So I'm walking my 110lb Dane in the same neighborhood block we've been walking for the last 6mo. He's fear based dog reactive, and it gets INSANE! I even tailor his walks to odd times where we have the least chances of running into other dogs, but of course nothing is fool proof. Today, as we were about 15ft from the end of T-section, I see an older lady with her little dog coming around the corner. She and I met eyes and she instantly sees my dog and says, "OH NO!". I'm already in the process of turning us around - my pup and I head back up the street to avoid them. My dog keeps trying to look back, but I'm doing my best to keep him walking forward and trying to keep his focus on me and going forward.

Then in an instant, my dog and I hear this little dog barking its head off and its paws/nails just scraping on the concrete (I'm assuming its trying to get at us) and from the sounds of the barking and nails clawing, this dog was close. Fucking shit hits the fan, my pup freaked out and turned around so fast and hard. As I'm battling to turn him away and follow me, I fucking see this lady and her dog are maybe 5ft behind us AND SHE'S JUST STANDING THERE while our dogs are lunging and going ape shit at each other! WHY IS SHE JUST STANDING THERE WITH HER DOG FULLY EXTENDED IN FRONT OF HER AT THE END OF ITS LEASH?!?! She was making NO EFFORTS to pull her little 7lb dog back!!! Meanwhile I'm struggling like crazy to get mine under control and walk forward! Finally I'm able to get enough distance between them where my pup didn't feel AS THREATENED and able to hurry along forward with me. It wasn't until THAT moment that this lady decides to stop following us westbound on the street and head northbound instead.

I felt so bad for my pup the rest of our walk bc he was shaking and on edge after that. I know the lady doesn't live on my street, so I can't understand why she felt the need to follow us ESPECIALLY after she saw us and literally said, "OH NO!!".

Thanks for letting me get this rant off my chest! It really bugged the shit out of me today!! I've tried so hard with my pup - we've tried training, medication, ThunderShirt with Thunderspray, wearing him out before going on a walk, and on and on and on. It's tough always being vigilant about our surroundings and being very slow and cautious about corners, but to experience someone following closely behind us with their own reactive dog while I'm trying to avoid them was just too much for me.