My glasses upset the dog

[Noglasses]

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.

I definitely think a bit of time spent now trying to work with the owners to help the dog see you as not-a-threat will be well worth it for the peace in the future.

Things that change the shape of humans heads can freak dogs out yes, but people also DO make false connections.

In all likelihood it's just a small dog who is unsettled by the move and is scared of the big animal (you) who is near what it thinks it needs to establish as it's territory and is, trying to behave in a scary way as it's first and only line of defence.

Calmly being near and making friends with the dog (and yes not in a way that will get you bitten) with the assumption that he's just a tiny dog who is stressed out of his tree and doing his best to make himself feel safe, is likely to be the best approach.

My last dog was scared of Morris dancers - which wouldn't have been an issue if I hadn't lived next to a quaint village pub that often had Morris dancers! We had to close all the curtains so he couldn't see them and turn the TV up so he couldn't hear them.

He would also howl if he heard lady in red by Chris De birth being played - literally only that song!

Like anyone/ thing- they can be weird. Some don't like hats, some obviously don't like glasses. Up to you if you want to take them off and see if that stops the barking, and if you don't care either way- don't.

Mine has a long list...
Teenagers in hoodies
Men walking in dog walking areas without a dog.
Anyone who tries to pat her (that hasn't been introduced properly)
Hats
Big fluffy dogs (she's a big fluffy dog!)
Our cat ..she is terrified of him, but he's a twat so not surprised!
And... anyone in masks and scrubs. ..(thanks to a horrible vet) which means nurses, doctors, vets, our local pharmacy staff.... she turns into the dog from hell, because she is terrified!

It's defo worth talking to the owners to see if they can do some counter conditioning!

My dog is terrified of dogs. She’s a giant breed 55kg dog. (I’m 57kgs) Makes taking her for a walk sooooo relaxing, not. Dogs are weird. I would try taking your glasses off. If the dog doesn’t shut up, I think it’s just a badly socialized little rodent (Outside all the time, etc) and they were making up an excuse and that was the first thing they could think of.

@joystir59, my dog also gets nervous when people hug, especially if accompanied by us saying ‘aaaaaah’. I’ve decided that if I ever get attacked when I’m out with the dog, my best strategy would be to throw my arms around my attacker and pretend to be enjoying the hug. Dog will start doing that growly/squeaky noise and hopefully scare the perpetrator away.

@Hellocatshome

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

Same with my ddog

Hadn't thought that could be the reason. It's worse with baseball hats so thought it might be due to obscuring eye contact

Dogs are weird op

My dog freaks out at the sight of one particular Christmas decoration that goes up in our town centre. Our previous dog used to go absolutely ballistic at the sight of a hot air balloon, but apparently that's quite common.

Interesting about the hats thing. Our dog hates people in hoodies - even us. I worked so hard at socialisation and he is bombproof about so much but hoodies just terrify him. Unfortunately we live in central London with a very diverse community and he extends this to the hijab, so barks at all my female Muslim neighbours. I am sure they think he is totally racist and it is completely mortifying.

I can understand the hat thing. Hats are a bit ominous. The grim reaper wears a cloak on purpose so that we all find him menacing. He wouldn't look so disturbing if he was a handsome young man with a nice fresh haircut.

And peaks? Oh my god, if you didn't know what they were, you'd be yelling 'THAT PERSON'S GOT A BEAK!!!'.

I'd panic.

@joystir59

Dogs are potty. Mine doesn't like food blenders, electric can openers, Hoovers, Hi Vis jackets, anyone other than him getting in the car (not that he can drive, so that's tricky), people hugging, people crying, anyone saying hello to him when they arrive at the house, anyone leaving the house.

@joystir59 - hilarious that your dog doesn’t like anyone else getting in the car with him 😂

@Inastatus
He has to be the last one to jump in, or he kicks off. So of course it's always a tussle as he has to be out in and secured before I can get in and drive. Nightmare.

Put

@joystir59 - gotta love them 😅

dogs get thier cues from sight and smell/ you get of bath you dont smell funny to them had to talk to one as soon i got out to make him feel safe if i didnt he would go in the bathrom looking for me
one boy was upset by motorcyle helmets thought brother took off his head got very freaked out looked under the face shield

We don't own and have never owned cats or dogs. Other people's fluffy pets are fine, just no desire for one of our own.

I once had a customer come into work with their dog.
I was behind a counter and the dog was barking and barking. The woman said it was because her dog couldn't see my legs, so to them I was a floating body and head freaking them out!
I opened the door, showed doggo my legs, made a fuss of it and it stopped. But as soon as I went behind the counter again it started barking. The owner said the dog wasn't very clever .

zombiethread

Next doors little dog goes mad at me when I'm wearing my work uniform. He doesnt like people wearing dark colours or helmets/hats or even people with very dark skin. God forbid he comes across someone wearing a niqab.

I laughed until tears reading your post. 🤣
Thank you for that!😊
Sorry about your whack-job neighbour dog.

🤦‍♀️ Fell for one again! It was a goid laugh, though! 😀