Largely the owner of the offlead dog...bUT I do think people with dog aggressive dogs must take some responsibility too and be aware of the fact that there will be other dogs around offlead with poor recall...so if they know that, should they walk in those areas with an unmuzzled dog aggressive dog???? Whilst they shouldn't have to spend a walk worrying about whether a dog will approach and there's will attack, owners of friendly dogs shouldn't always have to be on the look out for a dog aggressive dog onlead somewhere in the shadows.They are not always that easy to spot even by the most vigilant of owners.
The responsibility therefore is with both owners....

and ditto again from me!!! Definitely!

As an off lead dog owner of 3 dogs..........I'd blame me.
Because as an off-lead owner, I think you have to have re-call spot on.
Our youngest 2 (Skye and Bruce) are not walked by the roads off-lead anyway (main roads) but Skye is along side roads, Bruce is still confined to a lead though.
To me this is something that YOU have to take into consideration when walking with off lead dogs.....accidents by cars, causing anyone else an accident or running over to other dogs. All those things I would EXPECT to be my responsibility.
It's not just a case of re-call either, I have to teach mine that away from park area's other dogs have to be ignored, this takes more time.
I do this kind of thing in stages, both Skye and reah now know that outside park area's they are to just walk on, Bruce is still too interested in other dogs yet, so he won't be allowed to walk on roads with out a lead until we have it to perfection.

I would say the off lead dog owner is to blame. They have to realise that people with dogs who aren't so friendly towards all dogs are going to be about. As an owner who has a dog who has issues with other dogs, you can't avoid the areas where they might be because to combat the problem you have to socialise round them. I don't believe the problem dog should have to be muzzled either because should the off lead dog decide to attack they need to defend themselves.

Heidi

i would say the dog off the lead As the owner has no control-unless it will listen to commands from so far away!

and the dog on the lead might be on the lead for a reason!!

This is exactly what happened to me one day when I was walking along the lower edge of a massive, massive dog walking area of greenspace, with my dog aggressive gsd, who was on her lead with her ball in her mouth. This great big bouncy old English came bounding over to us and I immediately thought oh oh, there's nowhere for us to go, I can't crawl into the brambles with my dog (and afterall, why should I!!!), so I did my very best to block said said from mine with my legs. Needless to say, she managed to get a great big chunk of fur off this dog, who immediately went off sulking to it's owner, who came charging over to me giving me all hell!!! Err why???? I told her in no uncertain terms, we were walking along out of the main path, my dog was on her lead minding her own business and it was HER dog who chose to come all that way over to me on her own! My answer? "well, she only wanted to be friendly"!!!! Not all dogs are though are they!!! That's why we have recall, or are courteous enough to ask another owner whether their dog IS friendly and it's safe to let yours off! I really hate this, and yet I've had friendly gsd's since that one, I still hate it when another loose dog we don't know comes bounding over to us, and I certainly won't be held responsible if my dog takes a disliking to it and eats it!

A dog on a lead is always more protective and is unable to avoid unwanted confrontation. It is the responsibility of the person in control (or not) of the off lead dog that has the responsibility to see it does not interfere with other people and their dogs. The owner of the on lead dog could shout a warning but it is not their responsibility how could it be, what are they supposed to do fly?

IMO if dogs have bad recall they shouldn't be off the lead full stop ! If they ran out in front of a car and caused an accident or knocked over a child by sheer excitement it could be construed the wrong way ! A bad recall = ON lead !

The responsibility belongs to the owners who KNOW they have dogs with BAD recall and KNOW they will approach on lead dogs and insist on letting them off !

If anyone has a dog that has good recall, let it off by all means, but don't expect any pleasantries from me, if my dogs are on lead, and your bad mannered dog bounds over (friendly or not) when my dogs don't appreciate another dog's snout up their jacksy !

Teagan has bad recall, and also isn't great with other dogs.
I keep her on lead for those reasons.
I do shout to owners if I see them, but half the dogs come up without an owner in sight.

If I had been the owner of the OES I'd have been mortified and very apologetic.