Learning to accept the moon

Good run today, after some initial hesitation. Went in the other direction, towards the rose garden, and ran the entire time, with a few stops to sniff the bushes. Passed a few dogs and each time I pulled him off the path and told him to sit. He's getting pretty good about that, although sometimes it's obvious he's struggling. I'm being somewhat of a coward: I usually put plenty of distance between us and the other dog, and if there's nowhere to go sideways, I put us in reverse. We did see a little white dog this morning that I think he's tried to jump in the past with Denny (maybe he thinks it's a sheep) but we managed to avoid any problems by detouring onto the ballfield.
When we got back, he ran around the yard and didn't want to come in right away, which is unusual. I finally put the leash on him and brought him inside. We still have a lot of work to do with recall. He pretty much comes when he feels like it now.
The moon (waning crescent) sets around 10 this week, which means it becomes visible above the trees around 9-9:30. I've been letting him out in the yard when it's out, which leads to some running around and barking, but it's not as frantic as it used to be. Sometimes, we go for a moonlight run. I've read that you shouldn't let your dog get too agitated close to bedtime, but wonder if that mainly applies to puppies. Zorro has been sleeping like a stone.