Last night while walking my Lhasa Apso mix dog, a large dog possibly a yellow lab came charging at us.  This really scares me because how do we know if the approching dog is friendly or wanting to attack!  My little guy starts barking and then I think that even if the running dog is friendly he may not take kindly to this greeting.  I yelled at the man who was with the large dog to call his dog, and he just said that his dog wouldn't hurt anyone!  That may be so, but my boyfriend and dog were attacked by a large breed dog last summer that came running up while Mugsy (my dog) was sniffing the fence, and sunk his teeth into Mugsys' neck.  My boyfriend saw him coming and tried to pick up Mugsy, but was knocked down by the larger dog.  While he was flat on his back, Mugsy tried to fend off the other dog, and ended up with a fang hole in his neck, and a ripped up ear!  For some unknown reason the attacking dog ran away.  So needless to say none of us appreciate a loose dog running at us.  Dog owners should understand that lots of people are afraid of dogs, and respect that.  We always walk Mugsy on a leash.  I notice that some people are even afraid of small dogs, and so step off the sidewalk to let them by!   I really love dogs, small, medium or large...but get very nervous when I see one I don't know running free.  Please all dog owners, lets show respect for everyone else who has to walk down the sidewalks of our city and keep our pets on a leash!  They can run free in dog parks, or your back yard, or any other suitable place where they will not frighten other people or other animals.

I understand what you guys are talking about, I'm a runner and I've had dogs run after me more than once. Unfortunately my dog can't keep up running for an hour so I can't take him with me. On another note though, I have a chocolate lab and he's never been a problem although we let him off the leash whenever we are in a park. I think that dog owners should know their dog, if the dog is well trained then something like that never happens. We've trained our dog to walk right beside us when dog owners and other dogs pass by and unless the other owner says something our dog doesn't even bother going to sniff the other dog. He's much more interested in sticks. If you handle your dog properly you should be able to take them off the leash in parks so they can run and fetch sticks.

And I would always be cautious with my dog, who knows the other dog might be aggressive and then what, you'll end up paying huge vet bills. Just think of your dog's safety.