Today while I was in a local privately owned pet store picking up my pups some fun toys and treats I noticed a beautiful dog standing by his owner.
The dog was a shilo shepherd and by the way the owner was holding the leash and looked tense I could tell that the dog must of had issues (I remember that panicked feeling and holding the leash way too tight myself!). I slowly approached them by looking at the toys on the wall next to them, ensuring that I kept my back to them and was totally ignoring them. The guy I could see out of the corner of my eye was pushing the dog to the side and behind him. The dog did look a bit nervous but nothing too major.
They were getting food from the raw freezer and as I turned to walk down the next aisle, I said to the guy "oh! you feed raw too?" and he smiled and said he did. I then complimented his beautiful dog and said how nice it was to run into another raw pet owner.
When I asked about his dog he kinda kept him back away from me, I then asked if his dog was okay to say hello too. He replied in that nervous tone I am very much familiar with, "well, he is kinda barky when he is meeting new people, he is nervous of people who show hesitation or approach too quickly or too intensely".
I told him I would be more than happy to stand there and allow his dog to approach me on his terms, that I would ignore the dog if he like. The owner got very excited and said he would love that opportunity since most people are terrified of his dog. I then explained I had 2 GSD's at home, one who was reactive for quite some time but is now 100% reliable in every situation.
Well, by the end of our conversation the dog was coming up to me and nudging my hand for pets, as we walked side by side to the counter to pay for our items the dog even tried to take the new stuffie toy I was going to buy from me!
The owner was very grateful and we had a great conversation about some things that worked for Stark and such. The dog seemed really nice, just maybe a tad under socialized or not given the opportunity to really gain some confidence in certain situations.
It was nice to be able to help someone going through what I was going through just a year ago.
I would of jumped at the opportunity to have a stranger "help us" like that who showed no fear, knew to ignore the dog, allowed the dog time to approach and then leave the dog alone while he sniffed me up and down, etc...
I hope we run into them again because it was a very nice encounter.
Just thought I would share and hope others give opportunities like this to people sometimes too.
He also met 2 new people on the trail who feel in love with him (and actually did schH with their rottie 20 years ago!). He accepted pets and greeted them nicely with a few sniffs then went on his way to search out the squirrels. 
Elisabeth 
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