Off-leash dogs - what is "under control"?
I live in a CT town with dog leash laws for most public property, but there's one town-owned and managed park with lots of trails where dogs are only required to be leashed in the parking lot. It's super nice and convenient for me to walk in. To be clear, this is not a dog park, which are explicitly for dogs and we accept that risk when entering. Dog parks, for example, have rules about unsupervised children and how many dogs one person can bring in. We're talking about a public property where there happens to be no leash rule for the trails.
Now, my understanding is that if there's no explicit leash requirement in a public area, CT state law applies: no roaming dogs, which means no dogs who are not under the control of the owner. Does anyone know what it really means for the dog to be under control?
I recently encountered a woman on the trails twice with 5 or 6 off-leash dogs. On both occasions, she made no effort to keep them away from me. I stood off the trail and asked her to call them back repeatedly. She was totally half-assed about it and not effective at all. They overwhelmed me and my very leashed, friendly dog and the leashed shelter dog I was walking as a volunteer. I told her very strongly to please get her dogs away because mine was scared and I had no idea how the shelter going to react to a pack approaching him. She obviously couldn't grab them because there were too many. She then told me I shouldn't be walking in an unleashed area if my dogs are "unfriendly." (They aren't, they were afraid.)
Now, I'm going to stop going there regardless with any dog from the shelter because I realize it's not fair to put them at risk due to other people's negligence. But, I shared this interaction with the shelter director and she agreed with the woman. She said she also hikes there regularly with multiple off-leash dogs and that it's not possible to have full control over dogs. "It's the only place they're allowed to be off-leash. They're social animals. If you can't handle off-leash dogs approaching you and your dog, you shouldn't be there."
She's a dog trainer (I think?) but am I really in the wrong here? So does that mean if this pack of dogs swarms a toddler who gets hurt, it is the parents' fault for just existing there? I am so confused.