While I realize that you find your eighty-pound Labrador Retriever utterly charming, there are, in fact, other people and dogs who are not enthusiastic about having him galumphing over to try to jump on us. Hard to believe, I know, but it’s true.
For this reason, you should have your dog on a leash when you go outside. Or, if that basic bit of courtesy is too much, you should at least put a collar on the dog, so you have something to grab onto when you make a belated attempt to control him.
Yes, this is true even if you’re only going outside long enough to get into the car and run an errand. It doesn’t take long for a dog–especially a Lab– to spot something interesting and go bounding after it.
Mothers with strollers in particular don’t usually welcome a strange dog bounding towards them.
Just the collar seems pretty useless unless you can react and run faster than your dog (not likely).
I personally love those extending leashes — you have to pay attention (don’t get a super-long one, and know when to reel them in!) but they’re great to let your dog feel unattached (I’m gradually training mine to walk beside me instead of out in front, and usually the leash is totally slack) but you can still stop them short if they lunge after a startled cat, a cowering child, a grandmother teetering by with a cane, etc..
And for fuck’s sake, just because you love your dog and think it is teh cutest thing in the entire fucking universe, does not mean that I want your motherfucking dog touching me! And when I shout “down” at your motherfucking dog as he jumps on me on a public sidewalk, don’t look at *me* like I’m the asshole, you fucking arrogant self-absorbed delusional asshole!