@pixeloriousspriteson yay for you!
i had experience with a loose dog in a NON off leash park while their owner was 50 yards away (
like seriously). the dog that came up to us was really small but again, you never know what they'll do to your own. I am quite an anxious person when it comes to my dog, i just wanna be the best mom to him and keep him safe, but it was amazing how we worked together when this other dog came up to us. i don't know if my 9 month old (at the time) retriever could tell that this situation was different for when we see other dogs, but he was chill, a little curious, but i also could tell he was little scared so mostly he just hid behind me while i tried to figure out what i wanna do.
it was like i went into momma bear mode lol. this tiny dog came running up to us and mind you, i really didn't know what to do and i was also by myself, but i am so happy because i was able to fend off the dog on my own. being loud, stomping my feet, just trying to get the dog away from us, while he was barking loud and running in circles around us.
after that happened and we continued our walk, we were coming back and kinda got a half-assed apology from their owner, NOW with their dog on a leash.
kinda boring story but then not even two days later i ran into another off leash dog in the same park.. that dog was pretty far away but this time i just told my dog to sit and wait it out while i surveyed the situation. (waited to see if owner was around, saw owner, they recalled about 10 times with fail until the 11th time, then when it was ok to go, i walked off annoyed lol) after that walk i wrote on my neighbourhoods fb page and wrote a respectful but kinda mad post saying to leash your dogs.
it's amazing the things that we'll do in the moment to keep our family safe. first time i really felt my fight or flight mode!
