OH NO!  How horrible for poor little Jackson.  My experience was similar, but fortunately not nearly as severe as your dealings with the staffy.  When Ziva was somewhere around 4 - 5 months old, we were out walking, just walking down sidewalks here in my town, getting used to sights and sounds and smells that were different than just in our own yard.  We were walking past a house with a 3 ft chain link fence around it, and all of a sudden, seemingly from out of nowhere, appeared the BIGGEST meanest Akita I had ever seen.  It was instantly at the fence with its face mashed up against the chain link, snarling, barking, growling, slobbering....you could just tell that dog would have liked nothing more than to kill Ziva and me both.  It scared her so badly, that she screamed like a human---I swear, I had never ever heard such a noise come from a dog--and literally left the ground with all four feet and flung sideways by about three feet.  I dont know how she managed to levitate like that, but she was so scared, she was fighting against her leash, trying to back out of her collar, screaming and yelling, and peed all over herself.  The Akita never missed a beat---kept barking and snarling and was really enjoying watching this little puppy be that scared.  She wouldnt move.  I had to pick her up and carry her across the street, because I was not going to drag her by her leash, and I had to remove her from that scene.  It honestly scarred her emotionally, and I spent the next year and a half trying to convince her that it would not happen again.  She was scared of big dogs.  Any big dog.  Even when Ziva got to be 75 pounds and was in fact, herself, a "big dog", she was very uneasy, insecure, and noticably scared whenever she got near a big dog.  Little dogs, she was fine with.  I just kept taking her around places where I knew people with bigger dogs would be....I joined a dog walking group and explained from the first day what Ziva's issues were and they all understood when she would bark or snarl her lip up at their dog just because it looked at her. I didnt 'push' her into being social with them, just let it go at her speed.  Now, we go to the dog walks, and she is fine with other  dogs.  I can take her to the dog park and she actually runs and plays with boxers, GSDs, and great danes.  If she happens to feel insecure about a certain dog, that's ok, she just walks away from dogs that she doesnt feel comfortable around.

Just the other day, I was walking Ziva and DJ, and someone's little 20 lb mix breed dog ran out of their house and across the street and literally lunged itself into Ziva's face, trying to fight her.  I kept pulling Ziva backwards on the leash so that she wouldnt hurt the dog, and DJ was frightened by the scene and started yelping loudly like she was hurt----but the other dog was no where near her, so I knew it was just fear yelping.  As soon as the attacking dog ran off, I quickly assured DJ that she was fine, and we immediately just picked up our walking where we left off...not making an issue out of it whatsoever.  I hope that will keep DJ from being afraid of dogs, but I wont know until the next time we go walking and see a dog in a yard.

It''s SO HARD to not baby them when they get attacked, and I am so sorry that Jackson was physically assaulted by that dog....you're wise to try to socialize him and convince him that all dogs wont attack him, but I will tell you....it will take a long time and a lot of patience on your part.  Dont give up.

Paul