People who are too good for leashes...

That owner was responsible for controlling his dog if there's a leash law and something happened (even if your dog bit his).  He would be at fault, since your dog was under control.  My neighbor is guilty of this all the time and it's the reason I no longer go to the dog beach with her.  She thinks "everybody knows" there are loose dogs around and "those other people" shouldn't bring their "unfriendly" dogs to the beach.  Forget the leash laws and common courtesy.  Plus, she wants to socialize her own dog (at the cost of other dogs on leash!?!?)
 
If you'd had more time, a stern "Call your dog!" is acceptable.  Make it clear you don't want that dog approaching you and it's their responsibility to call it off, if they even have the recall to do it.
 
I take my dog off-leash fairly often.  Gracie's trained to return to my side whenever someone (dog or human) approaches, regardless if I command it or not - it's a default command.  I wait for the other person to initiate contact if they want to meet my dog.  I also have a very good recall - she'll spin around in the middle of a flat run toward another dog/cat/thing of interest if I call her.  So, I'd rather not be banned from trails and the beach...

a fellow in our neighborhood has a gsd. it is almost always off leash. the other night i was walking sydney at about 9:30 or so and all the street lights in our neighborhood were out that night so it was kind of hard to see. anyways, we rounded the corner of our street and the adjoining street and the gsd was coming at us pretty fast. i have never seen the gsd be anything but friendly, but then again we have never met face to face before either. i was more concerned about what he might do to sydney if he(the gsd) perceived any signs of aggression or anytthing like that from sydney.

it was all good, but the scenario could have been much different.

Wow, that's impressive to have your dog trained that well... if you put that much effort into training a dog with that much success, then by all means, continue to walk your dog in freedom!  I have nothing against that, but unfortunately you seem to be in the vast minority.  It is very very rare that I come across an unleashed dog who actually heeds his/her owner's command.  There are some people who let their dog offleash in their front yards and of course the dog will run out of the yard to see Cairo.  That isn't even just plain irresponsible, but that can be incredibly dangerous for the dog.  What if I'm walking Cairo on the other side of the street? 
 
 
Wouldn't it be nice if there was an "offleash permit" or something of the sort?  Where you'd take your dog to take a test in recall and how well he/she listens to you and how well the dog does would determine whether or not you get a permit that will allow you to walk your dog off lead in certain areas like parks. 

Link is almost always off-leash around my apartment, and is on instant recall. If I see someone coming, especially with a dog, he gets called to my side and isn't allowed to move until they're gone. In public places (parks, pet stores, etc), he's always on a leash.

I take my dog off-leash fairly often. Gracie's trained to return to my side whenever someone (dog or human) approaches, regardless if I command it or not - it's a default command. I wait for the other person to initiate contact if they want to meet my dog. I also have a very good recall - she'll spin around in the middle of a flat run toward another dog/cat/thing of interest if I call her. So, I'd rather not be banned from trails and the beach...

I agree with everything you said. There are off-leash beaches, hiking trails and parks and a well trained dog finds these liberating. I go out of my way to take my dogs to these off-leash sites, but it's the owners of untrained dogs that create the problem in these instances.

In one hiking area I use virtually all dogs we encounter are off-leash. It's rare to find a dog on a lead in this area, and as soon as I see one I bring my dogs to my side, figuring there's some reason why the dog is on a lead. Sometimes it's just that the dog is a runner with poor recall, but sometimes the owners will tell you that their dog just doesn't do well around other dogs and move on.

we have an unused logging access road where we let Molly, with her friend Beau, run off leash. Other than there she is never off leash.
We do now and then run into people with their dogs (hardly ever though...maybe once a month) and usually the dogs end up having a little run around while we talk with the other dog owners. It's one big free for all.
BUT - if Molly meets up with a dog while she's on her leash she acts entirely different. She's a littler more standoffish with other dogs while my hand is on the leash.
I think if someone has a spot where it's safe for their dog to run around and be carefree without the hindrance of a leash it's a wonderful thing.
I wouldn't subject other people on trails to a pushy pup...but on a trail where it seems in our area to be the place to let the dog run around - heck they have a great time.
We all need to let our hair down once in awhile.

I agree that most of the off-leash dogs I encounter are not trained.  Those dogs loose on their own yard w/out any containment are particularly frightening, because that's THEIR territory you're "infringing" on when you pass by, so that can up the ante.
 
Education and penalties for non-compliance to leash laws is probably the best they can do for now.  Giving permits won't mean much - my dog could pass a "test" one day and two days later fail it... or have a bad day.  Plus, who gave those free-roaming strays a permit?  We just have to protect ourselves.  Jules had a good suggestion for a kit of things to keep with you should you chance encounters with loose dogs:
[linkhttp://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=53101]http://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=53101[/link]
 
  The leash law is there to provide accountability to the consequences should the unrestrained dog do damage or inflict harm.

This is a pet peeve for me, too.  When Tonka was still with us, we always had him on a leash unless we were with him in our fenced yard or a friend's.  I always felt bad that he never experienced the free running at the park like other dogs, but he was huge, and we worried he'd knock someone over mid-run (his brakes weren't too good for stopping 130 pounds!).  Even in our own yard, you'd have to be careful if he decided to do a zoomie or two.  More than once, one of us "got in his way" and hit the ground like we'd been flattened by Reggie White!
 
Anyway, we used to walk him at a school around the athletic fields, and there were so many times when we'd both be enjoying ourselves, only to be startled by someone's dog coming bounding towards us.  I used to walk him like I was Clint Eastwood in an old western - eyes squinted, glancing constantly left to right, scanning the horizon for loose dogs.  If it was a dog I knew, it wasn't too bad if I said, "Sydney's coming to see you!"   He'd try to dash up to them, me hanging on, dragging behind him.  But if it was a strange dog, I had to plant my feet firmly, give him a down and/or stay command and hope the dog was friendly.  There were a handful of times when I had to holler at the person to call his dog as I tried to get Tonka to focus on me and change directions.  It's one thing to encounter unleashed dogs in a place where it's designated as such (we just didn't go to those places), but to be surprised in your own neighborhood is NO fun!

I can only dream of a dog with perfect and flawless recall.  I'm relatively happy with 60-90% on a good day and it can be 30% or less on a day when he's less interested.  But he's a sighthound so off leash means fenced in.  We went to an unfenced dog park last week, and even though he was pretty good, I was a nervous wreck.

Hi, I am sorry you had to go through that.
 
 
I don't understand it either, and as a guardian is a major pet peeve for me.  Romoeo is on a leash all the time except the doggy park. 
 
One time, we were walking aroung the neighborhood and here was this 80 lbs woman (don't have anything against skinny people) with a rottie, 2 labs and a boxer off leash! the minutes they saw Romeo, they made a bee line for him, the woman started screamng histerically, scaring her dogs, Romeo went into high alert, it was bad they jumped on me and on him, all I could think of was my poor little guy, so I threw my body on top of his and I was scratched up really bad, Romeo did try to fight them off, actually got one the boxer in the jaw, but the whole situation could have been prevented (well maybe) if the dogs had been on  a leash and if she would have had someone with her...I felt bad, it all happened so fast. 
 
She ended up paying for me to go the doctor (her dogs were not vaccinated agains rabies either) I was glad that nothing happened to Romeo, not even a scratch and that also did not traumatized him against big dogs, he continues to be best friends with the  Great Danes, Dobbie and Mastiff at daycare.
 
The only time Romeo is off leash is at daycare or doggy park, or my parents backyard. 
 
Irresponsible owners make me so mad....[:@]

I do let Emma, and only Emma, run off leash. She has 100% recall, and obeys commands at a distance. I can yell "down" from 300 feet away, and she drops. Yelling "heel" has a similar effect. She races to me, to get into that heel position. It's actually pretty amusing to see her running, at breakneck speed, to get into a heel. Untrainable, my arse.

I don't let her run if there's other loose dogs around, because they usually aren't trained. When she's on a leash, she *will* bite other dogs. She's uncomfortable with not being able to run away. We're working on it, but it's tough....  I don't let her approach other dogs, who are on leads, because you never know how comfortable they are. She's getting a lot better with other dogs on a leash, but will still bite a pushy dog, and I hate it that people feel like it's ok just to let a dog run.

I also hate being in a vet's office, when someone lets their dog pull the Flexi lead all the way out, and says, "OH HE LOOOOVES OTHER DOGS!!!!"

I heard that in Boulder, Colorado there is an "offleash permit". You have to take a course (online I think) and then be evaluated by a city official or trainer. But after that you are allowed to walk your dog off leash. I'm not positive whether this is something they just passed or if they are still trying to pass it, but I thought it was very interesting. My dogs, of course, would never qualify to get one of these permits. I will keep them leashed their whole lives unless we're in a fenced in area--they're just too independent to follow me all the time. Interesting idea, though.
 
Also, a couple of years ago Boulder passes some sort of legislation that said people are no longer pet "owners". I can't remember what you're supposed to say instead, but "owner" was deemed un-PC.

I can't stand those people, or people who have leashes, but still let their dogs go wandering up to any other dog they see. We have more of those around here than dogs off leash. Max is afraid of very few dogs. Even most dogs who are acting aggressively towards him he is not afraid of, and if allowed to, he would go bouncing right up to them, and probably get his head torn off. I try to make sure I ask people before allowing him to approach their dogs, unless we know them well, and I know that he always stops to see that particular dog. But, there are a few times when he has decided he did not want to see another dog, and instead of trying to go see them as they acted like maniacs, he turned around and tried to run get away from the dogs. He did this yesterday. There was a lady with two yorkies, one of which was barking aggressively at him. They were across the street from where we were walking, but Max still turned himself around and wanted to walk away from them. We were clearly walking away from the dogs ,but the lady crossed the street and let her little monsters come charging up to Max, who clearly did not want to be involved in the interaction.
There are people who let their dogs off leash at the park here, which says you must keep your do on a leash , but those people are very few, and I have found that most of those dogs won't come running up to any dog. Most of the people that do that have dogs who are so obsessed with swimming that they don't care about the other dogs, but there are a few who let their dogs off leash on the trails. I wouldn't do that because not only are there dogs, but there are horses at some points, bikers, joggers, and people walking. Some of the people are just afraid of dogs. When we pass someone else, although Max doesn't always react to bikers and joggers, he does sometimes, so I tend to take him to the side of the trail, and try to get him interested in sniffing the plants or send him down into the water for a drink, which keeps him from being able to notice people passing by us. If we are on a part of the trail where there aren't other people , and I have his long line, I will drop it and let him run around a little more. That way, if someone does come along, I can grab it or step on it really quickly. I can also allow him to romp with another dog that way. I let him do that once when another guy just decided to take his dog's leash off. When a horse came by and we were trying to get the dogs back, he had absolutely nothing to grab his by, and that dog wasn't coming, treat or no treat. I didn't bother calling Max, because I knew I had no shot at getting him back. Not because of the other dog, but because he likes horses, and he thinks they are something else to play with. I just waited until the dogs came racing by me, and I got his leash. Then the other guy was finally able to catch his dog. Apparently my sister will also drop his leash on the trails at certain parts, or if they are walking with a certain other dog, because Max will always stay with Romeo, but Max also won't stray too far from whoever he's with. Max doesn't have a totally perfect recall, but, I did teach him not to get too far from me. So, he gets so far, and then he stops and looks back to make sure whoever is with him is still coming along behind him. He will also sit or down from a pretty good distance, and if I have him in a sit or down first, then he is more reliable. Especially if I show him a liver treat, which I almost always have with me when I take him somewhere, because he can be stubborn about getting back in the car unless I throw some pieces of the liver treat across the seat for him.

OOh this is a topic that I have wanted to open up for a while. As a lot of you know, I have a pit bull, friendly as can be but she does get frusterated if there is anotehr dog off leash and she is not and I can't let her offleash due to leash law and general cautiosness. I have always thougth that if another dog ran up to her off leash and she vented her frusteration at them or if they turned on her she would be the one getting in trouble because she is a pit bull.
I dont take her to off leash areas since she was a pup because of this. Several times a week we'll get up early enough (like 6am) and go to the beach down the street where it is all but empty, we'll run a mile or so far down and I'll let her off only because i can see for miles and people have to walk down a downhill path and I can see them from a very long ways away.
Anywho, my father had a dog when I was a kid, abloodhound that had never been on a leash EVER and never once did he stray even with a nose that never stopped. Granted we lived in a tiny town, knew everyone and it was the early eighties but thats a one ina  lifetime thing, and its just not safe for the dog on so many counts!