Agression towards some small dogs

[Bec]

yeah it sounds more like that to be honest i think. do you think this will get better and he will ignore other dogs more when we eventually get another dog as a companion for him?

Not really, I think it's more an issue of him having bad manners, and you needing to teach him a bit more control and manners when greeting other dogs.

It is a situation that can escalate if he greets the wrong dog in the wrong way - imagine if he went up to a very fearful dog and stood over it trying to dominate it, and it snapped at him to back off - would he back off or would he retaliate? What if he approached a more dominate dog who took him up on his challenge, there could be a fight breaking out in seconds - I've seen it happen a countless number of times.

I don't let my dogs greet other dogs unless I say they can, and even then it's on my terms only. If they can't focus on me with other dogs around and they are being silly, pulling on the leash, too focused on the other dog and ignoring me then I won't give them permission to greet them. If they are behaving themselves, not too excited, still obeying my commands and giving me focus then I might consider letting them greet the other dog. If play gets out of hand I intervene.

So I'd be looking at his behaviour before he even gets to greet the dog, how he acts when he firsts spots them and how responsive he is to you. When you do let him greet another dog, get him behaving calmly and then encourage him to sniff the other dog's back end. If he can't 'play nicely' then call him back, leash him until he calms down and try again.