Advice needed....Please Help!

[doxielady5569128]

Ok...I am unsure of how to handle a situation that is occuring in our neighborhood.  Our next door neighbor has a Yellow Lab named April who was not well socialized.  She is usually friendly when her owners are right next to her.  However, for the past week when Porky and I have been walking, she has charged us when they were busy working on their garden or their yard.   She always sneaks up on us and goes straight for Porky.  She does listen when I call her down, but I'm afraid one day she won't.  Since they do not put her on a leash, she sneaks away from them when they are not looking.   She has never hurt Porky...yet...she has rolled him once. 

We are good friends with our neighbors and wouldn't want to cause a fued or anything.  Any ideas how I can ask them to either keep her in a leash, in her fenced in yard ( she never jumps the fence), or at least knock on our door and warn us when she is going to be loose?   I am also worried because our other next door neighbor has two young sons, what if she goes after them?  I do not want to make them angry, but I would like to be able to walk my dog without fear of him getting attacked by a LARGE dog.  Any ideas how to tactfully handle this situation without alienating our friends?

I know April wants to be a "good" dog.  I can see it in her eyes.  She is a dog that wants to please.  But, she is just clueless when it comes to reacting to other dogs and people besides her own family.  What bothers me more, is she rarely listens to her owners when they give her a command, but she will listen to a stranger???  I am wondering if she was abused before they got her by the way she ducks her head whenever someone comes near and acts really skittish.   I really do like her and she could be a well behaved dog if they took the time to work with her more.