Tonights walk

Walking with and watching the dog learn and behave in a calm submissive way makes for happy companionship on a walk around the block. It's not a good neighborhood I live in, and as I turned down a street I'm unfamiliar with and began to make my way in a direction I knew to be toward home, I found myself on a quiet undesirable back street. The dog begins to be more aggressive in her role, walking ahead, nose down and unnaturally interested in every smell along the side of the walk, pulling forward, falling behind. Her attention is on anything besides me. Now I'm aware of a car parked along the curb that I am fast approaching, 2 young men inside. My attention now is on anything besides her, and I pull out every trick in the book about looking and seeming unlike a target. My posture is now more assertive, shoulders back, eyes ahead and looking towards and at the car to let them know I see them. Like I will do when I pass an aggressive dog, Caesar tells us to just keep walking, don't stop, don't even hesitate, eyes ahead just continue doing what you're doing. Nothing happens. Past the scene, the dog goes back to just walking, I go back to just walking. It makes me wonder who set off who, the dog preparing me, me preparing the dog, or just mutual respect to watch out for each other because of our happy companionship.