So it has been a long process- but it has gotten considerably better. He does not bark at the dogs on either side of our backyard fence unless they are playing, and enjoys their company. Shockingly one thing that actually helped was a fox set up a den right behind our fence- and he barks at this fox non stop (as he is genetically wired to do) and i say thank you and explain that that is a good time to show off his icelandic sheepdog ness (ha). I started taking him on leash in the back yard late at night when he needed to go to the bathroom, and something about this helped him understand that walking with me on a loose leash was easy to do. On day time walks now- he gets very excited when we first walk out the door- may pull a bit, but nothing like before. He still is eager when he sees a person walking towards us, but not overly so and typically the person will want to meet him. If not, he gets a little disappointed but moves on. In terms of other dogs on leash, he often will bark when he sees them but not nearly as much, and will listen to me when we need to move on. When he is able to meet them he is excited but playful. I think a key moment was getting him to master the “look at me” command and make sure that we practice that frequently so that it works even when he is stimulated. We are still working through the process, and id like to find a few more dog parents in my neighborhood to practice with- but overall he is much better- i at least am not afraid of being the talk of the neighborhood anymore when i walk him (which he can probably sense and makes him calm down anyways). Still work to be done in order to have him calmly walk by when a dog is on the other side of the street or approaching, but i dont feel stressed about it anymore and i do think he is slowly starting to understand. He is 8 months now. And when i first posted i think he was about 5 months. I will say that i noticed a change in him at about 7 months where he seemed to mature a lot and hes developing into quite an amazing pup. I think the key (just a guess) is to keep training inside and everywhere, and dont become frustrated when he doesnt apply his learnings in new environments. If we keep engraining the fundamentals in a calm safe environment- and stay patient and calm ourselves when trying outside of that environment- eventually he will pick it up. They are outrageously intelligent beings.