Could be that this was a certain kind of irony, because the day before (Friday) Perry and I had a long consult with an obedience trainer who was adamant that Perry was in a power struggle with me to be dominant which was why he was so uncontrollable with other dogs - though mainly verbal. We had been on a chain-and-lead arrangement when outdoors for 24 hours by this time and Perry seemed content to take it as indicating that I was in charge and he had to stay to my left side and not deviate. That said, when we encountered this woman and her large dog in Westgate Park on a Saturday afternoon, Perry did do a bit of whining, but no barking - which is unusually good behaviour for him. But perhaps the other dog took this to mean Perry was a pushover? He certainly did push him over, and had him on his back within seconds, while the owner seemed entirely unable to do anything. She had asked me whether Perry was desexed and how old he was, which seems to me now to suggest there were a few triggers for Trigger but I felt that Perry had passed the test i.e. there wasn't going to be any kind of pissing contest here. Yet there was something somewhat worse. That said, Perry doesn't seem to be hurt and indeed nor does he seem to have decided that after this no dog can ever be trusted to refrain from pinning him down.
The picture above is Perry taking some water therapy.
The trainer was good, I thought. Sometimes you just need someone to give you a clarifying structure to what you already suspect is true (eg that dog park 'socialising' can be negative, and that positive reinforcement alone is an untextured encouragement to the dog to do whatever s/he wants). I think we are on a better path now, at least, I certainly hope so.
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