I yelled at a lady on the street like a crazy person, in a language she didn't even understand, while my reactive dog hid behind me

Yesterday, Lucky had a routine vaccination appointment in the afternoon. Our vet is about a 20-minute walk away, or less than 15 minutes by public transport. I usually choose the walk because there’s a 7-minute stretch of quiet path. The rest of the way, though, is along fairly busy streets. The sidewalks are usually empty, but a few cars or a motorbike passing is enough to stress Lucky out (there were more than a few yesterday).

I was already a little on edge. Lucky refused to walk several times, which made us late, so I had to try extra hard to stay calm — for both of us.

Just a few meters from the clinic, a small grey poodle (not toy size) came charging at us off-leash 🫠 Lucky immediately reacted, but I simply put her behind me, stepped forward, and tried to shoo the dog away. The poodle kept barking and wouldn’t back off.

The frustrating part is that I actually know this dog and his owner — a middle-aged lady with three poodles (grey, white, and brown). This was the THIRD time it happened on our way to the vet. The white and brown ones always stick close to her, but the grey one charges at us every time. She never calls him back, no matter how many times I’ve tried to signal her. I don’t speak Czech, but it’s painfully obvious what I mean.

She stood about 15 meters away, cleaning up after one of her other dogs, pretending not to see us. Meanwhile, Lucky hid behind me, and I couldn’t move forward because the poodle blocked us. I lost my patience. I yelled in English, waving and pointing — loud enough that everyone on the street was staring. Still nothing 😩 A vet nurse even came outside, but didn’t intervene. Eventually, the woman just walked on, and her poodle finally followed.

I was still upset in the vet, not only at her ignorance, but at myself for yelling instead of doing more. Maybe I should’ve chased her dog away. But Lucky stayed tucked behind me, so maybe it was better not to escalate.

Thankfully, the vet visit itself lasted less than 10 minutes. We got priority because the staff knew Lucky wouldn’t wait calmly 😌 On the way home, our walk wasn’t exactly peaceful, but at least it was reactivity-free.

(I’m still so mad at that lady though 😤)