Those dogs can be spooky for sure. Glad you have outrun them.
I took my first ride with my Burley yesterday abt 5PM, heading north up American Blvd which has a bunch of little roller hills, just enough to practice on and rode to my favorite grocery store. Like you, I noticed all of a sudden cars were giving me room for once and at stop signs waving me to go first! Wow what a deal, maybe we all should tote empty trailers behind us
I had the trailer loaded down with junk including all my bike tools in their heavy box and was overjoyed to discover that the Nomad was hardly noticed. Of course my speed was down a tad, but I kept looking back to make sure I still had the trailer back there
Keep up the riding it's great for all those aches and pains.
Joe