To touch a strangers dog without permission then to be abusive when it barks

[WeHaveChocIcesInTheFreezer]

For context; we have a 4 year old female German Shepherd who is the softest, friendliest dog you can meet IF she knows you. She is not good with strangers, especially men, after some horrible experiences as a very young puppy. Typical of her breed she is loyal, loving and protective over us and our DC (6mo twins)- to note she is NEVER alone with or out of reach when around DC and has only ever been calm and affectionate towards them.

This morning I’m out walking her with a friend and have the twins in their pram, my friend pops into a shop so I’m stood outside with the pram in front of me and her sat calmly by my feet, next to the pram. Out of nowhere a young, quite big in build, man appears next to me and just lunges towards her and sticks his hand into her face. She instinctively sees this as a threat to her and us and immediately snaps at him/barks loudly. He backs off whilst quite angrily saying ‘not a friendly dog then eh?’.. so I said ‘actually she is but not with strangers and you should have asked before touching her!’ To which he raises his voice and starts saying ‘you shouldn’t have an effing dog on the streets if it isn’t effing friendly to strangers!’

At this point my friend comes out of the shop so this man storms off whilst shouting back more abuse about me being a ‘silly cow’ and having a ‘dangerous dog’..

Now I’m aware she’s a protective breed and can be intimidating to some, but I had a halter collar/lead on her and kept her by my feet/out of the way of people passing. She has zero issues around people as long as they don’t try touch her without warning. He PURPOSELY leaned across me to touch her with no warning!

AIBU to be annoyed at him? Or could I/should I have done more to avoid strangers touching her?

Based on that exchange, it was probably your response he didn’t like, not your dog’s.

Only you know whether you spoke to him in a friendly tone or as a reprimand.

Thanks everyone, after reading through the comments I think I’ll invest in a ‘I’m nervous please do not touch’ vest or similar for her and avoid standing in places we could be surprised by random people trying to touch her. I want to avoid muzzling her at all costs and don’t want to be in situation that could mean I have to or worse. Just sad really some people can’t understand it’s not acceptable to touch animals without the owners consent ☹️

Agree with this 100%. I really feel for you, your dog is only trying to protect their family but people can be so funny about GSD and it would be awful if you were forced to PTS because some dickhead touched your pup without asking.

The benefit of a muzzle also is that it stops said dickheads even trying to touch your dog as they assume unfriendly. There are some brilliant guides online about how you can train muzzle wearing as a positive and ok thing for the dog.

I was recently told by a youngish vet that my dog had "an attitude problem" because she wasn't happy with the vet touching her. Sorry but I'd be a bit arsey as well if someone I didn't know stuck a thermometer up my bum!

Children aren't capable of mauling people to death?

Christ I know I'm old but fxcinell , how far have we come where we are so obsessed with will a dog bite or not if you invade it's space, when I was growing up the sole purpose of us having a dog was to bite folks if they came into our space IE. the garden. It's simple peeps don't invade the dogs space it won't bite you, I won't be muzzling my perfectly behaved lab who won't harm anyone UNLESS you get in his space and fuck him off.

No one should be approaching strange dogs.

But, YABU having this dog in the first place, and say how she 'could be scary'.

The police use these dogs to attack adults. There's a little girl buried next to my great grandmother who was killed by the family German shepherds.

These are not family dogs, and people do not have any business having them.

I’m honestly so embarrassed for people who make that comparison. Like do they think their smelly out of control mutt is the same as a human child? I worry for some people’s intelligence

YABU, and I say that as an experienced dog owner.

You own a dog which is A - a large, powerful guarding breed & B - known to be nervous-aggressive (as are so many modern GSDs, sadly).As a responsible dog owner you should be aware of the potential consequences for you and your dog of it attacking someone and therefore keep it muzzled in public. Better safe than sorry, for all concerned.

The man should not have approached your dog without asking, obviously, and let’s hope he has learned his lesson.

To those who think that the OP is unreasonable - if you had a designer bag and a stranger came up and started stroking it would you be happy? Or if you were standing with a brand new carving knife in a basket and a child came along and stuck their hand in your basket would it be your fault for having something so dangerous where a child could reach it?

So many poster just blithely say the dog should be muzzled. My previous dog was attacked by 2 dogs on 2 different occasions when he was on lead and they ran up to him and it made him very nervous and snappy if dogs came too close.

I, as a responsible owner, muzzled him every time I took him out but I had people abusing me in the street telling me if my dog had to be muzzled he should be put to sleep. I had people making a big dramatic show of crossing the street when approaching me, picking their child up, pulling their child into the road even. It was pathetic and made me both angry and upset. I hated muzzling him and it meant if he were to be attacked again he could not defend himself

Really gracious response there as you've had an unnecessary hammering. I wouldn't muzzle either. Just make sure you're aware, always. You don't want your pup to suffer because someone's a dick.

God that’s an annoying reverse style click bait style title op 🙄

I’m really not a fan of dogs but I don’t think your girl needs a muzzle. She isn’t a danger to people who aren’t bothering her - and people SHOULDN’T bother dogs on a walk!

Someone before said “Not even an idiot deserves to be bitten”. Well sorry but play stupid games get stupid prizes. If you reach out for a dog from the front without permission I actually think being snapped at is a harsh lesson to learn

My dogs are not smelly or out of control and are, on the whole, a damn sight nicer and more attractive than a lot of the unruly children I see

YANBU the man sounds like a knob, and really should have asked to approach your dog first.

A vest/lead saying your dog is nervous is good idea, but then I always understood them to mean they are nervous with other dogs, not people.

BTW, people saying OPs dog should be muzzled... a warning snap is not the same as a bite. Dogs are allowed to give off warning signs if they are unhappy, and OP's dog was unhappy. It is sad now that a dog that displays anything other than being goofy and happy is seen as aggressive, when it is usually just displaying perfectly normal behaviour.

I think unfortunately you have to plan for 'stupid' so I'd muzzle her in public .

The only thing I think when I see a muzzled dog is “Well that owner must be a very responsible person” as I know accepting your dog needs muzzled isn’t something that comes easy

Well that’s subjective.

But the post wasn’t aimed at you at all - it was aimed at the plonker who thinks dogs and kids are the same. These kinds of people usually over indulge their dogs and are therefore out of control.

You sound like a sensible owner from your posts.

Yeah, but the dog is ultimately the loser if it goes wrong.

I agree with this - dogs are absolutely allowed to tell stupid humans ‘back off’ without the need to have their jaw clamped together in public.

The dog didn’t bite.

In sure if someone came up to me and touched my face in public I’d probably be very cross too. But dogs cannot say “Excuse me please don’t touch me” in words, only harmless actions.

Which I think is sad. I teach my children to ALWAYS ask before approaching a dog - and it makes me very angry when parents let their toddler pull a dogs ear and then kick off about PTS when it all goes pear shaped

Well you are in the minority. I had so many people shout at me and give me abuse. I would quite often get home from walking my beautiful boy and just cry. He was honestly such a softie and never ever even growled at a child or adult but, understandably after being attacked, was very nervous around other dogs especially ones that ran up to him when he was on lead.

On of the dogs I have now was attacked when he was only 6 months old. Again he was on lead and as we walked past a house a dog ran out and started attacking him. My dog was screaming and I was terrified as it was a big dog. It made me paranoid that I would have to muzzle him as it would make him nervous of other dogs but, thankfully, it hasn't (he is 11 now)

I’m sorry you had to ensure that, people can be such wankers.

But this is why I’ve gone off dogs…well not dogs, dog owners - so many bad ones these days who let their off lead dogs run up to an on-lead one, often provoking it as owner jogs from 300m away shouting “it’s ok he’s friendly” 🙄🙄

It’s been 10 years since I last had a dog. A little Lhasa - she was beautiful and so chilled. And old, I rescued her. Fucking dogs 4 times her size would bound up while owners thought it was hysterical to watch their horrid mutt pick on my girl who was minding her own business.

Then SIL’s DD who was 2 and basically allowed to abuse her pug at home went up pulled her too lip really far back and my dog (usually fine with kids) snapped at her. Oh the dramatics! And the whole “I’m sorry we can’t come round, the dogs just too dangerous after she tried to bite Sophie”. Get your brat in order FFS. My dog is an old lady she doesn’t wanna see you anyway 🤣🤣

That was a decade ago. I dread to think what it’s like now.

The thing is, OP, you shouldn't have to get a vest for him.

I have a golden retriever and EVERY single person who see's him wants to pat him or strike him or sticks their hand at him. It's a bloody nightmare. If I tell them no or call him to me, they have a right tantrum.

People think it is their god given right to pat him or any other dog.

The fact your dog is a GSD is neither here nor there and whether she's nervous is also nothing to do with the point. People shouldn't bloody touch dogs that don't belong to them - whether that is a GSD, a Caucasian Shepherd or a golden retriever.

Those vests are so stupid and do people even read them?!

People just shouldn’t approach dogs full stop! It’s a shame so many do.

Id be tempted to stroke their head back 🤣