[Diva Satanica]

When Brinks was a little younger, anytime we came across other dogs I would give him the chance to be polite. If he wasn't (pawing, jumping, nipping) I would say "alright lets go" and take him out of the situation. He was always onleash and I wanted him to understand that this behaviour was not acceptable. This is all I had to do. He quickly picked up on the fact that if he didn't behave in a polite way, he wasn't going to get to stay and socialize.
I did this for two reasons. One was, I know some adult dogs are not tolerant of a puppy's antics and I didn't want him getting hurt for his foolish behaviour. The second reason is that I wanted him to understand from a very young age, that being polite is the only way he was going to be able to "play" or "greet" another dog.
He will now walk up to other dogs calmly, sniffing with his butt wiggling. He gives a polite sniff of the face, down the body to the back end (generally the other dog is doing the same). He will then look at me and sit at my feet.