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?

She didn’t bite him!

My dog will be in bed with me soon. We keep each other warm. It is lovely.

He said it in a shitty tone believe me, and I wasn’t amused (and why should I have been?) so yes I did say ‘and you should ask first’.. which surely is reasonable.. I’m actually very anti-confrontational and on the quieter side, so it wasn’t even in a raised voice.

@XenoBitch
Oh yes, so lovely!

Could do without mine snoring, dreaming (involves kicking and little puffy barks) and her dogsbreath, but she loves cuddling and she’s so fluffy and warm on this cold night!

This

Agree the man should have asked first. But what would be amazing would be if other people didn’t let their dog touch strangers without them (the owner) asking. Hopefully no overlap with the people on this thread who are enraged by a human touching a dog without asking and the large number of dog owners that think that’s absolutely fine / cute / the stranger should be delighted by the honour.

I couldn’t disagree with you more, sadly plenty of people over the years have died as a result of dogs, not just GSD’s. So your argument seems to be aimed at all dogs, which isn’t helpful as we’re not all going to suddenly stop having dogs as pets. GSD’s can make amazing family pets, but I’m not here to try to convince you of that.

My dog is not interested in people unless they actively make an effort to give her attention.
But on MN, a dog sniffing your hand when you least expect it is seen as akin to assault and the dog should be PTS, and the owner fined.

My younger kitty girl is curled up beside me as I type (we're keeping out of the sun, it's a nasty sticky day here in Oz). 😻

Trust me she is living the dream, very much a happy and pampered pooch. She is fine being around strangers in general (I’ve taken her to parades, markets, stopped to chat in the street to people- she just sits at my feet as she can sense ‘ah mum is calm and ok with this situation so I am too’). She just doesn’t like complete strangers literally appearing from my behind me and trying to touch her without warning. She sees this as a threat. I think I’ll be getting some ‘I’m nervous’ ‘please don’t touch me’ vests to make it clear to others, and if needs be I’ll have to muzzle her but it will a sad day as I know she’ll be scared by it and that will make her stressed regularly.

@MamaGhina looking after the safety of your own special needs child around dogs is no-one else's responsibility but yours. If your child was bitten because you were allowing dangerous behaviour or not paying sufficient attention, that's on you not the dog owner or the dog.

Years ago I was walking our dog (a medium long haired breed) and a group of 20ish year olds got off a bus and were walking towards us. One started running up to us, waving his arms and making high pitched barking noises. Predictably my dog starting lunging and barking at him. He stopped dead and said I had a dangerous dog and he was going to report us. Some people are idiots.

Why should I have to keep him on a muzzle because yobs don't know how to behave. My dog completely ignores everyone we see on walks (unless it's someone he knows and then he'll roll onto his back and not move until he gets a tummy scratch 🙄).

Agree totally

My lovely sweet little doggie snaps at people when he tied up if they try to stroke him, because he feels vulnerable and scared.

You wouldn’t go up to strangers and pat them in the head would you?

Also, dogs are not public property - available for all an sundry to do what they wish, NOT why the dog wants.

The man was in the wrong of course, but so are you. You know most dogs do not feel threatened or jump to protective mode when approached by a human being, your dog sound very reactive and you need to stop making excuses for her and muzzle her until you can get these reactions under control.

Christ almighty I do come on here for the batshits cos it's funny, but fuckinell it's a dog that barked and growled a bit cos a stupid man decided to come near it without asking. My dog barks and growls at strangers until told not to, he would never hurt anyone without my say so, but if I did beware.

Agree

OP said her dog has suffered awful things as a pup, and struggles with men. That could be something benign, or something horrific that we can't even imagine. Dogs can't talk so can't tell. We gauge their reactions to things as some sort of indicator.

Op, I know it's not the dog's fault, and that person was definitely in the wrong, but in this case, I would consider a muzzle.

I have a similar dog, and I tried the vests, but people still ignore it! It's crazy.

I know she's good at warning and not biting, but if she feels like that isn't respected, she might feel the need to take it to the next level.

If you introduce a muzzle properly, and it's comfortable, dogscan learn to love them. Mine gets very excited when I get the muzzle out; it's like getting a lead out.

The other upside of wearing a muzzle is that it's the only thing that I've ever found that will stop people randomly touching my dog!

Why would a decent owner let their animal anywhere close enough to touch people?
You have major problems with distinguishing between humans who have rights and dogs who are property and must be under control.
There is never a comparison, they are not comparable. One is human, one is not.

He didn't merely "approach her". Read OP's description again. "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." Who wouldn't feel threatened by that, dog or human?

The muzzle protects my dog because it keeps people out of her space (no one wants to touch the scary muzzled dog) and it protects her from the consequences of some idiot getting bitten.

You seem to have a problem seeing dogs as living beings with feelings and the right to be treated properly. Humans are animals, just as dogs, cats, all other species are. It's our responsibility to behave. Yes, of course dogs must be trained to behave in public, and socialised to be around others - same is true of humans.

I have had small children try to climb over me recently. Another kid came up to me and put her hands in my drink. Where were the parents? They did either did not give a shit, or noticed too late (and I know some kids have SN, but their parents should still be watching them).

You have a major problem with dogs as pets.. and it is clear in all your posts on any dog thread.

If you want to make an honest comparison between dogs and humans... tell me who is fucking up the planet.

@Catsmere

100% agree with your last post👏

Even my 4 year old asks if she can touch someone's dog, of course he was in the wrong!!

Not relevant here but I do agree with pp that it works both ways though. I don't think owners should let their dogs sniff inside prams etc.