Could it be down to the other dog?

In the past month or so I have come to the realisation that with Ben his reaction totally depends on the other dog. Previously, I have thought perhaps its where we are walking or the situation but I am just about certain its the other dog. Perhaps location does play a part too but I think the other dog plays a bigger part. Obviously, I am not saying Ben doesn't have an issue, because he does, it's his reaction around those dogs that do cause a problem for him that he needs to learn to tone down. He is learning to tone it down with some dogs and I notice instead of bark, growl and lunge it could just be a low growl and that's it.

Last week, I had to take my car to the garage for new tyres. I dropped the car off and walked Ben to a café nearby after playing Frisbee on a field also nearby. The café is handy as they come out to you to take your order so I didn't run the risk of leaving Ben unattended. We were sat about 3 metres from people walking past the café. I got his favourite treats out and sat back and enjoyed my coffee. Ben was happily panting away after playing fetch and watching the world go by. Six dogs walked by with there owners during the time we were sat there. How many did he react too? He reacted to two of the dogs by barking and hackles raised. The only two dogs that actually looked at him and who appeared to me quite challenging in their stance. The other dogs just ambled past calmly and he just looked at them and then at me for a treat.

The other day in the car, we drove past a dog walking along the street and he did a low growl. We then drove past another dog and he just looked at it and was not bothered at all. Its a no wonder I have such a difficult job of helping him because I cannot control the signals other dogs are giving to him and as touched on in other blog posts, dog body language is so subtle. This is why I know he cannot be 'cured' and he has to be managed and I have to keep learning from his signals and the signals of other dogs we encounter.