A friend of mine had a tick attach to him, he removed the tick and his hand swelled up massively and had the tell tale red ring/mark, did she have that?
My reply is from a dog walkers point of view, I walk mine off lead, I also have good control over them(working dogs), even with the control I have I still choose to pop them on lead when passing livestock just out of respect and common decency even though they are off lead when working around...