To be so stressed after my dog reacted…

[BEAchDays2]

Help, this might sound pathetic, I have a three year old lab.

She has always been good as gold, social, loves people, a fuss, a cuddle.

This is a factual account of what happened.

We were sat outside a bar, at the side next to a path, four women walked down the path.

One locked eyes with me and smiled and I smiled back and she approached my dog.

As she was about 2 feet away she gave a small jump, and raised her hands up, in a sort of ‘look at you’ way and my dog lost it.

She was barking, lunging, and the lady wouldn’t let it go, as in just kept trying to engage with her. She then left. My dog calmed immediately.

She has gone on to meet and greet several people, full on cuddles, belly rubs, being handled, back to her normal self. Nothing like that again but it’s playing on my mind.

Can it be as simple as just the approach, I’m struggling to shake it off. Please help, has this ever happened to anyone else?

Other things which might be of interest:

She was possibly overtired.
We had broken down and were having to overnight somewhere unfamiliar. It had been a long day.
It had been a hot day (although had cooled down by this point)

Sounds like it wasn’t aggressive if it didn’t stop the lady from trying to engage?

Sometimes a dog just doesn’t like a person, just like you or I. And maybe in feeling instant dislike, they find the person to be bloody annoying so they do the doggie equivalent of shouting F off!
That’s my experience.

It sounds like it was a bad reaction to one particular person, so I'd be inclined to forget about it. Was the woman flapping her hands and squealing?

Whatever she did obviously made your dog nervous and it sounds like she pushed the issue and made it worse.

It sounds like she acted in quite a bizarre manner and didn’t stop - she should’ve done.

My old lab (now passed away) used to have the odd reaction to someone. It happens. We expect them to be ok with everyone and not react to anything, but they have feelings about people like we all do.

Sounds like the jumping and waving her arms was interpreted as a threat by your dog. Rightly so. The woman is an idiot.

Don't stress yourself about it any more. I'd have barked at her too!

Maybe your ddog felt they had to protect you from Flappy Fuckwit?

Are you naturally an over thinker like this? Just let it go. There bigger problems in life

It sounds as if the woman was behaving oddly but in future I would make sure that your dog isn't left vulnerable to being approached by randomers. Tuck her behind your legs/under the table, if you are sitting out in public. Then people will gave to ask you if they can talk to her which is what should always happen anyway. Then you can advocate for your dog and say ' no please leave her alone'. Dogs, even Labs, are not soft toys.

You're looking at it from the point of view that your dog is at fault but that's not necessarily the case. You've had your dog for 3 years and not once previously, or since this one incident, has your dog been anything other than very friendly towards strangers. That is very telling. The woman's approach was odd, and the fact she persisted whilst your dog was clearly telling her to clear off is odder still. I would trust your dog's judgement on this because dogs are incredibly good judges of character. You'll probably find it's a one-off incident.

The woman sounds like she was acting like a loon, not surprised your dog told her what she thought of her.

Even without Flappy Florence being a tit sometimes dogs will have an off day.

My very happy social puppy growled at a dog in a cafe today for zero reason, the other dog was laid down minding his own business not even looking at pup. Later on we bumped into the same dog outside the cafe and my pup was fine with him. 🤷‍♀️

Was your dog reacting in an aggressive way or just an over excited way towards this woman?

With regards to the heat, yes it’s been too hot to have dogs out in the day recently. I personally think it’s cruel to drag dogs around in these temperatures and to make them sit around so the owners can have a beer in the sunshine. Leave them at home where it’s cool.

Your fog met someone with a dark heart. Animals know when you are not a good person.

God my dog hates people approaching her, especially kids 😂 she's not aggressive but she will bark, she actually barks even more at people (children usually) who act scared. She is ok if someone is more assertive about giving her a stroke. It is difficult as she does look like a very cute little teddy bear but she is not a sociable dog.

Your dog was sending her a message. The woman was acting weird too close to you and she didn't recognize the dog language there.

Work on training the next few weeks and keep them leashed at all times but I wouldn't be too concerned.

If someone gets too close and your dog acts nervous or different, tell the person to go away.

Sometimes dogs just take against a person for no apparent reason.

Mine once spotted a person in the distance - so far away couldn't tell if male or female - but he wouldn't take his eyes off the person and was growling incessantly.

Was so disconcerting I walked him away in the opposite direction and he Immediately went back to normal.

Never happened again. Most odd.

People need to learn that just because they see a dog, doesn't mean they can approach it. And, just as importantly, owners need to learn the same thing.

The best and most responsible thing any owner can do for their dog is teach it to ignore other people - including people who proactively approach it. That way, you never put your dog in a situation where people might make it uncomfortable.

It was very much a back off bark and posture. It was around 10.30pm, she seemed drunk. 😭

Thank you, appreciate this!!

Essentially yes, not so much squealing but flapping!

Yes totally, hence the question.

Agree totally. Even at 8pm last night it was too hot. We tend to leave ours at home. Much to their disgust.

Love this 😂❤️

This isn't worth a second more of your time. The dog reacted to a strange woman acting a bit weird. Dogs pick up on things we aren't aware of and it's likely meant the dog was reacting to this. Nothing actually happened she's still a very good girl. The end.

Thanks everyone, all taken onboard. I’m an over thinker: