Her recall was very bad at first, but is now getting very much better – I’d say we’re at 100%, unless she sees a cat, squirrel, deer etc – and off-lead Jack Russells.

A few months ago, I was out walking in the fields with her and my dogwalker friend, and her two charges, Golden Retrievers. Bella and they adore each other. I call them her pack.

We were on the return part of our walk, and up ahead I spotted a young man with two JRs. One was on-lead, the other off. At this point, I must say that I’d never observed her antipathy towards JRs. She adopted her wolf-mode, crouching lower and lower as she approached (and she’s done this with nearly all dogs, with no ill effects) and finally she laid down, ears up, laser focus. And then the two GRs run bouncing by her to go say hello. Bella runs too, and the off-lead dog comes towards her shouting in her face. Bella backs off into the field, JR comes shouting again. Bella backs off, JR comes shouting again. On the fourth time, she’s decided she’s had enough, shoulder-bumps the JR, puts her mouth – not biting – on its back to keep him still and quiet. Normally, one would expect a much smaller dog (B is nearly 24” at the shoulder) to lay quiet and submissive. Not this one – he squirms violently, and so tears his skin, and has to go to the vet. The young man’s mother is very gracious, said she’d seen Bella out and about, had worked at a local rescue centre and knew lurchers to be the gentlest of dogs. The JR, by the way, was always kept on-lead, and I have no idea why, on this day, the young man chose to keep him off the lead.

From that moment, though, I became hyper-vigilant, especially with small dogs. Most of them – even if they mob her, and are off-lead and noisy – she is absolutely fine with. But I still put her immediately on the lead if I see a small dog approach, even if they are on the lead, no matter how far away if they’re heading towards us.

Yesterday, I set out for our morning walk at 9am. Once we reached the fields, I saw the owner of those golden retrievers coming towards me, and we started chatting. At this point, we’re the only people in the field. Bella was off-lead, and playing with the GRs. I had my back to Bella. Too late, my friend drew my attention to Bella – from out of nowhere, but in the same direction my friend had been walking – there’s a woman with an off-lead JR.

At the moment I turned, before I could call her name, Bella was off. The woman immediately picked her dog up, presenting Bella – who five minutes earlier had been pouncing on a clump of grass where she’d obviously spotted a vole or field mouse but didn’t catch it – with a target. (I believe that the lucky vole kicked her prey instinct up a notch.) She reached up, grabbed the dog by the leg, pulled him down and started shaking him. I’m running, the woman is screaming – understandably so – and eventually get the dog from Bella, and the woman picks it up. Bella, meanwhile, isn’t letting me get anywhere near her and, when I do put a hand on her collar, backs out of it. And then pulls the dog down again, drags it away, and starts shaking it. Half a minute later, the dog’s in his owner’s arms, I’ve got mine on collar and lead. The woman says “there’s blood coming from every orifice” – actually, I could see hardly any blood on him, but Bella had a torn ear as I discovered later, and cuts on her face.

My dog-walking friend has said previously – because of the first incident with a JR – that she believes Bella may have been used as a bait dog in Ireland because of her fear aggression to that particular breed of dog.

Today, out walking – later than usual, and I saw only one dog in the distance for the whole two hours – I received a phone call from the police. Because the woman claims she was injured – sprained ankle (she wasn’t limping as she walked away) and cuts & bruises – this is being treated as a dog “dangerously out of control” and I will be visiting the police station tomorrow to talk about this, the circumstances, but it’s not under caution and I’m not under arrest. The cuts and bruises she sustained were, I believe, inflicted by her own dog and not mine. Bella wasn’t interested in the woman.

I’d be very interested in what you might say about this situation, and how I can help Bella – other than muzzling her.