Was this reaction anything to worry about?

[Towlingfly]

Every evening this week we've been taking our 2 year old cocker spaniel down to a stream in a forest for him to chase stones and cool off. We've never seen anyone else down there before.

This evening, as he was playing, a man and a woman walked out of the woods towards us, both smoking (don't know if the smell is relevant). They took me by surprise but didn't startle me. Our dog ran up to them both barking and growled at them. We called him and he came away. About 10 minutes later another family came along. The lady walked right past our dog and he barked once at her.

Acceptable behaviour or something to be mindful of when he's off lead around people in the future?

I should rephrase, I know its not acceptable for a dog to run up to people barking, I mean was his reaction understandable?

I've got a long line that we've only recently stopped using so I can always put him back on that.

Sounds like they startled him?

It sounds like the couple startled him and he barked accordingly. The second incident might be because he was still slightly on edge (or you were). You will need to see how he is on future walks and go from there.

Isolated barking when the dog is startled doesn’t necessarily bother me. Our dog has been startled a few times but she doesn’t bark at passers by generally.

Thankyou both. I think it was because we'd been there every evening this week and seen no one so yes it probably did startle him.

Now I think of it he has reacted before. We were walking down a quiet country lane once and we past a man walking alone. He was very unkempt and I did feel a tiny bit unsure of him. Maybe he's very in tune to my feelings.

I'm not a very experienced dog owner. One previous, very laid back elderly rescue dog so I'm never quite sure what is 'normal/acceptable' and what's not.

Mine is a nervous girl(also 2)...but can pass 99% of people without an issue (she's lead reactive to some dogs) BUT.. if someone suddenly appears..and usually round a corner or popping out if the woods where I walk her, she will bark and sometimes growl.. it's fright!
She's stay on edge afterwards so we usually try and have a chilled day the next day to recover.
It sounds as though your dog is similar..just that bit nervous of surprises. I'd give him a few days of relaxed walks where you won't meet anyone to let his cortisol levels decrease. It's perfectly manageable :)

Thankyou, he's definitely got a nervous side to him but it usually comes out as ears/tail down, flattening to the ground. He's mainly scared of noisy things in the sky-hot air balloons (we live near to where they launch unfortunately), microlights, helicopters.

Mine (girl) did the same the other day. Walking round the sides of a playing field. A man walked out of the bushes and startled us both! So she woofed at him. He then proceeded to have a go at me for dog barking at him! I apologised and told him that he had startled her.