off-lead

i've had a lot of issues with off-lead dogs lately. first, its against the law to have your dog off lead around our suburbs except in certain off-lead parks (and there's a couple great ones around us). second, its very dangerous for the dog because it is a busy inner suburb and even a well trained dog may react to something and be hit by a car.
last week i saw 2 small dogs (at separate times) very narrowly escape being hit by a car on our fairly quiet street after they ignored their people's calls and went out into the road (and one ran across the road to chase pigeons in the park while the owner continued to chase and call the dog for the next 30 seconds).
i saw another dog off lead herding its person who was on a bike. the dog was bouncing around the busy footpath barking back at its person to come quicker. a couple of pedestrians seemed a bit wary and weren't sure what to make of this dog that was bouncing around them and barking (the dogs person was still behind these people). i was worried the dog was gonna go out into the busy road at the intersection and be hit by a car.
yesterday i tried to take wombat to the park across the street. just as we got to the end of the driveway a labrador darted into the park from the flats next to the park. wombat went crazy shaking her head trying to get her halti and muzzle off and growling. i ended up just taking her back inside because she was so stressed (and i couldn't take her to the park if there was a dog running around there without people anyway). that same dog was in the park this morning when zac left for work. he caught the dog and called the number on the dog's tag(his people had no idea their dog had walked itself around the block). zac watched the guy try to walk his dog home (without a lead). the dog did ok until it spotted a cat, darted across the road and tried to play with it. probably good it didn't see wombat because it would probably want to come play with her.
we know our dog doesn't do well with other animals so we purposefully avoid certain parks and areas where we know dogs are. when we see other dogs on the street we cross over and try to get her to focus on us. as long as the other dog is under control and stays with its person on the other side of the road, wombat is manageable.
its soooooo important for the dog's safety and the comfort of people (and dogs) around that dogs ONLY be off-lead in designated parks (and our council provides a map of off-lead parks in the area when you register your dog).