What would you have done in this situation?

[BertrandRussell]

Driving home in the dark today along country road. Nearly hit a Dobermann type who shot into a gateway. I stopped across the gateway and got out to see if he had a collar- but he crouched and snarled - so I got back into the car. rather swiftly.

DS and I spent about 10 minutes trying to decide what to do- I got out a couple of times but he snarled at me every time.
Eventually, a woman came out, let him in through the gate and said he was her dog who had escaped, so DS and I went home. If she hadn't appeared what should I have done? He was a seriously scary dog,

Call the police on the 101 number? Knock on some doors? I don't know really.

Maybe have knocked on a few doors in the area to see if anyone knows. I did this once and eventually found the house.

I would report the incident and the dog's aggression to the nearest dog warden, for the dog's own safety!

Hopefully it only reacted this way because of the close call with your car, but a visit from the local dog warden would soon discover if its normal or not, and the owners spoken to about it getting out and roaming.

If they are regular walkers, the dog walker is likely to be familiar with them anyway.

RSPCA otherwise, after hours, in the dark scared aggressive dog on the loose, if noone in nearby houses knew??

Not sure if he was aggressive or if he felt he was just doing his job. I think he was a guard dog out of his comfort zone. But yes, he was alarming and shouldn't have reacted like that so someone not actually on his land. And in my opinion, he shouldn't react like that to someone on his land either.But presumably that's how he's been trained. No other houses within 100 yards or so,