Ddog can smell the woman along the road before he sees her and goes ballistic - wtf

[SirChenjins]

This is getting ridiculous now - what do I do?? She's an innocuous looking older woman who walks a lot locally and for some reason he absolutely hates her - goes absolutely mental at the end of his lead, and this is often before he sees her. I had it this morning - we were in a small wooded area and all of a sudden he completely lost the plot. Continued to do so as we were walking the short distance back to the car and who did we see in the distance? She must have passed by the entrance to the woods a couple of minutes earlier.

DH is just back from a walk and had similar - older woman in the distance, ddog sniffing about in the grass and then, bam. Plenty more examples like this.

If we happen to meet her face to face on a path unexpectedly then all hell breaks loose - his reaction is really extreme. I know she had a dog that was so reactive he couldn't be walked, but I think that dog is dead now.

How on earth do I stop it?

He may reacting to her nonenal smell if she’s elderly?

It’s unpleasant for humans, so potentially must be really awful for dogs.

Sounds like maybe you and OH have (very understandably) tensed up on meeting this woman when he hit the reactivity button on sight of her and perhaps that’s why he is now triggering on her scent? Was his first reaction when she had her own reactive dog with her?

If it’s only her that it happens with, it’s either something (drug/medicine etc) specific to her or it’s a learned behaviour escalated to scent over time

Her what smell ? Is this something I need to be aware of as I get older 😳

@Dunnocantthinkofone tbh, I can't really remember our first meeting but it may well have been when she had her dog with her. That's interesting that he's possibly remembered and escalated her scent to tge point he picks it up even after she's left the area. What can I do to reduce or stop his extreme reaction though?

@ScratCat nonenal smell?

Nonenal - just Googled. Yep a smell associated with old age - inability to metabolise omega-7 fatty acids resulting in a grassy like smell.

My dog does this same thing with a woman who walks up and down our street. She’s the friendliest labradoodle but she despises this poor woman (who of course we see every single day on the bloody street 😩)

That’s going to be tricky to fix imo because once he is over threshold (ie he’s smelt her and you haven’t even seen her yet!) it’s too late in the cycle. You need to be able to counter condition a trigger at a distance where there is no reaction but that seems unlikely to be feasible unless she would be willing to work with you and a behaviourist. In all honesty, if it’s just her and he’s on lead and therefore deemed under control, you might just have to live with it as getting her to help you when he’s screaming his head off at her might be a stretch to put it mildly.
Id be inclined to book a one off with someone to come out on a walk with you and get an in person assessment though if at all possible

One of my dogs has taken a sudden huge dislike of golden retrievers and other large white dogs. I spoke to the vet and she recommended having him wear an adaptil collar. So far so good. He met a retriever yesterday and he was fine.

Beautiful pooch x

My god ! Something else to worry about 🤢

If random dogs start barking at you then you know why...

I'm reassured that it's not just mine who has sworn mortal enemies. @temproasted , you have my sympathies. I'm mortified when he behaves the way he does, but thankfully this woman doesn't seem particularly perturbed by it (so far).

@Dunnocantthinkofone I think you might be right re just having to live with it. There's a good behaviourist locally, I'll have a word with her about it.

Oh stop 😂

Did he ever meet her when she still owned the reactive dog? My terrier still reacts to the presence of a couple who used to own a dog that he was afraid of. The dog has been dead for around a year now, but a few days ago he made a wide and nervous berth around the lady and was extremely tentative when she gradually managed to bribe him into proximity with a dog treat that was in her pocket. (She has no dog now but keeps treats for passing dogs I suppose).

Years ago, the same couple had a previous dog that my own previous dog hated. For several years after that dog of theirs died, he (my previous dog) would grumble and snarl when he passed their house

He's gorgeous.

I kind of like the idea of a dog having a mortal enemy.

My niece's assistance dog has definitely got beef with my mum but not at arch enemy level.

I've just remembered another thing. My dog goes ballistic when he becomes aware of one particular person in our neighbourhood. He and his partner are absolutely lovely about it and recently told me that, a long long time ago, this man made a jocular gesture of leaning forward towards him and going "Woof"" when my dog barked (mildly) as he passed our front gate. My dog evidently took fright or umbrage at that and never forgot about it.

Dogs' memories really are up there with elephants when it comes to bearing a grudge for a slightly scary experience.

BTW, I don't think your dog's behaviour is because this lady has a particularly strong or unusual odour. I imagine he can smell everybody else in the neighbourhood just as well, and identify them by their smells. It's just that this particular woman is someone he is rattled by

Have you never smelled it on older relatives, or an old peoples care home or ward?
It’s usually after about 70, some can smell pleasant but usually the ones who wear a bit of aftershave or perfume. It’s definitely a unique smell, it was comforting with my grandparents

Maybe a musty smell but not nothing that I found off putting and I didn't realise it had a name!

You could get her to update you on her daily plans? 😂 (yes I’m joking, in case anyone takes that seriously)

Trying to change reactions to something you can’t predict is going to be there is a hard one tbh.

But if it makes you feel any better, I’ve worked out one of mine hates cannabis users 😐 and years ago I had a dog that really liked people who’d had alcohol, to the point that it was the only thing his recall would fail for

It's good news that this lady once had a reactive dog herself, it means she understands your position. I would encourage you to not feel awkward about approaching her if you see her when you don't have the dog with you. If it were me, I'd genuinely want to try to help you. I think it likely your dog would calm down if he was allowed to get closer to her in a controlled and calm environment.

I know you're joking here but I personally trust my dogs reactions to people. There will be a reason he is reacting like this. Dogs are a good judge of character. They often know things that aren't obvious initially to humans!

This happened with my FIL and his neighbour's dog. Always went mad when it sensed him nearby. Suddenly one day the dog didn't bark at him and never barked again.

FIL's hearing aid was in for repair on that day, and seemingly whatever repair was done on it stopped the dog going mental. The aid must've been squealing or something, inaudible to us, but it had been sending the dog loopy.

That's really interesting, @PhilosophicalCheeseSandwich . I'd never thought about that but it must be something potentially v aggravating for dogs

Was going to say this. As my 11 year old would say “she’s got bad juju” (bad energy for those unable to understand slang 😆)

He’s GORGEOUS