Ball possessive with other dogs?

[bobloblaw]

I had an unfortunate experience this morning with my 1 y/o husky mix. We were in a field near the local highschool. We usually go here to play ball because it's more or less completely fenced and I don't have to worry about her running off (have only had her for a month or so and don't trust her 100% off leash yet although haven't seen any specific reasons to worry).

We were working on getting her to bring the ball right back to me - she loves chasing the ball but prefers to sit down and chew on it for a bit after she brings it back closer to me. I was using treats and having some success in getting her to bring it straight to me and dropping it at my feet. She's not food or toy possessive with me or my wife - we can take her bowl while she's eating, or take the ball (or her stuffed squeaky toy which she LOVES) from her mouth and she's fine.

This morning however, another dog appeared from nowhere in the field. Not leashed although it had a flashing collar on so I knew the owner had to be nearby. I grabbed her collar when she came close but I obviously had no control over the other dog. This is where I think I screwed up - she wears a martingale collar and obviously it's quite loose if you're not holding it by the chain. I wasn't, and she slipped out of it. The two dogs ran away a little and were playing - my initial moment of 'oh crap' passed and everything seemed OK.

I had the ball, and decided (2nd mistake?) to throw it to distract her. The other dog was smaller and my dog is VERY fast so I assumed she would get to it first. She didn't, and when the other dog didn't drop the ball right away she went at it. I think it was one of those 'looks worse than it is' fights because neither dog was hurt and it was easy for me and the other owner (who had finally showed up) to separate them, and they both calmed down quickly.

I was kind of mad at the other owner for not controlling his dog even when I'd said I was unsure about them meeting. But I'm not looking to shift blame - I know I made 2 key mistakes in not controlling her initially and then throwing the ball with both of them there together.

What I do want to know is how to deal with this sort of specific dog to dog ball possessiveness.