[loyallyroyal]

I recently got a dobie girl Lady at my local humane society and shes a sweetheart but a bit skittish, when we first got her all she would do is wiggle on the ground on her back when you approached her but shes gotten a lot better about that. The first couple weeks we had her she went to puppy day care while everyone was at work and picked her up on the way home she loved it playing with the puppies and running around, but now that I am home more she stays home during the day and I take her on about an hour walk every day

and here comes the issue, when on walks there are certain people she loves, like I took her on a walk the other day and we met one of my old friends and she adored her licking and wiggling all over wanting to jump up but she knows when we stop moving on walks she has to sit and stay, then some woman is walking on the opposite side of the street and Lady starts jumping and lunging growling and barking, its the same with dogs I took her to the local park and we met this guy and his keeshond and she loved him and his dog but on the way home a guy was walking his pekinese and she freaked out

So how can I socialize her properly without knowing whats going to set her off, and I worried since I have a dobie I will have problems like my neighbors hate her because shes a dobie and she loves them (they also hated my poor old pittie I used to have) I really just want a nice well rounded dog

sorry this is so long! dont know if this will help but she was 7mnths when we got her and she is now 9-10months old

[Malkuth]

Someone told me that dogs can see things that we don't in people. I tend to believe it myself.

Take My dog to work with me now. And she has social issues too. If someone comes to the cab of the truck she will bark. But if I am in the truck she might bark a few times and thats it. Sometimes customers see her and want to pet her. I give them a treat and she loves them, she barks a little and thats it.

Well Friday I was sitting in my truck waiting for a customer to come home, when this guy I don't know comes up to the Truck. Kasha is sitting right next to me and FREAKS out. She starts Barking a Growling like I have never seen before. She did not like this guy that much. I talked to him a few seconds and he left.

The guy I was waiting for came home and she never barked once at him. And she has never seen him either. I'm telling you, dogs can read people. They know more then us when it comes to stuff like that!

[TooneyDogs]

It's hard to tell from your description if Ladys reaction is one of, "Oh, look! there's another dog to play with over there!" or, if her reaction is, "Get out of here! Go away!" The one key thing you mentioned was the growling which leads me to believe it was not a positive/playful reaction.
So far, Lady seems to do well playing with other dogs and I suspect that if the dog across the street were close enough to play with she would be OK.
But, you still have the problem of the reaction. Try this, when Lady first sees a dog at a distance (before any barking/lunging)..... stop...treat and praise for calmness. Keep working at a distance for awhile before moving closer. You're trying to get across to her that the sight of another dog means that good things happen...it's not a bad thing. Don't rush this...if you move too close, too fast and the barking/lunging starts, you'll have to go back to working at a distance.

[layla]

Someone told me that dogs can see things that we don't in people. I tend to believe it myself.

Correction. Dogs can smell tihngs that we don't in people.

As for socialization, IMO, more than anything in dog training it boils down to practice and comes naturally.