Dog on the loose

Not mine! Someone was biking along the river and had their large dog running free. I didn't see it in time to get away, so I figured I'd just keep running and hope that it wouldn't run in front of us or trip us up. It bolted right up to my dog and after a brief growl, it ran off. The owner apologized and biked on. I was too steamed. I waited a few seconds. Too steamed still. I yelled "Not good enough."

We caught up to them a minute later. She was on the side of the path clipping a leash onto her dog. She apologized again. I was still steamed, but I smiled and shrugged and said, "Ah," and ran on. I was not going to say that it was ok, because it wasn't. There are umpteen dog parks in the city. The bike path is not one of them. Nice that she was exercising her dog, but it did not have a good recall--she had been yelling at it to come and it didn't until it ran away from my dog. Still, I felt like a butt later on...I could have thanked her for apologizing.

I also thought about going back and explaining that there were leashes designed for dogs and bicyclists but, eh, I was too steamed. Mainly on my dog's behalf.
I think he was the one who growled. He definitely lunged at it, not enough to pull on the leash, but he got out of its way and behind it and then lunged. Usually I'd give him a correction for this, I guess--it's never happened before--but this dog bolted straight at him/us. We have had loose dogs run alongside and past us without incident, but this dog was moving faster and perhaps was going to stop us, I dunno what my dog read from it, but it was a large dog that came suddenly at us. So he warned it off. That disappointed me in a way because he trusts me not to let that sort of thing happen. That's part of the deal. He doesn't pull towards other dogs, and I don't let anything weird happen.

The thing is, my dog looks mean to most people. I think he's cute--he kind of chose us, rather than the other way around, but I thought he looked sort of goofy and my husband liked him too so we took him home. But he's definitely not cute and fluffy, if that makes sense; his appearance is incriminating. Some cute and fluffy dog could run up to him and start something (and it has happened), and my dog would be at fault no matter what. So I really don't want things to go that route.

Well, anyway, we ran on past them, and my dog didn't give her dog a glance this time. It seemed like a nice enough dog, just untrained. The next dog we saw was a big German Shepherd straining at the leash, but at least the guy had a firm grip on it. My dog just ran by it. THat's what he does. Running with me is his job. Runs are not for socializing. He'll play with other dogs--most of them he's not much interested in, but there are a few he wants to play with--but they go through prelude of circles and butt-sniffing first.

We ran/walked just under 5 miles. My legs are still heavy. Hopefully that will go away in time for the marathon.