Barking unprovoked at a certain dog.

Hi all

Im looking for a bit of insight into Maddies heid. We've had her a year (a year today as it happens). Very quiet dog, loves pretty much all other dogs , not such a fan of cats or small furries. Very rarely barks, is good on lead and off, her behaviour doesnt change as such.

Last week, i took maddie out on her last toilet walk, on her gen controller (her prey drive at night seems to go up a gear. lots of neighbourhood cats about, which she will try to chase). At the opposite corner i met a lady with a huge hairy greyhound, (like a scruffy greyhound, but doenst seem big enough to be an irish wolfhound) anyway, its always on lead, we've never met it up close, i dont know what sex it is.

Well, Maddie tried to lunge at it (we were still a whole street width away at this point), barking her head off. In return it barked back at her. I told Maddie "no" and led her away.

Since then, met loads of other dogs, on and off lead, even strange dogs with no problem.

Met this same dog this morning, Maddie reacted in the exact same way. Again, the No command, and i led her away. The other dog is doing nothing as far as i can tell, but it will bark back at her.

I dont know this lady, but if i saw Maddie reacting the way she does, i would be wary of her too.

What do you think is going on here? Id prefer to nip this is in the bud right now.

when she meets the other dogs (the ones she is okay with) as you state in your post, are they all smaller than her?

How bazar. hope you manage to sort it out.

If only we could understand what is going on in our dogs heads

No, on both the occasions above it was the same dog, same lady walking him/her on lead.

I consider it to be a big greyhound, but Maddie isnt small either.

She plays very well with another greyhound we meet whos similar sized i would say, and a variety of other GSDs, akitas, dobermans, labs, local golden doodle, both dogs and bitchs etc shes honestly not fussy in playmates.

honestly, she plays with anything. both big and small. Shes very tolerant of pups.
Shes spayed and almost 5.

I would have said before this, she was a great dog for socialisation, she seems to like them all.

I cant help with this one im afraid. its a difficult one without seeing both dogs together (body language).

The reason I was asking about the size is because there is a male dog the same height as my american bulldog who likes to bark and lunge at Buster (AB) (bulldog just minding his own business on a lead) as he is unsure about him because they are the same height. he is fine with my staffie.

The best advice I can give is to try and avoid this dog if possible. it may be, like people, they just dont like each other unfortunately.

Someone else may come along with a better idea.

I think she just doesn`t like him.
Dogs have likes and dislikes just as we do. Just keep her on lead if you see the dog.

i guess maybe the simplest answer is the right one, she doesnt like it.
she will be easy to avoid.

thanks for the replies.

This is what I was going to say. If it is just this one particular dog, I wouldn't worry about it too much - she may have had a bad experience with a dog that looked like that one in the past, or maybe she just doesn't like the look of it. Our dogs don't have to get on with everyone - just as we don't have to either

You could have a word with this dog's owner if you see them regularly and see if they would be willing to meet up and walk together (with dogs on leads) to see if you can desensitise Maddie to this dog - although the easiest option would probably be just to avoid this particular dog, or keep Maddie on a lead around it

Sounds like a lurcher?

I would agree that she simply doesnt like him. I mean do you like everyone who you meet? And she may not be the problem, you never know what subtle signs the other dog is giving off that you can't pick up on. It may not be unprovoked at all....