I think in this case your dog was probably just intimidated by a young, but very large dog. My dog Nigredo is a friendly, well mannered little guy.

He's nothing but gentle and is good with all dogs, all adults, all children, all cats and other indoor pets, and won't harm any wildlife (flies included )

But most terriers we have met have taken a NASTY dislike to him and go to growling and chasing him off. He is a year old and neutered, so I can only think his 73 lb/33 kg (and fluffy at that) size intimidates them.

We have also met a mini pin that hated him and some kind of strange puffy dog (I think it was a yorkie mix) that REALLY hated him and it was yap city.

The 17 year old dog (beagle mix) at the old folks home we volunteer at is OKAY with him, but does not LIKE him. Avoids him more than anything. Jade, my older dog doesn't LIKE him but tolerates him.

Have not met any small dogs that seemed to like him and want to engage him. We HAVE met a greyhound, a big bearded looking dog... and a large American Bully that liked him and were nice to him.

Tang said ....[My dopy friendliest dog on the planet, earlier today shocked me by lurching at and barking and snarling at another dog who was wearing a very 'strange' coat? I stand by what I always say ... you never know what might 'spook' them. The last time she reacted to a dog in this way was to a particularly wrinkled shar pei who she approached in her usual wagging happy dopey fashion until she got close enough to notice she couldn't see its eyes (nor could I) I could only think that was why she behaved like that.

Tang's quote reminded me of M'boi my first Shar-Pei who thought that she and Chloe were the only two dogs that existed. When I first took her walking round the village all the dogs would run to their gates, barking and growling and the loose ones would try to rush her. She never batted an eyelid and seemed to be completely oblivious of them. Apparently its not uncommon for other dogs to react in an unfriendly manner towards Pei and the theory is because of their wrinkles and "stick up" tails some dogs misinterpret a Pei's body language.

I also had a similar thing happen a few weeks ago with Georgina my Shar-Pei baby. We walked into the vets waiting room to be confronted by two enormous Lab Retrievers .. a male and female. The male growled and snapped at her .. she was terrified and tried to bolt. Luckily he was whisked off into the surgery. The female then came up to her and gave Georgie a nuzzle as if to apologise for her brother's bad behaviour!

I agree, I think it's as simple as the big dog little dog scenario ...some little dogs simple feel intimidated by abig dog, and a young bouncy one at that, it's the fight or flight syndrome ....Alfie may feel he needs to warn the big dog off....

We have this with Figo he just wants to play with everything, some dogs will oblige some don't mostly small dogs will send him off with a gleam in his ear....trouble is he does not get the message ..

I would look at it this way, even if the other dog is friendly, make sure Alfie is happy with it, if not do as you are doing and move him away from the situation.

Bull dog X. Please excuse typo.

Sorry for the late reply, been super busy recently!

We met a beautiful big Dalmatian boy yesterday and Alfie was having a great time just wanting to play...

Who knows!

There you go then - us wimmin always having to try to make excuses for the 'blokes' behaviour lol!

I know two dogs who are crazy wrigglers and they do seem to make other normally friendly/tolerant dogs quite cross. They are the sort of dogs that are so excited to be crawling at a fast pace when on lead rather than walking.
One is very rambunctious and friendly and often gets told off the other one is really nervous/submissive seeming but also friendly. The latter dog spends most of his time rolling on his back in front of the dog it's just met.
He does this all the time with my lurcher, my dog will sniff about the other dog and try to initiate more normal play but in the end seems to get confused and frustrated by the weird behaviour and will eventually try and nip the other dog.
Who knows what goes on in their minds.