I now have a dog. He is very a very small Chihuahua mix. He handles trails surprisingly well and even eagerly crosses shallow, slow moving streams. I reserve easier, and consequently more populated trails for him. I think dogs are fine on the trail as long as they are well trained and LEASHED. My dog is four pounds and gets intimidated when two or three unleashed dogs come running at him. I don’t particularly like being on a cliff with strange dogs running at me either. I can understand wanting your dog off the leash but, unless your dog is extremely well behaved, and will not chase people or other dogs down, you should be considerate of others. Also, poop bags are cheap, readily available, and can also be used to pick up trash the idiots leave behind.
