Please be gentle 
I have a 3 year old Bichon. He’s as stubborn as a mule. He has been to puppy classes, adolescent training classes and intermittent refresher training classes we do a few times per year as well as training at home.
He has recall but can sometimes be distracted so I’m very wary of where he is let off lead.
At the back of our home is a huge grassy area which leads in to woodland. It is frequented by dog walkers but I only take him when he is only likely to come in to contact with one other dog whom he loves to play with and they get on great.
Yesterday afternoon, he was playing with said dog and I did not notice a man in the distance coming out of the woodland with his terrier.
My dog shot off in that direction and would not recall . He’s not vicious and just wanted to play with the other dog but I completely accept this is not acceptable. I ran over to get him but again , he would not recall as he was too distracted trying to engage the other dog in play. The other dog did not want to play .
Thus ensued a ridiculous scene of me trying to grab my dog around the man’s feet (dog was dodging me) on my hands and knees in the mud. I eventually had to ask the man if he would mind putting his dog on lead so I could manage to grab mine. I got him on lead and marched him away . At this point, man’s dog decided to play and started to approach my dog - but his dog did recall.
I apologised profusely but I was so embarrassed and stressed, I burst in to tears .
I scurried home covered in mud and shame and am furious at myself and DDoG. I still feel bad this morning.
Nobody was hurt , there was no aggression from any dog but I’m mortified . More so because there were other people about and I know I’ve been judged as a bad dog owner. I feel terrible as I try very hard to be a good dog owner . I plan to keep Ddog on a permanent long line now.
Please tell me this has happened to someone else?