[alaskayorkie]

Originally Posted by Francis

i would definitely go through a trial walk.

ps. what is the difference between a playful and aggressive dog? i am newbie dog owner

Thanks everybody. You are confirming my trepidation!

Francis, it's not always easy and I get it wrong more than I get it right, but I consider an aggressive dog one who comes up with the hair standing up on his back. Or who comes to us at a particularly high rate of speed.

In those cases, I scoop up my dogs and err on the side of caution.

However, I completely misread the situation yesterday on an unleashed walk at the park and created more problems than I avoided. A yellow lab ran up, and I panicked. I scooped up Eddie and hollered to Jack, but Jack sensed my fear, saw the dog and took off running. The dog chased. Jack ran. I shouted. Everybody was tense. Turns out the dog was nice and just wanted to say hello. I'd have been better served if I didn't panic.