I have a yellow lab, about 100 pounds, about 1.5 years old. We've had him a month, and he's doing well on training but needs a lot of training.

Today, my dog met my friend's dog, a 20 pound (or so) Cockapoo. We had them meet outside, and they were doing great. Some sniffs, the smaller dog got scared a few times, but overall, no problem. We moved on to the park, walking our dogs, and they weren't exactly playing together but they got along fine.

Once we got to the park, I put the long lead on my dog, and here's where the mistakes began. My friend didn't have a long lead for his, so we tied them off on the same tree, the small dogs leash looped through my lead. Then, we all hung out on the grass together, and I didn't realize, but my dog started getting really protective of me (looking back at it, it's obvious, but at the time, I was just enjoying the sunshine too much).

And then suddenly, my dog lurched and the entire head of the cockapoo was in his mouth. The dog yelped, and as soon as it started, it was over. Now, it's obvious that my dog didn't want to hurt the smaller dog (because if he wanted to, he could have easily). He was doing what I've heard called a "correction" bite. I've seen my dog and others do this at the dog park, and was always told it was fine, but at the dog park the big dogs play together so there is less danger- or at least it doesn't look as bad.

So, I know some things I did wrong. For a first time meeting, the meeting was too long. And we should have never leashed them together. And we should have noticed the protection issues, and got up and going.

But my questions are:

1. Is my dog dangerous? My head tells me "no." That this was normal dog behavior and he didn't hurt the other dog at all. But the image of that small dog's head in my dog's mouth was very frightening.

2. Other than prevention of the situation arising again, is there training I can do to prevent this? I don't want a dog who terrifies other people's dogs, even if it isn't actually dangerous. Or was it just the situation itself was too much to expect a dog to handle?

Thanks for your help. Everyone is OK, and no one is mad, and we did say we want to try again once we know what to do better, but it was a very emotionally charged moment for everyone.