Getting frustrated...why don't (some) men get it?

Just had a lovely walk around a park we found in Birmingham. Met a couple who asked if Axel was an ex-racer and of course we said yes. I did as I always do and straight away say he's 'shy' with new men, but likes women. Sure enough, the man took that as an invitation to try and stroke Axel. My husband was holding his lead and a male friend of ours was next to him - maybe he thought I was lying? As he always does when men he doesn't know try and force contact, he backed away and turned his head.
The woman then tried and he came forward to her and said hello, the man took this as an sign to try again and sure enough he backed away again. I'm sure I repeated that he was shy a fair few times...but he didn't get the hint. We moved off before he could try again and stress Axel further.

Interestingly enough, when we go on PAT visits he's fine with men and women, but then the men are sitting and we're going up to them, they don't come at him.

Is there any way I can be clearer? I don't like being rude, but I want to protect Axel. If men back off or crouch down, he's normally very quick to warm to them, he just doesn't like being pushed into meeting. Fair enough and I don't want to make him.
What can I say/what do you say if you have a dog who clearly doesn't want to interact but people don't get the hint? I'm looking for firmer but polite...

I would ask them to let Axel come to them in his own time.

If they don't have the time to do this, then they can do without the fuss.

We use to get this all the time with Ollie. Use to drive us mad its like its some macho thing that we can break them of their fears.

We use to have to get quite stroppy so it didn't stress Ollie out.

how did a PAT dog pass an assessment if it does not like men approaching i thought they had to pretty bombproof in all cases, please do not take it as a criticism i am just interested.

I will try that approach instead, maybe I have to be more direct.

I think you're right, they almost want the honour of being the one of he wasn't scared of or something!

He is pretty bomb-proof in most situations. He wasn't cowering or deathly afraid, just backed away a little (not full extent of lead). He is fine with a lot of men and when men aren't persistently coming at him. If the man had waited for a minute, Axel would probably have gone to investigate him. In his PAT work, he only goes to care homes for the elderly and they are sitting down on his visits, he's never had a worry or a problem going near those men.
I think (my opinion, I'm not a spokesperson for PAT) that a little shyness/nervousness is acceptable (i.e. when they do the bowl dropping exercise) so long as they recover quickly. Axel recovers from stress/shyness quickly
Hope that helps

Sounds like a wonderful thing to be doing.

I wouldn't say he's shy, I'd just say he doesn't like strange men and probably doesn't want to greet them, that way it's less likely that they force themselves on him.

I have this problem with two of mine. With Scooby I've given up now and just say he bites because if really pushed he will, he also wears a muzzle so most people won't approach him anyway. With Bob I tell people he is wary and give them a treat to give to him. Most like this and because Bob takes the treat and then walks off he doesn't actually get patted but the people feel like they've interacted with him. I still get some people saying that they are great with dogs and I'm sure they'll be fine and I tend to just walk away from people like that as I will not put Scooby through the stress of feeling like he needs to snap at someone. Bob doesn't bite he just looks terrified when strangers approach him and because he's mostly offlead he can choose to remove himself from the situation.
If I'm ever in doubt I do the "don't touch that one touch this one instead" and shove the puppy under their nose works every time!

Yes, don't start by telling them your dog is shy, begin by telling the man to wait until the women has 'made contact' and then to continue to wait until your dog comes to him. Say in a clear strong voice, if he doesn't come to you don't be offended, we humans can't ever know all that is going on in a dogs mind.