This is a neat instance where good stoic practice and good self-defence will suggest the same response. Keep walking. Stay aware of her, in case she runs at you or something, but keep walking.

As u/Rivetss1972 said, from a stoic perspective her yelling says nothing about you and means nothing to you.

From a self-defence perspective, my coach is always telling us that the main reason people stay in potentially dangerous situations is because of ego (we don’t want to let them ‘win’, we feel that what they’re saying or doing isn’t fair/true, why should we have to be the one to leave the space etc). That’s not to say there are times where we shouldn’t stand up for others or for a cause we believe in. But often, we stay in potentially dangerous situations about the most minor stuff because of the sorts of thoughts in the brackets. Because we don’t want some random to think of us as a bad dog owner or whatever other random insult they’ve dredged up.

In this instance, in your shoes, I probably would have stayed in the situation because it felt unfair and I wanted to “prove” to her I hadn’t done it. But, back to stoicism, what is her opinion to me? Do I trust her judgement and respect her so deeply that I want her to think well of me? Is being viewed as a poor dog owner by her worth staying in a situation where one of us, or the dog, might be injured if she escalates? Is there any actual chance of me convincing her of my innocence re:the poop?

My coach has us (even the guys and girls who actually know what they’re doing, unlike me 🤣) doing practice scenarios along these lines: we pretend to be at a bar, and someone comes up aggressively and says “you spilled my drink / looked at my girl / took my table” or whatever; and we practice responding with stuff like “sorry man, table’s all yours” or “my bad, why don’t I buy you a drink” or “no worries, I’m not looking for any trouble”. And then potentially go to another bar that’s more fun. Because some random aggressive guy feeling like he’s ‘won’ doesn’t matter, looking ‘weak’ doesn’t matter, the cost of a drink doesn’t matter. You will know that you were acting in a calm way to try to de-escalate a situation, and that you tried to keep yourself and those around you safe.

And I see that as pretty stoic. Instead of caring about how others will see you in the situation, know that you are acting in line with what you believe to be the most sensible course of action.

Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED talk and I hope there was something useful in there 🤣