..hiya- watching this conversation with interest.
Maybe I am too relaxed about it but I tend to agree with pearly. My dog 16 months has been super socialised with every imaginable breed since the day after her jabs. I am probably a bit old fashioned but I think they need to learn by doing. She was off lead and being a dog from day one. Mine has been rumbled many times and has had a couple of nips from the odd not so nice ones but is still very friendly towards other dogs, loves to play and always greets with a polite 'down' position. She has loads of friends she sees regularly and has a good old romp and a chase on a daily basis.
However..
Don't come near my ball when I'm working or I'll have your face off!
Ok so maybe not quite that bad, and some dogs are allowed to take her ball right out of her mouth but some will get a nasty bark in the face- no contact but scary sounding.
She did Chase a couple of dogs off a few feet the other day with a nasty noise but then she had just found a whole animal pelt in the middle of a field so was being a bit guarding of it... next time she saw them they were best friends again.
I think as humans we don't like to see that sort of behaviour but they are dogs and have their own way of sitting out who's who don't they? it seems that a dog will do something in that moment for that particular reason right there and then it is forgotten. I don't think it necessarily means you have a nasty dog.
If it does, then I too have a nasty dog.
I think mines pretty social really-There have been a thousand situations where she has been incredibly tolerant with puppies jumping all over her head and biting her ears, massive boisterous labradors bowling into her at 100 miles an hour, things trying to hump her, being nipped, boxed chased and generally ruffled up. She's had a couple of shouts at a couple of dogs trying to take stuff off her. In the grand scheme of things the tolerant behaviour wins out a thousand fold..If I was just loading my shopping into the car and someone thought they would just take it off me and put it in their boot I would probably object too.
I have never considered that this could be a precursor to aggression. I don't think so, and I hope I am right!!!