Did you watch the video? The young man had his Pit on leash and walked back and forth a couple of times. Then he put his dog in a down sit and set something down on the floor (coffee? tea?) and fumbled with his keys to open something (locker?). He corrected the dog once to keep him in a down sit. At that point the lady came around the corner with the guide dog, and all heck broke loose.
The reason I said the dog was “under control” was because he was on leash and was minding his owner until the other dog appeared. I probably should have said, “appeared to be under control”.
The man beat and kicked his dog furiously — starting and stopping a couple of times. There is no sound to the video, but I imagine that he was yelling for help and the dogs were making all kinds of noise too. The man was quite agitated. The woman disappeared during all this action. I suppose he told her to get away from the fight. At least, I hope so.
This is a terrible event. Of course he should never have let go of the leash, although that would have hardly mattered because the Pit looked strong enough to have pulled it right out of his hands and would have gone after the Lab in the close quarters of the corridor even if he had been holding on. The dog owner should never have had that dog out in public unmuzzled. This is definitely NOT the way good English dogs behave.
Good English dogs regularly accompany their owners to tea in fine hotels where they sit docilely while they are served water and dog cookies in silver bowls by the hotel staffs fussing over them. It is not unusual to see a room full of tea partiers in a fine hotel with a dog at each table — all behaving impeccably. White linen, fancy sandwiches, biscuits and hats — the whole deal. No misbehaving dogs — all of the dogs tolerant of all the other dogs in the room.
I agree with your sentiments. My point was exactly what you said: a dog is not “under control” if he attacks for without provocation.