I completely agree. I am ALL for protecting my dog in any way possible and believe it or not, I am actually very overprotective of Jackson. But I've never once picked him up while crossing paths with another dog.... no offense, but it almost seems snobby to me. If I was walking Jackson, and someone picked up their dog when passing him, I'd be a little offended, to be honest. Now if the dog is wild and crazy and the owner doesn't have control... then yes, I would probably pick up my dog and not let them interact at all. I've done it before when a maniac Lab charged us off leash, I picked Jackson right up by his harness and into my arms. But if it's just a dog with an owner in control walking by, I'm going to walk by calmly going about my business.
That's the problem w/ so many little dogs... they have NO idea how to act around big dogs and get themselves in trouble. I've socialized Jackson around all sorts of dogs since I brought him home at 9 weeks old (beginning with my father and mother dogs) and once he was old enough (and it was warm enough) I began taking him to a nice local dog park to interact with other dogs. Jackson loves every dog he meets, he never barks at another dog passing by and is able to walk by calmly with a bit of interest and sniff, and he loves to greet every dog he meets and generally speaking, it's in a very calm matter. At the park, he initiates play a lot though and loves a good game of chase.
They are terriers by nature, so of course they're gonna be little "terrors" at times but you must correct them. Jackson is a full on dogs dog. Spoiled? Absolutely. But he loves to go camping, loves the great outdoors, loves running through our 90 acres of farmland behind us, loves the goats, donkeys and horses he's encountered in his lifetime, loves wrestling and running with other dogs (yes, in the SMALL dog park area!) He has never shown one bit of aggression toward another dog- big or small. He gets to live a wonderful dogs life and I can just tell every day how happy of a dog he is. He's not sheltered from the world by any means, he meets new dogs and people almost every day, and he's just a wonderful all around dog.
It just takes having simple common sense, really. I agree with
redvalaria... you can't live your whole life in fear. Yes, you can try your best to protect your children, and your pets, and yes freak accidents DO happen. But it's all of a matter of being careful and being able to read a bit of dog body language. Would I allow Jackson into an unleashed dog park with 5-10 big dogs running around? No. I wouldn't risk that... he could definitely easily get trampled by then purely by accident. Would I let him sniff and interact with a big dog? Absolutely. If I put trust in the owner and the dog and most of all, I trust my OWN dog and I know what he can handle and cannot handle.