Why does my dog HATE this man?

[GingerNinjer]

When my dog was a puppy I took her to my friends house. She was fine with everyone in the house (including friends brother, in his 60s) but hated her husband. Growled, barked, hid behind me, wouldn’t go to him, hid behind a chair growling at him ... all quite unusual.
Fast forward almost two years, friend and husband come to visit (just in the back garden). Dog again hated this particular man. She’s bigger now obviously and mature, she growled, continuously barked at him, heckles raised ... he put his hand out for her to sniff and she started air snapping at his hand. She just wasn’t going to warm to him at all so we had to separate her. How bloody weird!!

Friend then told me their own dog doesn’t like him either?! AIBU to really wonder why?

Some dogs can be quirky like that - they might take against someone on the basis of their size, voice, body language, level of interest in them, jitteriness etc.

When my dog was young he took against a good friend of mine and it was during a stage when she was quite unhappy with her life, was struggling with anxiety, and was generally not very well. I think this came across in her general demeanour and body language, and he was picking up on this and reacting nervously.

Fast forward 2 years later and she was in a better place, feeling confident and strong about her life and they are like best buddies when they see each other now.

The dog behaviourist we hired to help with our rescue dog's issues says that it's often due to the pheromones that person is giving off. Then it becomes self-perpetuating as the dog reads your signals/anxiety around the person because you're anxious about it happening again.

It's more complicated with our dog because we don't know his history, although are piecing it together. He reacts badly to men wearing hoodies and also tries to drag us into pubs and betting shops if we're anywhere urban. My partner reckons maybe he had an older male owner and probably a bad experience at some point with another male. They are complicated wee critters.

My Ddog hated my NDN. We were convinced it was because she could see something bad in him.

It was really annoying because he was painting our house for us.

Then he and his wife came round for a BBQ and she was all over him like a rash. We wondered if he’d had an exorcism .

We’ve since learnt she just doesn’t like men in overalls.

It could be that the man's body language is inadvertently threatening to the dog.

It could be that the dog associates something about him with a previous negative experience.

It could be that the dog is reacting to minute signals you are giving off that betray your reaction to this man.

It could be that he is abusive to his wife but delightful around other people and the dog has picked up on his wife's fear of him.

I wouldn't worry about why it's happening but I would make sure that the dog isn't allowed anywhere near him. There is no point in risking the dog becoming aggressive and all the awful consequences that would bring.

Dog probably hates his aftershave or pheromones or something. Their sense of smell is so acute he might smell like a threat to her.

Or is his body language/voice quite dominant and dog is reacting to that?

"Trust the dog" 🤣🤣

Ridiculous. It's a dog ffs.

Having said that, I was walking my relative’s GS (on a lead) across farmland as we approached the brow of a hill he started growling and snarling, straining forward, hackles up. Nearly pulled me over! I thought he could smell another dog, though no animals or people in view. The we got to the top of the hill, he was barking now and straining towards a copse. I looked towards the trees and there was a man in a hoody just standing there. Dog clearly hated his smell before he saw him. It was hard to drag him away. Man looked bemused and lit a cigarette, watched us. Have to admit I kept looking back over my shoulder and was glad to get home!

It was probably just a man out for a walk or a farm worker, but dog hasn’t reacted like that to anyone since.