A difficult poodle...

Question
I have a very loved miniature undesexed black male poodle, one and a half years old, who is turning out to be very dominant and quite a handful.  I bring him into my antique store every day, and mostly he is just fine and a big attraction in my shop to the customers, but he barks at people he doesn't like or who try to grab at him or pet him (mostly men) both inside and outside the store and he runs at small children in the hope that they will play with him.  Recently he's started charging outside everytime a dog goes past.  Sometimes he just runs out for a sniff and a wee on our store corner, or for a play, but if the dog is huge or not to his liking he will bark aggressively or even try to dominate the dog.  Yesterday a man threatened to "kick his head in" because Phoenix barked at his dog and now I'm terrified and stressed - which probably isn't going to help the situation.  I try to check his behaviour every time he goes running outside, but usually I'm behind the counter and I can't get to him fast enough to stop him.  I'm starting obedience classes with him next week.  Any suggestions you have for me would be very much appreciated!

Answer
The first step is getting him neutered.  It should help with some of those behaviors.  Then do obedience training.  The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/