After going on a long walk Saturday, and racing around the yard like a she-demon, Isis still had the energy to snarl at a submissive yellow lab in class. She slipped out of my grasp and I found myself saying, "She's just playing," which clearly she wasn't.

She had a few more outbursts in class, causing the trainer to tell me I needed to roll her over and put my knee in her chest. I did this twice, but once we were in that position, she looked so soft and cuddly that I wanted to snuggle, not scold her.

I've diagnosed this as leash reactivity, and I'm working on it. On our walks, I put her on a sit when another dog approaches, and I feed her treats until the distraction has passed. This has been somewhat effective, as I took her on a walk around the lake Saturday evening, and she didn't bark at a single dog.

She did lunge and bark at one point on Sunday, but I can't really blame her, since we were being chased by a pair of rabid Labs. Once before, a black Lab was loose on the front porch of this house, and it came charging toward us. I had to jerk Isis' leash very hard and scream "Out" at both dogs until we got away. Since then, I glance up at that porch when we pass, to make sure the dog isn't out, but I didn't yesterday and two of them came at us. Again with the jerking of the leash, the screaming of "Out," the near-tripping over my dog and the worry that the other dogs wouldn't stop once we passed their driveway.

I don't even know if Isis did anything wrong. Those Labs started it. No, I don't want her lunging and barking at every dog that runs toward us. (Once this resulted in my getting a large bruise on my thigh from her teeth. Some might call this a dog bite, I call it an innocent mistake. I stuck my leg between her and the charging dog, and it simply got in between her jaws as she barked.)  But we didn't know what those dogs were going to do. Don't I want a protector who gets between me and attacking dogs? Maybe only if she successfully scares them away.