"that" dog

The weather has been nothing short of perfect for the past 2 weeks.  Sunny and 80-85 degrees. And here's the real kicker... no humidity!  In honor of this perfect weather, I thought I would treat my dog and myself to an afternoon in the park.  I pictured us strolling along down by the river, him chasing a squirrel, kids wanting to pet my dog cause he was "sooo cute", and me conversing with fellow dog owners while we watched our doggies frolic about the park.  I also thought I could take cute pictures of my dog and post them on my blog and this would be a good way to introduce my dog.
What actually happened wasn't exactly as I pictured.  Upon arriving at the park, my dog (Vedder) and I got out of my car and set out on the path.  We weren't 20 steps into our walk when Vedder began barking at a small child.  The parents were horrified.  I was mortified.  But I pressed on and came upon a squirrel that a family was watching eat a chicken bone.  Well, the show was over for that family because my dog terrorized the squirrel up a tree and out of sight.  After a few apologies, we settle into a brisk walk.  Now, Vedder was good around all the people.  He ignored them and all the many distractions and I began to think that all those hours of watching the Dog Whisperer was paying off.  Surely people were jealous of me and the fact that I owned one of the cutest and best behaved dogs in the world.  Perhaps my next job could be a dog trainer in the Waco area!
We were on the way back to my car for a water break when it happened.  I noticed 2 large dogs up ahead on the path.  So I got Vedder close to me, made him sit and tried to distract him as they approached.  Needless to say, the scene that ensued was mor-ti-fying.  Vedder, who is 18 pounds soaking wet, began maliciously barking at these 2 pit bulls who were being walked by a family with little kids.  Vedder was lunging and trying to attack these dogs and he wound his leash around his neck and was choking himself and barking and growling... everyone in a 100 yard radius was staring and shaking their heads.  I had to pick him up to get him to stop choking.  It was awful.  And if that wasn't embarrassing enough, I heard the little boy say "Daddy, why is that dog so mean?" and his dad said "I don't know son. Some dogs just are.".  Apparently, I have "that" dog and I am "that" owner with an out of control animal and I don't know what to do.
Ok let me defend myself a little.  Vedder has lived, played, and stayed with other dogs before.  These have all been successful meetings.  Huge dogs, small dogs, in the middle dogs.  On his "turf", on their "turf", at kennels... he's been good with it all.   But, for some reason, he snaps when its a meeting like the park.  Well, that pretty much ended our perfect day in the park.  I will be watching more Dog Whisperer in the coming weeks and crossing off "dog trainer" as a possible job.

The "beast" at rest.

He is pretty darn cute, though, right?