What to do if you have an "overly friendly" dog?

Having a solid training foundation and off leash reliability is our starting point. Until then we always have the dogs dragging a leash or long training line so we can reinforce to leave the other dogs alone, come when called or follow a command. Too often problems occur or worsen because we are not effectively able to reinforce or influence the dog (such as by guiding away or stopping a behavior with the leash) and they get away with it or we have to try and grab them which offers no learning opportunities.

A few comments / questions I have seen regularly that we should clarify:
There are certainly times when we feel it is absolutely beneficial for a young dog, puppy or ill mannered immature adult to get corrected directly from another appropriately selected adult dog. We work with many behaviorally and socially challenged dogs who are not able to "take" a correction and yield to the other dogs signals or corrections appropriately. This is where we use training to help them learn to move away (using recall and/or obedience commands) and disengage when the other dog is not interested or offers cut off cues to help reinforce the appropriate reaction and response. Some dogs who are not socially experienced, are high strung or naturally defensive will take a correction "personally" and react by instigating conflict or fight. We recommend seeking hands on professional training if this is a regular problem with your dog.

Generally we do not recommend dog parks for socialization as many people have stated they are a breeding ground for irresponsible owners and out of control dogs. No one wants to control their dog or take responsibility for bad, annoying or dangerous behaviors and offending someone is almost guaranteed if you provide any discipline to another owners dog or have a pet who is defensive or acting in a way to correct another dogs behavior.

Due to the variety of reactions and dogs involved in many social situations, we do not recommend letting them "work it out" because you may not know each of the dogs involved personally. We see too often perhaps a short fused adult over correcting a puppy, an immature, pushy / playful adolescent becoming defensive or no "hints" received and the pest dog continuing to bug until a correction becomes an attack.

I hope that helps provide some answers and insight for everyone and we are working on responding to all of the inquiries / questions posted individually as well ????!

Thank you everyone for commenting, liking, sharing and helping spread this message and awareness to so many!