hi, i've been working awhile with filou to help him become more calm around strangers and dogs using mainly desensitization and redirection, as well as nilif at home and continuing general obedience. he has made great progress on walks as long as the people are quiet and the dogs are well-controlled. we walk in a public area(woodland path) where dogs technically should be leashed. yesterday we encountered 2 dogs that were off-leash and not well controlled. one was a barking lab and the other a maltese type (charlie) who kept circling us and darting in and out. i told the owner that filou is not friendly to other dogs, that he is timid-she just started yelling at charlie-which really didnt help. i pulled filou to the side and got him to sit and stood between him and the maltese the best i could. when i thought they were well past- the other owner came back around and charlie came up behind filou-who instantly gave a loud snarl and airsnap-more than he's ever done. we were able to move further off the path until they passed finally for good. filou was quite keyed up and scared-tail tucked, wouldnt take food and right away had the runs. hindsight - i would have done some different things- afterall charlie was all of 5 lbs at best-i've yelled at other dogs to get away before. things happened very fast. any suggestions for coping with other people's poorly controlled dogs? thanks-jen