Keeping small dogs safe on walks

[Cockapoodled]

Ok , so I have a little 8kg mini Cockapoo who from the first day I got her has always been nervous .
I got her at 14 weeks old ( too late i know) and so socialisation , puppy classes etc had to all be rushed . She has improved a lot , reappy has but with dedication every day and not pushing her too hard . The dog trainers even said to me that she would not cope with daycare as most likely as she's so gentle and shy she would be picked on and this would only make her confidence worse.

The problem i have found since getting my little sweetheart is keeping her safe . I've only had her a year and she's already had two incidents happen.
Firstly , a big wolfhound mix type dog would not leave her alone . She was screaming and i was telling the owner to get their dog on a lead or at least hold them until we passed . But apparently " they were just playing."
This dog got in between us and ran across my dog. She subsequently needed an xray, general anesthetic and months worth of vets visits for treatment on her shoulder muscle.

Then ,more recently, she was chased by two dogs off lead ,while the owner virtually laughed and watched. She went missing for a couple minutes and ran off the beach because this dog was trying to nip her in the kneck .

So now I don't know how to relax because it feels like every time i try to enjoy taking her for a walk if i am not careful something happens.
This morning a lady had a big boxer off lead run (despite having whole beach) straight at us and the more i say to people with big dogs to keep away ,the worse they seem to be . As if i am not even allowed to be cautious for my own dog. To me it's no different than a teenager "just playing" jumping around in a ballpit with toddlers .

I just don't know what to do . I already do u turns and change routes . Yet meanwhile there are people prancing around the beach not even looking or caring because their dog will not come out of it badly, if a fight was to happen .

Sorry for long post.

So you need to teach her to not run! I have a friend who teaches middle. Her dog sits down between her legs. That way there’s nothing to chase. I do think training would be helpful.

I too am so angered by stupid selfish owners who let their dogs run ahead off lead to harass other dogs and people and poo.
Because the owner hasn't seen the dog defecate it's just left there.

Sounds good . We are going to go back to trainjng for sure . Even though it's a step back to regain her confidence by doing puppy classes ,then try to work our way up the good citizen schemes.
I'm willing to do what it takes to help her.

I feel your pain . It seems to be a daily habit of scrubbing my shoes these days!

Sadly peoples social skills for personal space or ability to even read OWNERS body language that often says 'No thank you' is tragic. (too busy fixating on the stakes of dogs and who would come off worse as mentioned)

We are the sort to value personal space and like to get on with our day! We dont need to stop and chat every 5 seconds to strangers.
We have large breeds that are friendly but NEVER allowed off lead to join the circus! They have impeccable manners. They have short, retractable and training leads. We do however encounter people who do not appreciate the efforts put into being a responsible owner and get abuse if we ask off lead people to kindly keep their dogs away when our dogs are charged at. What is that!? If only they would appreciate how predatory it would be if we let our dogs off lead then they would have something to moan about but we dont behave like that. The rudeness is incredible. We dont want to be harassed by strangers dogs irrespective of friendly dogs or not so friendly. Social boundaries are boundaries! No one should have to explain themselves either, we are all grown ups and do not have to teach people to suck eggs.
We have noticed the majority of people we've encountered in Wiltshire generally do not appreciate responsible ownership AT ALL. Dogs on leads are somewhat a pain for those who like a 'free for all' and so they do not appreciate the polite effort that goes into true training at heel. Sadly our encounters have been most dog people would rather be lazy and arrogant and what makes a situation worse, if our dogs dont 'tell them off' (their dogs) to go away and most often it's the on lead owners that have to, they take it all personally and spit their dummy out. They should call their dogs back before a dog encounters another, it's simply good manners. This is in a nice area too and the kind people have been bullied out of public green spaces because of it. We do not encourage aggression at all and get fed up of owners expecting our dogs to tell them off for entering their space, it is totally irresponsible to expect this and very dominating. Sadly we do not find enough people appreciate the responsible on lead owners enough. If I had small dogs and saw large dogs on leads I would admire and respect the owners totally!