Leash Reactivity....

Let me just preface this by saying, I am NOT a trainer, I do NOT play one on TV and I have not recently stayed in a Holiday Inn.......

OK, now that the mumbo jumbo is outta the way......what has worked for me is a combination of two things.....one,I never quit talking when I'm working with a pupper and two, I don't miss a thing.  If I see some one or someTHING approaching, I don't shut up, and quickly about face or cross the street.  That's step one.  Next time I might take an extra couple of steps before we avoid the situation.  And then very, very slowly, decrease the distance between us and "them".  And I've been known to chatter away about "look at that NICE lady" or "Wow, what a pretty good dog that is".  In this way, I'm changing the focus from everything else to me and also avoid a situation that s/he may find stressful.  Then, over time, desensitizing the pupper to the stimulant.

That's a start for you........I'm sure our real trainers will be along soon!

 Thanks for your reply. That is encouraging and I may have to try it but the problem is more often then not if someone sees him they want to come up to me. UGH. I'm half tempted to grab a doggy back back and put a service dog in training logo on it just to deter people!

I'm really surprised that none of our trainers have been here.

I honestly find that if I'm fully engaged with my pupper, folks are less anxious to intrude....of course they might think I'm crazy for carrying on a conversation with an animal, but,hey, whatever it takes!

You could just get a vest that says "in training", which is TRUE.

http://www.pawsitivedog.com/DogInTrainingVest.html

I've been considering this, off and on, for my reactive dog. People around here can't read, though, or understand simple English, so I'm guessing it wouldn't work. Maybe it'd give that "Keep away, working dog!" sense, I dunno.

 I've done what Glenmar recommends and can also attest to it working.  My dog's come a long way with that method...it's all about stopping the reaction before it escalates.  You need to watch your pup super closely when you're out and the moment you see him start fixating on anything (staring, tail going up, tensing up, weight shift to the front legs, etc) - that's your key to break the concentration.  I usually just about face as Glenda mentions (I give a "leave it" command first) and start walking the other direction and yeah I talk almost constantly too.  I don't care if people think it's silly looking - it's what works :P

If I do need to get by a dog that's walking towards us, I'll cross the street or get some distance between us at least and either walk slowly in the other direction or have Cairo sit facing the other way until the other dog is almost level with us, and then I'll about face again and continue in the original direction so that we are again walking away from the other dog.   

My dog's at the point now, using this method, where most of the time just the "leave it" command will suffice unless the other dog is fixating on him.  I have had to tell people that he's in training (I think I might have unintentionally offended some folks by about facing or avoiding getting too close to them haha) so the vest might be a good idea.

 So from what I gather if I see someone I need to turn and head the other way. Treat for calmness. Should I gradually go closer to the person before turning to help him understand people are good and the close he gets the more treats he gets? And I need to get a vest and a treat holder. Hopefully I can find something cheap along the way

 It's not about "treating for calmness", it's really about treating until the person disappears.  You are really trying to convince the dog that: 1. You will get him outta Dodge so the scary thing is an appropriate distance away (the appropriate distance is determined by the dog's willingness to NOT react AND to eat the treats).  2. That the scary thing becomes a PREDICTOR of good things.  3.  That the disappearance of the scary thing is a predictor that the food disappears.  (Thus, the dog may find that he wants the scary thing to return, and that it wasn't all that scary!) 

Best little inexpensive book on the subject is "Feisty Fido" by Patricia McConnell - and another good one is "Click to Calm" by Emma Parsons.  The techniques in both books can help with reactive dogs.

I made this suggestion a live link for you -

 You turn the second the dog tenses, and don't allow it to ever get frenzied, or even start barking, if you can help it. It worked great, on my dog, too, along with lots of "watch me" training. Snappy, reactive Emma will now FLIP her head around and look at me when a dog gets in her face, instead of biting the dog. It thrills my little heart.

 It helps to have your dog know some attention training, and to know "leave it" and "come" as well.  But, others are correct when they say that the object is to change the dog's emotional gut response to the approach of people, and to ask instead that he focus on you.  Basic attention training is easy - you can use the lessons at www.clickerlessons.com.  If you don't train with a clicker, just use your voice and say yes when it says to click.

 I will also second, third, whatever what everyone else has said.  The two books recommended are great books and I used them a lot to help turn my little dog's reactivity around.  Another book is Scaredy Dog by Ali Brown, I think?  I know it's Scaredy Dog: Rehabilitating your leash reactive dog.  Or something like that.

First step is to temporarily stop doing things that make it difficult for you to create distance between you and the "trigger".  If there are lots of triggers around your neighborhood because of people walking, etc, then go to a park that has a big field where you can get off the trail really far.  It's about creating distance and rewarding for calm interest in the trigger and slowly decreasing that distance over time.  I believe it's either Scaredy Dog or one of the others that has a great step by step description of this process.  None of the books are very expensive and all well-worth the money for a reactive dog!