Aibu to get a big scary looking dog so i can walk without fear

[Thatsmycupoftea]

I have a soft as anything golden retriever. I love walking and I have breaks in my work at various times of the day and evening and I like to take her to different areas for walks.

There have been a few times when I have felt uneasy for various reasons, but today I'm pretty sure a man was following me in the woods, I was genuinely terrified. I rang dh pretending he was 2 minutes away meeting me at an agreed location. The man then walked away but hung around so I quickly went back to my car.

I'm an experienced dog owner and have owned a big meat head looking bully breed. He was soft as s#*t really but looked like a thug. I never felt uneasy when I walked him.

I love the peace of walking my dog. Its my only down time. I feel like I can't enjoy it. Why can't I do that without fear. Maybe I'm irrational. Maybe I need to stay away from stories in the media, but then I have experienced these incidents myself so I dunno.

Do other women feel this way?

The dog doesn’t have to be a guarding breed or one with a reputation. I have a lab, so not a traditionally ‘scary’ breed. He’s aloof with human strangers but gentle if he does interact. He plays well with other dogs. He’s Very much a lover, not a fighter. That said, he is big, lean and very muscular (he’s very fit and as a working type he has a muscular frame). He looks quite intimidating (for a Labrador). I have experienced people giving me space when walking him.

I do worry more about dog theft than a personal attack, these days.

I have two GSD and I would be amazed if anyone was able to lure them away to steal them. They are very affectionate, gentle, and kind natured dogs who are obedient, but I have no doubt at all that they would very effectively protect me to the death if it came to it. It’s the exact reason I got them.

I never felt safer in London than when l had a Weimaraner. I could wander the streets of Camden, and late nights in Regents Park, at night and feel perfectly safe.

She was generally very gentle and loving, but would take down a grown man who was threatening in a blink. Once she wouldn't let a tradesman into the house, she stood in front of me, growled and would NOT budge.
I took her word for it and sent him away.

( She also told me l was pregnant before a test could show it, twice, by gluing herself right against my side all day and evening, and refusing to sit down or leave me for a second)
Now our working cocker is no deterrent, and l do feel the fear when l walk in isolated locations.

It makes me so angry we are forced to worry and feel this way.