HI,
Earlier this evening (around 8) DP and I took my two-year-old boy to the woods/field for his evening walk. As we walking in the field we noticed a small black dog on his own running towards us without an owner. The dog interacted with our dog and then continued running along the (long) path. I could see a person in the distance (behind us) so assumed he was the owner. Somehow my DP knew he wasn't and told me to run as the dog was heading towards a road. The other person was heading with the black dog and another dog towards a car park. Just to be sure I asked if the black dog was his and he said no, he had assumed the dog was mine. By this point I was a good 500 m's from my DP who was trying to control my boy on the lead. My boy normally has impeccable manners but HATES being separated from his family so was being a bit of a handful and pulling massively on the lead to get to me. (not the biggest of deals but we are working on this)
My dp and dog finally made their way to me and my dog was really in a agitated state, lunging for the dog and making whining noises (dp could just about hold him). Luckily we had a second lead so I walked away with the lost dog. I know had we let my dog go he would've gone to the dog and behaved inappropriately, I'm fairly certain he wouldn't bite but def lunge/growl/jump up. Luckily the owner arrived 10 mins later. (that's another story) DP and I are COMPLETELY shocked with my boy's behaviour. I would've bet my house on him being relaxed/calm in this situation. He's been in similar situations and not batted an eyelid. Seriously I can't overstate how good he normally is- to the point he has been complimented by strangers. It was like he was possessed.
Does anyone know what happened? Why did he act like this today? I know it was a fairly manic situation but my dog is honestly a good boy. We can't take any risks as he is a big dog (33 kg). We are totally dumbfounded and honestly in shock.