Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

My glasses upset the dog

120 replies

Noglasses · 05/07/2021 18:45

For starters- I don't have a dog, don't know the first thing about them, don't love them, don't hate them, live and let live.

We've got new neighbours, they have a dog, smallish, lots of hair. The dog seems to mainly be outside all day with the neighbours around and in and out the house, it looks perfectly happy to be there, mainly lying in its basket by the doorstep or sniffing around.

Every single fucking time I step out of my front door it barks at me like a maniac, running up to the fence, throwing itself off the fence like a mad thing, barking it's head off like it wants to eat me. It's tiny, I know it won't eat me but it makes me jump every time and irritates the hell out of me. I'm just walking out my door and down my path in a perfectly normal way.

I finally said to my new neighbour "wow, your dog really doesn't like me, ha ha" and she said, very seriously "He doesn't like people wearing glasses. They really upset him. If you didn't have your glasses on he wouldn't bark at you. He doesn't do it to upset you, he's very stressed by glasses."

Luckily my bus was just coming down the road so I just sort of laughed and said Oh right, there's my bus".

Seriously? Is this a thing with dogs? Either I am not very knowledgeable about the ways of dogs or my new neighbour and her dog are a bit odd.

OP posts:
waterlego · 05/07/2021 18:52

Dogs ARE weird. Mine is scared of windscreen wipers, umbrellas and piles of washing. He also isn’t keen on people wearing hoods or moving very slowly. He barks at windscreen wipers but the other ones just make him cower and hide behind my legs.

RandomMess · 05/07/2021 18:53

Dogs are strange.

They are like toddlers some of them have (to us) completely irrational fears!!

Original poster
Noglasses · 05/07/2021 18:56

Oh really? I was not feeling very sympathetic. Maybe I should take my glasses off to walk past it. But I'm majorly short sighted, walking down my steps and out the gate without my glasses on is much harder than it sounds

OP posts:

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Dogs
Hellocatshome · 05/07/2021 18:57

Yes its a thing. My dog can't do people in hats. They change the shape of their head and it freaks him out.

Original poster
Noglasses · 05/07/2021 18:57

I am smiling at the dog who is scared of hoods. Do you just stay indoors when it's raining?

OP posts:
Hellocatshome · 05/07/2021 19:00

Oh I forgot my dog is also scared of wheelie bins, lorries and people in flourescent clothing which makes for a fun walk on bin day.

Ladybee28 · 05/07/2021 19:02

My DDog is highly suspicious of lamps and if you turn on one of the ones that has a foot-operated switch he will run for the hills.

Applause will also initiate full-body trembling Hmm

Dislike of glasses is totally possible BUT you still shouldn't have to live with being barked at like that.

It's like a highly bizarre form of victim-blaming 😂

WorkingItOutAsIGo · 05/07/2021 19:04

You can work with your neighbours to help the dog overcome this fear if you want?

GreenClock · 05/07/2021 19:04

My dog is scared of lawnmowers.

They’re oddballs, dogs!

RandomMess · 05/07/2021 19:07

Hats are totally unacceptable as balance bikes Hmm

My friends dog decided that the fireworks were only outside their house so would only go for a walk if they drove elsewhere in the village and then set off. Took a good 6 months for him to forget about that.

Pancakeflipper · 05/07/2021 19:12

Mine hates dresses. A neighbour/friend runs a high end boutique and my dog gird crazy. I'm having to dress up in fancy dresses for desensitisation.

YelloYelloYello · 05/07/2021 19:13

Dogs are odd. Mine is afraid of helmets, umbrellas, scaffolding and scooters.

But I wouldn’t ever suggest that people should eg put down their umbrella to appease him.

(You don’t have to do this obviously but) for an easier life in the long run I would start making friends with the dog: Keep a little packet of treats by the front door and make the dog sit for a treat every time you walk past it. After a while he‘ll see you as a friend rather than a threat and stop the extreme behaviour.

YelloYelloYello · 05/07/2021 19:15

@Pancakeflipper

Mine hates dresses. A neighbour/friend runs a high end boutique and my dog gird crazy. I'm having to dress up in fancy dresses for desensitisation.
Nice to have a reason to dress up! 🤣
Hamsterhands · 05/07/2021 19:15

This would really piss me off, being barked at every day by a dog is stressful and they need to do something about it.

Can they not do some training to lessen this? Could they wear clear lens glasses around the house and desensitise the dog?

OhRene · 05/07/2021 19:20

Mine nearly threw herself through a window trying to attack a postie who came wearing a cap. Any other non hat visit and she was fine.

Best we can figure is that she had been hurt by someone in a hat in the past.

My first dog was our best friend but had been abused and would drag my sister and I off swings trying to protect us. Our guess is that she was put in one as a puppy.

TroysMammy · 05/07/2021 19:20

I had a friend whos dog was racist. He would only bark at certain people.

Eviebeans · 05/07/2021 19:20

My dog barks at anyone wearing a hat or hood

OhRene · 05/07/2021 19:24

My neighbours dog barks aggressively and chases towards talk, slim, dark haired men going by, even the chap who lives next door to him.
My husband is also tall, dark and slim too but the dog looks, and kinda just acts like, "Nah pal, you're alright" and never makes a peep. He'll even bring DH his ball and roll it under the fence for a game of fetch.

Dogs are weird.

Original poster
Noglasses · 05/07/2021 19:27

You can work with your neighbours to help the dog overcome this fear if you want?

Nice idea but no. Its not my dog.

And I won't won't feeding the dog treats either, I don't want to get close. It looks like it would bite my finger off, it's so mad at me.

Can I just lob a treat over the fence from a distance? Will it work out the treat is from me?

OP posts:
YelloYelloYello · 05/07/2021 19:31

Can I just lob a treat over the fence from a distance? Will it work out the treat is from me?
Yes. But only if
A) you and the owner make the dog do something first to get the treat (ie sit down and shut up!)
B) he can see you throwing it/placing it in front of him
C) he’s not stupid

WorkingItOutAsIGo · 05/07/2021 19:32

To train the dog would basically require the neighbours to give the dog a treat every time you came out- you wouldn’t need to go near it! But if the barking is upsetting you it could be something they could do.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 05/07/2021 19:33

Our dog once barked her head off at a policeman in a helmet - she’d never seen such a thing before.

Ditto at a fat woman jogging in the park in a bright jade green tracksuit!

And at a Halloween pumpkin the day after, when it was sitting on our garden table. Scary face!

She was just scared of all of them.
Very unfortunate to have a dog that’s scared of glasses, though! Maybe they need to wear some plain lens ones at home, just to get him accustomed.

Inthesameboat2 · 05/07/2021 19:35

If you happen to pause the tv when a person is on the screen (so very easy) it really freaks my otherwise docile and calm dog out and he will bark until you play it again...he has no issues when the film or whatever is playing...only when paused HmmConfused

mogtheexcellent · 05/07/2021 19:36

Dogs are weird. Current dog hates orange his vis and will try and eat the wearer. Last dog barked at anyone with different coloured skin Blush. That was mortifying.

Just10moreminutesplease · 05/07/2021 19:38

My dog is suspicious of me when my hair is wet Grin.