At first read, I was troubled by this verse. Jesus doesn't seem to treat this woman very nicely. At first He doesn't respond to her, and then He says something about dogs. Hmm. Upon further reflection, it's probably not as bad as it looks, but because of my initial trouble I don't want to just look for a reason to explain it away. Too often we do that, and overlook the sincere difficulties that people maybe have about verses like this.
Off the top of my head, I can think of two instances where Jesus didn't respond like this to gentiles. The Samaritan woman at the well (who was half-breed, but all the more reason to be rude) and the centurion. So why this time? Jesus often responded to people in a way that was personal to them. Even with His own people, He didn't always respond the same way. Perhaps this was a way to draw out her faith, which He ends up praising her for.
The other thing I notice is the response of the disciples. "Tell her to beat it, she's bugging us". They show a bit more disdain, or at least Peter does. Maybe there was some sort of object lesson in it for the disciples, too.
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