I have a situation related to the "Dog Attack" thread, and I'd appreciate some insight.

I live in a condo in a small city. On more than one occasion I've been out in our "front yard" (a laughable patch of grass owned by everyone in the building) so my 10-lbs. terrier mix can relieve himself, and a larger, unleashed dog has come running up to us from around the corner too quickly for me to determine motive. In these situations I've always picked up my dog, holding him out of harms way, while I shout firmly to the other dog, "No, go away! Go home!" I've always shifted my weight to be ready to kick if necessary, though I'd probably hate myself afterwards for hurting a dog even in defense of another dog. I do not own a gun but have my knife on me, and would probably be happier to use it on the idiot owner than on the dog.

In every instance, luckily, the offending mutt has been friendly, he just was excited to see my little dog and wanted to smell his rear. But my dog is very territorial and will growl at anyone he isn't familiar with, so my main concern is that his territorial barking and growling and refusal to submit to any dog will result in him getting chomped. This has nearly come to pass when we've taken him on (always leashed) walks. He is also extremely protective of me and of course not as intelligent as a human child, so it's not like I can just tell him to run inside the garage and actually have him listen - he's gonna want to be in the fray even if he can't do much.

In a situation like this, what more is there for me to do? Admittedly, the "Hold Up Your Pup" technique isn't perfect, as my dad took a few bites to save my childhood dog back in the day. Animal Control, I've found, is pretty much useless, and the owners just don't seem to get it. One guy apologized only when he saw I was defending my smaller dog, to hell with the fact he was "walking his dog" unleashed on a public city sidewalk and onto private property, and that he wasn't even in sight of the dog at the time. He was with his kids, so rather than explosively berating the man in front of his son and daughter about the city's leash laws and the fact that I would have been within my rights to use lethal force on his dog while on my property if things got ugly, he got The Glare. I was so mad I couldn't trust myself not to lose it.

***FYI We adopted my dog a year ago, he's about 5 years old and altered. There is evidence he was hammered on by some previous owner and probably never had any positive exposure to other dogs before we got him. He is a constant "Work in Progress" for us, so we weren't the one's who neglected his training.