I took my 4yo border terrier for a walk in the woods today. he is a real softy and a bit nervous of big dogs or groups of dogs. he is never aggressive and doesn't bark usually.
today we were on a woodland path and he stopped dead, and barked repeatedly, assuming a sort of stand off position. I called him, but he wouldn't come. 50m ahead of us were 2 people chatting with their 2 dogs. (the man was dressed in black and was standing on a sloping part of path, he had one leg bent and the other straight, in a kind of lunge position. ) after some minutes of me trying to coax my dog to go around the other to dogs, and the people, which involved going through low hanging branches/ undergrowth on a slope beside the path, it became apparent that my dog didn't like the man, and was unconcerned about the dogs, who had now ventured towards him.
at this point, we all realised that it was the man that my dog had the issue with not the other dogs. I apologised for my dog's barking and I joked that maybe it was the man's stance and said that he looked a bit like he was going into battle.
he said that it didn't bother him (ie my dog barking). they carried on chatting as if i wasnt there. it seemed like ages before my dog eventually followed me on my detour through the bushes, with his tail between his legs, and tbh it was quite stressful.
I realise that my dog is my responsibility and that he was technically behaving rather badly, however, AIBU to think that it might have been good dog walking etiquette for them not to have continued to block the path while I tried to deal with this situation?
would welcome views from doggy behaviour experts!
(my dog only once reacted like this before to a person- a man in balck, in a pub with a cap on but he stopped as soon as we told him not to bark)
TIA