By accident! There was NO way I could have controlled the situation any better..
So Alex and I went to the store for a pop run and figured Maze could use a walk so I leashed her up and out we went. At the mall she had lots of elderly people lovin her (for some reason she LOVES the elderly) and a little girl and her mom stopped to talk to someone near by. I could see the little girl out of the corner of my eye slowly getting closer but kept running back to her mom. Finally her mom said "If you want to pet the puppy, you have to ask first" So she comes scampering up and is to shy to ask. So I asked for her and explained the rules for petting Maze, and the little girl ran a quick hand down Maze's back the pranced off back to her mom. As they were walking past I heard her mom say "Thank you for asking to pet the puppy" It made me feel good hearing that!!
But! That wasn't her breaking point. A golden retriever came out of no where! Maze and her sniffed fine enough but then a young boy came walking up the group with food in his hand. I felt Maze go tense down the leash and I called her back to me and put myself between her and those two. This golden wouldn't take no for an answer and got right in Maze's face. She bared her fangs and growled, I said that Maze isn't that friendly towards other dogs. I heard a woman ( I assumed the boy's mother) say Uh Oh and called the dog. This dog had no collar or leash so I guess they just put the dog in the car and that was it. It took a couple tries but the golden finally went back to the car and the little boy decided it was alright to come near Maze with food in his hand still and to pet her without warning. Maze tensed up again and her hackles raised. But! No fangs just a low warning growl. I told the boy that she will try and take his food and to back up. Maze doesn't steal food but he didn't have to know that.. Well his eyes got real big and he backed up slowly then ran back to his car. I guess I could have told him that she may bite but something told me that he wouldn't have cared to much about that..
All things considered and with the amount of activity I feel she handled it pretty well. She stood back and let me take control of the situation. She was great with the little girl. Even gave her a tail wag. Lol. Maze was alright in the beginning with the Golden. And after all she did was give warnings. Also I feel I handled it as best as I could. Both kids listened to me but I wish the woman would have stopped packing the car and came to get the Golden. Not just assume that she'll come when called.
After the incident, an elderly lady I was talking to before came back and gave Maze some scritches so there were no hard feelings. And she didn't feel any animosity towards young boys as a couple walked by and patted her with no teeth or growls. Just a happy tail wag.
So! Lesson learned today is: Food + Kids + Dog off leash = to much for Maze to handle all at once. 