TON in the space of a few minutes.  But allowing casual contact to go sour where your dog jumps, someone screams or you jerk on the leash -- man it does MORE damage than you can undo in weeks of training if you aren't careful.
 
Does that make sense??
 
Sometimes the 'steps' you take have to be absolutely minute.  Just keep it to a situation where you can 'win'.  Last time he got 'wild' when you were 100 feet from Mrs. Schmuckatella and her Poochie.  If you get it so you are 20 feet closer -- you've done a GOOD thing.  With some highly excitable situations just getting 6 inches closer is a major deal. But quitting while you are "ahead" is where the real success is. 

You could try some of the lessons here (they're free):
www.clickerlessons.com
Watch a clicker trained dog on the videos (also free) here:
www.clickertrainusa.com

Thanks Callie and Spiritdogs.  I have done NILIF with Buddy when I first had him home, but haven't been doing it as much lately.  I will have to do it more.
 
I have looked at the different clicker sites and I really like the concept.  The training we'll be taking in Feb. is with a clicker.  I can't wait to start it!
Sue

You could get him used to the clicker now and be way ahead of the game.

When I first got mine, the dogs hated it.

Just click/treat, to teach them that a click means reward.

We can't wait to hear how you do - be sure to keep us posted! []