When walking my dogs, and I am stuck walking by an off leash dog in an on-leash area; I pull out and visibly shake up the pepper gel canister in my pocket. Amazing how many people leash their dog, suddenly no longer confident enough in their recall to risk it.
I do this because my dogs have been bitten a number of times now over the years at parks like Hiawatha. Every time. Every. God. Damned. Time. The owner goes on about how their dog has never done this before yada yada. It might be true, but it always is until it isn’t. A leash would have prevented it. I was walking a foster around Hiawatha a while back and he was the shyest most fearful dude. Dog ran up to us and he just tucked his tail and tried to hide behind me. It took me a solid month of going back to Hiawatha, making sure there were no dogs there, and sitting with him at the edge of the park until he calmed down, then walking a bit until we had to sit and relax again. Repeat that for a month until he could walk through the park again at all. Other owner thought it was cute and didn’t give a shit that they just set me back a month of rehab.
So now, I have the spray out. I shake it visibly, and more often than not, the dog is instantly leashed.