This happened just a few minutes ago while I was walking the dog. Our regular route takes us past a house that has a large golden. This golden, who is probably the gentlest dog with it's family will charge any dog that she sees going by and growl at them. And she's often off-leash in her yard. We went past that house tonight, and not only was the dog in the yard, off leash, but there was no one around, either. She saw us and charged with a growl. My dog, who is not very confident to start with, backed away immediately, but I stepped in for her. I took a step towards the dog, squared my shoulders and gave her the most authoritative, deep growl right back. The dog screeched to a halt and FROZE in her tracks. She had this "what the..." look on her face and didn't move A HAIR. I kept an eye on her as we continued on our way, and she didn't move AT ALL. She sat, then lay down, but it was in the exact spot she stopped.
and this is the 2nd time I've done that... to the same dog!!!