Originally Posted by PGHNeil

Yes, it's definitely a teachable moment and as a parent who has had two kids in therapy and have been to therapy myself I get it but encounters like this need to be worked up to if there was indeed a traumatic event involved. I stand by my previous comment that the OP needs to either file a complaint about unleashed dogs if there is such an edict in that area or choose to ride someplace else. Introducing her to more calm dogs or service dogs might not be a bad thing either. As you implied it's not the dog that's necessarily bad, just the owners.