Other dogs behaviour towards our staffy

Hi I am interested to see what people think about how other digs behave towards staffies, there seem to be four type of behaviour. Des our staffy is about 2years old, fairly tall, dog friendly. When he has his ball in fact he ignores most dogs and is happy to play with us and the ball.
1. Play with des, he will happily say hello and do a game of chase (which we monitor with smaller dogs in case they get scared) normally these are terrier types.
2. Ignore him
3. Bark at him/seem scared: we keep him away from these. Normally smaller dogs that have a bit of small dog syndrome.
4. Go up to him and try and dominate him or even attack him. These have been labrador/retrieve types- which I was surprised at. Des luckily is quite chilled but will growl to show what's not on. The only exception has been a Manchester terrier which just confused him! It was biting his ankles so des came back to me with a confused look on his face and I told the other dog no and it ran back to its owner.
I have read the dog behaviour article and although des is confident he doesn't seem to try and dominate other dogs- he ignores those normally that seem upset but will say hello to those that say hello.
My main concern is how to detect the aggressive dogs and read the signs, tonight a Labrador was stalking des and I could tell he wasn't playing as was staring and wasn't play bowing, des wasn't having any of it as the other dog started pushing him around (barging him) with another dog Des did one growl they ambled off.
I wonder if these dogs push their luck with any smaller dog or if it's because he's a staffy?
Des btw is completely un phased by anything that happens and in fact doesn't seem to remember any dogs that were funny with him! He's happy go lucky :-)

I don't know really, Moo is a very dominant girl, she will see a dog and her hackles are raised, tail stiff, stands tall, all the commen signs of aggresion, but once she meets them all she does is give them a wide berth, might have a smell of the bum and then toddles off. Smaller dogs, she loves to chase and the only dogs I have to be aware of are boxers, for some reason she hates them. I think you just have to be aware all the time and read any situation before it could potentially happen. I always believe also that if a dog is off lead then its friendly, not that I let Moo ever run up to other dogs but if one approaches I just assume that they are fine Xx

I think dominant dogs generally aren't aggressive. They're too confident to start any trouble. I had a Jack Russell come up to Loki, sniff him and then wee on the fence by him and walk off. And a dog that lives near us that basically owns the street, just walked up to him, they had a sniff, and he walked off nice and happy. I reckon it's only dogs that are scared or insecure that will cause problems for seemingly no reason. I guess the only thing you can do is try to pick up on the other dog's body language. It's great that you have such a chilled out dog though, must make the whole thing go smoother

my staffy has been attacked 3 times by jack russels

Thanks guys, des does this think where he carries his ball and skips along in a wide circle round us and will go up to a dog about 3 meters. He is relaxed though his tail is up he's not stiff or hackles up. If the other dog is ok he will sniff or say hello or they will say hello. He will either ignore them or let them chase him! If the dog is aggressive/nervous he will pass them by.
we are starting to check out other dogs behaviour now and keep des close if we are not sure, however tonight we had another incident.
We werevwalking and des went round the corner with his ball and was about 3 meters away from a large female black German sheperd with a toy in her mouth. We were not far behind him and saw him go the usual 3 meters and turn away (ie: I am not going to push my luck with this one). At this point she drops the toy and runs after himbiting his bum! He the threw down his ball and turned and growled seemigly ready for a fight. At his point i called him and he stopped and She was v shocked and ran off! The owner did nothing apart from seemd shocked, and didn't even say sorry as it was her that attacked des! I made light saying maybe she though des wanted her toy?
God knows what would have happened with a smaller dog? Des was ok but kept checking where she was until they went out of sight. I hope he's ok if we need them again in the future, it seems she had an issue with toy possession.
We have found it has been female dogs mainly that have been a bit moody? I wish people would let dogs off the lead unless they are sure the dog will behave, I have seen the same dogs over and over again (the aggressive/sensitive ones)ignoring owners and running off- in fact they seem to ignore what the dog is doing and not even seem to interact on the walk- what's the point of having a dog?
We love taking des out for a walk, interact with him and always keep an eye on what he's up to, I wonder if that's why the other dogs play up?
We love taking des for a walk and

steplce wrote:my staffy has been attacked 3 times by jack russels

Sorry your dog has been attacked, I hope your dog is ok.

thank you, i managed to stop them bitting him, all the owners did was call there dogs and walk away, not even a sorry

steplce wrote:thank you, i managed to stop them bitting him, all the owners did was call there dogs and walk away, not even a sorry

Yes it seems some people just aren't very considerate like in life I suppose. Others we meet are lovely :-)

Molly doesn't have much luck with other dogs. They don't like her. Small terriers bark at her relentlessly and the odd one has even snarled! A black lab was haunting us at the carboot today aggressively barking at her at every opportunity and guess what.. Not even a sorry when he reduced molly to cowering when we were trying to get past him! Molly is pretty good with other dogs she either respectfully bows and tries to inniciate play or goes in for a sniff and that's that. Sad to say it but a guy walked past us with an adult bitch staffy and a male puppy staffy and the female dived at Molly with lips curled, Molly looked stunned! I was horrified and the guy just said "wow shes a pretty one, we need one like her!" in a fairly aggressive tone, glared at me and dragged them away. I am firm in my believe that it is owner related. He did seem like an aggressive guy and the woman he was with was the same.

Equally Molly gets good attention off dogs passing, some look like they are willing to play but the owners just want to carry on their walk and get on with it.