Would you be worried?

[frostedviolets]

Posted in AIBU but also going here on the assumption that people here will be more into body language, may work with dogs etc

There is a dog that I often see out and about.

Whenever it sees me or my dog it goes really hard eyed and stares at us and walks more slowly towards us.

It’s not a collie so this is not ‘herding’ behaviour.
it’s absolutely massive.
Like some enormous hound type dog.

Honestly, this dog absolutely petrifies me but it’s always leashed.

It was on the path today but loose (I didn’t realise at first), staring and slowed as usual but I wasnt too concerned because I thought it was leashed.

When it got close to me it approached me, not a happy bouncy approach but that slightly lowered ‘predatory’ type fast walk.

I turned my back on it quickly while the owner quickly grabbed its collar.
Apparently ‘he’s never done that before’
I just about managed to squeak out ‘it’s okay’ but honestly I was absolutely petrified.

I’m unsure if I should be concerned?

I have thought about reporting it but it hasn’t actually ‘done’ anything to me, I don’t know if it would be silly?
I’m thinking it probably would be seen as silly on the basis that it hasn’t done anything that most would see as ‘aggressive’.

[jinxpixie]

I would avoid it at all costs.

Don't put the dog in a situation where it has to act -the owners need to step up

[TeacupRex]

I would be concerned. A staring, stiff-postured dog is on its guard. If it showed that sort of behaviour towards another dog, it would be seen as a challenge - staring in particular is threatening.

I think that the fact its behaviour made you feel unsafe is valid enough as it is. I wouldn't be happy about a dog exhibiting that sort of behaviour either.

[frostedviolets]

Don't put the dog in a situation where it has to act
Ah, I always give this dog a very wide berth when I have my dog with me.

Today I was alone, no dog with me, I was walking on the path and assumed it was on lead (as it almost always is) but turned out it wasn’t.

[frostedviolets]

I would be concerned. A staring, stiff-postured dog is on its guard

Yes this is what concerns me.
I’m not sure if it’s guarding or fear but either way I find the behaviour really frightening.

Trouble is, as another poster on AIBU put it, how on earth would I report to anyone because to say ‘a dog keeps eyeballing me and walking slowly towards me’, which is basically what it is doing, sounds absolutely batshit crazy!

[GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman]

A dog walking stiff legged and staring at what it is approaching is stalking. This what collies do when they herd, but their stalking behaviour has been adopted by breeding and training into herding.

I'd be bloody wary. I have seen dogs behave like that, and it tends to end in a punch-up if the owners don't intervene. I'd be more concerned by a dog stalking than by a dog running up at me barking tbh. The barkers normally back down if you shout and approach them.

[GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman]

*adapted

[frostedviolets]

A dog walking stiff legged and staring at what it is approaching is stalking. This what collies do when they herd, but their stalking behaviour has been adopted by breeding and training into herding
Yeah, I have a collie and she can be ‘hard eyed’ but it never worries me because she is a collie and ‘eyes’ pretty much everything of interest, there’s no ill intent there.
I wouldn’t be too worried by a collie ‘stalking’, it’s really rude but i wouldn't be worried.

This dog though isn’t a herding breed and I just get such a strong negative vibe from it.
It’s like when I see it all starey and rigid I get completely overwhelmed with such a strong, deep sense of fear.

I always give it a wide berth and if I had realised early on it was loose I would never have walked past it on the pavement.
I did so because it is virtually always leashed so I assumed it was this time.

I'd be more concerned by a dog stalking than by a dog running up at me barking tbh
Me too.
The deliberate slowness and silence just feels really sinister.

I’m going to change my route I think.

[frostedviolets]

This isn’t the actual dog but it looks quite similar and this is pretty much exactly the facial expression it shows.

[WhatAStupidIdea]

I have reported similar in the past. I simply said the Husky in question was ‘displaying concerning body language’. We have quite a tight dog owner community round here and I wasn’t the only person to complain, but I was the first, and they still took me seriously. They took the details of the dog and its owner and made a note of it. In this case nothing was done (understandably I suppose) and the dog attacked and seriously injured a jack russell about a year after my complaint, but at least I’d done what I could and it was on record. I’d steer well clear and I actually would report it.

[Amatteroftime]

Do you have laws about dogs being on leads in the area you were walking in? As in, were you on a pavement? If so, you could report for that.

Dogs will do this walking towards my dog sometimes, I body block and then high tail out of there. Occasionally my dog will do it if he is unsure about an approaching dog, he is on his guard. I mean veryyy occasionally and the other dog is normally looking a bit 'challenging'. I pop a lead on him and get out of the situation, not fair on either dog.