I don't like it, but I mostly grin and bear the canine attempts to 'be friendly' and their owners dither to bring them under control. With the smaller ones, I'm sometimes tempted to see how far I can kick them. We did have a go at a woman with a big german shepherd that was really barking and growling at us and whose advice 'was to stand still, he won't hurt you.' And another near Ranmore, a more generic mutt was running around behind us trying to nip us, usual ineffectual owners. I appreciate it was 'playing' but it wasn't a game we wanted to play. Again we got the 'stand still and he won't chase you.' No.
If you can't control your dog, if you can't guarantee it will come back on command, it shouldn't be off the leash in a public place. Don't make excuses, you know if you can control your dog or not.