Only time I’m grateful for my dog’s reactivity

[ruoungoaithanhnien]

My boyfriend and I often take our dog (1 year old ACD/pit/Rottweiler mix) to the grocery store down the street. One of us waits outside with him and the other runs in and shops. It’s a great opportunity for him to observe people, shopping carts, etc from a distance and he usually does amazingly well. He is leash reactive and has fear based reactivity to strangers (barking, not a bite risk).

I was outside with him today and noticed two men who had been hanging around the entrance and had followed me from one side of the parking lot to the other. I tried to ignore them, but they kept trying to wave and get my attention. One guy approached me and started to give me a really cheesy pick up line, but before he could even get the sentence out my dog immediately let out a few warning barks. I knew his body language wasn’t in a dangerous place, the barks were fairly deep but didn’t have much duration or frequency, and he was really just trying to warn the guy off. So I held the back of his harness and firmly told the man my dog wasn’t friendly and to give us space.

He tried saying he was a dog person and asked me what my dog was so I told him, but my dog let off one or two more barks and he put his hands up and backed away. He didn’t even get within three feet of me, and I felt both completely safe and in control of my dog. As soon as the guy backed away, my dog was back to giving me kisses and sitting super relaxed.

I was glad I had my dog with me and for once was grateful for him barking at a person lol

 

[patrickcen]

@ruoungoaithanhnien Love this!
As much as I love my dog, I obviously don’t love that he’s reactive. But if I’m ever alone at night with him, or sleeping in the house by myself, I feel safe

 

[ruoungoaithanhnien]

@patrickcen Yes totally! We’ve done a lot of work with our dog inside the home about being less sensitive to random noises since we live in an apartment complex. But I know he would absolutely let us know if something was off, right away.

 

[deerocks]

@ruoungoaithanhnien This is one of the perks of a reactive dogs. They really want to feel safe, and perhaps even protect themselves as well as us. Whenever my wife is walking our dog, I know that she is honestly safer, at least from strange men.

 

[ruoungoaithanhnien]

@deerocks Yes! My dog is far more protective of me than my boyfriend. I don’t often walk him alone, but when I do I do feel a lot safer knowing he won’t allow my space to be messed with.

It’s a give and take obviously as he extends that protectiveness to basically any human that approaches me, including weirdos, but i don’t need him to be super friendly with all people anyways. It’s okay if our walks are just for us tbh

 

[adamricks]

@ruoungoaithanhnien I definitely love having big dog reactive privilege. My dog is selectively human friendly but her barks are scary enough to make anyone back off. Living in a big city as a woman can be scary but with her by my side, I know I’ll always be protected.

 

[ruoungoaithanhnien]

@adamricks Oh 100 percent. I know how frustrating it is for my friends with small dogs being seen as like an invitation to interact lol. But for me, this is the one scenario where having a big, barky dog works for me as a petite female, especially living in a big city. I’ve got a decent sized personal space bubble by default!

 

[drasticmeasurements]

@ruoungoaithanhnien Small dogs can be terrifying too.

I was out walking my previous dog (reactive) with a friend and her dog a couple of years back and these guys walk by acting all tough. One of them decided he wanted to scare my dog (6kgs of fluff) so he goes real close and stomps behind him. Jack wasn’t having it. He sent the dude sprinting out of there as fast as his legs would take him.

 

[ruoungoaithanhnien]

@drasticmeasurements Get him Jack!!! What a jerk

 

[drasticmeasurements]

@ruoungoaithanhnien I know. I was pissed off. Jack looked very chuffed with himself. And the guy got laughed at with no end by his friends, for getting scared off by a tiny dog.

 

[adamricks]

@ruoungoaithanhnien We got our own body guards!

 

[izzomcphibbit]

@adamricks My dog is also selective on who she likes. She seems to be pretty on it though with who is friends or not friends. I would never have walked alone through the park at night before, but now I do regularly. She's very big and I think has a scary look (plus big bark), but really she's a sweet goofball. My other dog is an actual wuss who has quite literally hid behind me when someone approached (bless his little soul), he looks quite intimidating but I still feel much safer with my girl around.

 

[ruoungoaithanhnien]

@izzomcphibbit Same here! I don’t have the energy all the time to explain how much of a coward my dog is, but the big bark comes in handy at times for sure!

 

[pythagorean2]

@adamricks You do not have "privilege" to pollute the air with barking.