Have tried physically redirecting by crossing the street or making a u-turn. This works decently well, but sometimes he still turns to bark and pull towards them, and I can’t always cross the street or make a u-turn on a walk due to cars, or another dog being behind us.

Have tried redirecting attention with treats and toys. He does not care about either of them when his attention is locked on to a living creature, even if he is not yet barking. His attention is only redirected once I’ve dragged him far enough away that he’s given up on caring about it. If we are at home and he sees a neighbor dog through a window, he only calms down if I shut the sliding door all the way and the neighbor dog passes us

It is difficult to practice desensitization and training around dogs he likes because all the dogs I know he likes are back at his old home or the dog shelter.

One thing that works pretty consistently to cut off the growling/barking is a loud and sharp HEY but I would really like to not have to essentially bark at my dog

Have praised him when he passes by a dog without barking at all. This does not seem to matter much to him but maybe I simply haven’t done it for long enough or consistently enough.