MJ,my Poppy can act strangely sometimes. There have been a couple of occasions she has run up to someone and just started barking at them. (Usually a lone person). A guy had a real go at me once. She is never behaving in a threatening way, just barking. But the guy didn't know that so I can understand. However he did say if she did it again he would give her a good kicking! I thought, oh God, you do that it'll be 10 times worse. I'm sure dogs can sense a sort of vibe, she has before gone up to an elderly guy (on his own) and acted all coy and flirty which was quite amusing,for me and him! I always make sure that I have treats in my pocket so if I see anyone that might un-nerve her, usually loud kids I can distract her.

I wish I could distract my Jade with treats. What she will do is make a terrible yowly noise if she sees another dog she's not keen on. I have to draw her up close and kneel and speaks to her sweetly. Forbid I ever let her off lead. She'd give people heart attacks!

Looks like they both handled it fine to me, MJ.

Unless they've been hit by a stick, most dogs wouldn't necessarily make a connection between someone carrying a stick and being threatened, provided that the person wasn't being deliberately threatening in their behaviour, and these two ladies don't look as if they were.

I'm not convinced dogs can tell the difference in languages - I'm forever telling my hubby "Dogs don't speak English!" when he gives Esau unclear commands then gets frustrated when Esau doesn't understand!

So it's possible neither of the dogs perceived anything different from any other person they would pass, even if you found them unusual.

I know how muzzles can make people immediately wary, which is silly because the dog in a muzzle is the one least likely to do any damage!

Anyway, from what I could see, it looks as if they took a mild interest in these ladies for a second or two, decided they were boring, and moved on to more exciting sniffs in the trees.

PONlady I'm sure dogs don't know the difference between languages.

Georgina and Gwylim are trained in both English and Hungarian. Doesn't matter whether they'll told "ull" in Hungarian or "sit" in English they understand what it means. My sons three dogs knew their commands in English, French and Mahoraise (which is similar to Swahili).

It's the tone of voice that counts not the language.

This is my sentiment. She's muzzled so she's NOT to be feared. Nigredo should be more scary. He's WAY bigger and not muzzled. But then, he'd not bite the flea chewing his skin.

My Jade, she's usually a good girl around adults, but she's terrified of children and tends to dislike small, aggressive, yappy dogs. So I don't want any issues, so I use the muzzle in areas where children often are, such as that park.

As for the foreign language, not trying to be offensive here, but it didn't bother my dogs, it bothered me. I was with a mixed and bi lingual girl one time, and she heard a guy say something very inappropriate about me in a language that I could not understand.

I wish they'd speak English, I kind of find it rude for them to speak foreign languages here, but I never say anything. It's their right, I suppose it's my fault for not knowing it. Eh, oh, well! Thanks PONlady, I thought they did okay, too.

I saw on YouTube where some people expected a perfect heel in these situations, and got it! But I guess my two just aren't THAT well behaved! In any case, I like the dogs on the stranger side of me.

This isn't a perfectly safe area, and though that particular park is perfectly safe... it's just a habit that I like my dogs between me and strangers. Not snapping and snarling like many dogs here, but just there.

I'm not sure about this. My last dog HATED Hispanics. I've said this many times on here, but yeah. I mean right down to his core. He LOVED women, but even hated Hispanic women. I'm nearly certain the Spanish they often spoke is what was bothering him. I really couldn't possibly see what else it could be.

It wasn't their skin tone or hair. I have their skin tone and white people (whom he had no issue with) have hair that looks like theirs. It wasn't their size, for they're often the same size as us. I'm almost certain the Spanish is what bothered him, and what he linked to them.

I could be wrong, and there might have been something else but whenever he'd see or hear a Hispanic person, he'd bark and go nutso. I think it's possible that if a dog is not used to hearing a certain type of language, certain dogs anyway, that it might bother some of them.

I wouldn't class people's religious beliefs as 'ignorant'

I don't know what religion they were, anyway. They looked of Middle Eastern or perhaps Indian descent, but that doesn't spell their religion out. They really did not want to come near us, but I think that was more a logical response than a religious one.

Jade has a muzzle, Nigredo is big, and there isn't a ton of room on the walkway. They had an aversion to us, but I did not think that it might have been religious at the time. It might have been, but it still doesn't link to "ignorance" IMO.

Dogs behaved perfectly Myra, you have nothing to worry about there. Lovely dogs, both of 'em ... as you well know, I think they are absolutely spiffing but I do have my favourite!!

Hellooo,
Your dogs are nice and behave very good I think
I've also experienced the reaction of indian/arabic people in "my" country (finland) they totally avoid dogs and it felt like they were even scared of a happy puppy..
But even in my 18 weeks old Puppy I can see his different behaviour towards strangers who wants to avoid him and people who are smiling and looking at him and sometimes talk to him or stroke.He isn't going too much towards people if they don't appreciate it. But if they do he's "on" them within seconds with a happy whowhooo