We were jumped on our morning walk today. By a shepherdy-looking dog that was not on a leash. I'm not opposed in principle to people breaking the leash law...but when it derails our own training, it's quite frustrating. I wound up crying for the remainder of the walk.

Isis was fine, smiling and prancing along as though nothing happened.

Here's what went down: I had her on her new harness. As we started off on the sidewalk, I was employing the "Easy...Oops" training strategy I learned online. I'm supposed to turn around and walk the other direction if she forges ahead, but there was a lady walking toward us and I didn't want to look silly. So we walked past her and I smiled and Isis lunged for her - in a friendly way. The lady looked scared and I said, "I'm so sorry," and felt fairly guilty.

I quickly grew tired of "Easy...Oops" and let Isis walk a few feet in front of me, because let's face it, that's what she wants to do. Things were going quite well during the wooded portion of our walk and I wondered how and when we were going to test her reaction to other dogs while wearing this new device.

I heard the jingle-jangle of dog tags and saw a person through the trees. The person did not seem to be holding a leash, so I thought perhaps what I heard was her keys. I paused, and then saw the black dog, about Isis' size, bounding toward us. I futilely said, "Sit," to Isis, but the dog was upon us and there was snarling and rearing up on the hind legs and biting of the opposing faces.

I don't even know what my strategy was at that point. Maybe I was trying to get a hold of Isis face to tell her in a low voice, "Out," but how was that going to stop the other dog? I think instead I was shrieking "Out!"

The owner, for her part, ran up to us and shrieked, "Let your dog go!" Which I did, causing her dog to chase Isis off the path and making Isis cry out the high-pitched squeal that means she's very frightened. The woman caught her dog and Isis ran back to me.

The woman said something lame about dogs being aggressive on leash, and was my dog OK, and did I want to check. Isis did not appear to be injured or even upset.

I know how the woman feels, since Isis has plenty of times been the perceived aggressor. I don't really blame the woman or her dog, although if her dog were on a leash, or if her dog were at least walking by her side instead of up ahead of her, or if her dog came back to her when she called instead of attacking my dog, then the worst that would have happened is that we would have had two dogs snarling and lunging at each other from a distance. So yeah, I guess I'd say it was her fault for not having her dog on a leash.

Mostly, I'm upset because the incident has only reinforced for Isis that other dogs are scary and that she needs to snarl at them to protect me (and herself).