Invasive people

we popped in my OH place of work yesterday, a local pub, after our walk. Tex is more than used to being in pubs with me, though this is the first time we've been in the Old Cock in all fairness

She went in all expectant of love and affections, butt wiggling and enthusiastic tail wagging abound. and love she got, she was very happy with the fuss she got. She sat on my knee on a barstool (because she likes to be head height with people and see over the bar)

everything was fine, we were in there for a little while with friends of my partners, Tex had a ball to chew on to keep her entertained. However things went a bit sour when a woman approached. I was informed later on that she was a drug user, pretty heavily. I'm not judging her of course - but since Tex grew up in a drugs den and was abused by a heavy drug user i can only assume thats why she took an immediate dislike to this lady.

I straight away noticed her anxiety so i tried to distract her away from the triggering woman but Tex still gave a nervous bark. Unfortunately attracting attention of the woman, who proceeded to grab tex's face in a very misguided attempt to reassure her. I told the woman to back off and i picked Tex up and moved away and started to say goodbye to the people i was with - it was clear it was time to leave. However this woman again came up and started to stroke poor tex on the back. Tex was growling like mad! "I LOVE STAFFIES" this woman kept shouting

I just had to walk away as fast as I could. I left. It was a bit saddening that a nice afternoon had to turn into Tex getting uneasy and me having to leave a social environment. nevermind!

Although this is a one off, shes never felt uneasy with a human before, for various other reasons I'm thinking of looking into L-Thiamine supplements, and aromatherapy collars that are supposed to help with generalised anxiety anyone have any experience of this?

I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was the drugs thing that triggered Tex especially given her history. Dogs sense of smell is so powerful that maybe she could smell it and that brought back bad memories.

It is a shame when people don't give the space you ask for but as you've said, this person probably didn't know what she was doing

I've no experience with the collars sorry.

To me it sounds like she was reacting to this particular individual so I don't think any anxiety products would help. Ian is right, animals can sense things like drugs and, even if they have had no exposure to them before, they can have reactions of distrust. In Tex's case, she may well have an added reason to distrust someone who says 'drugs' to her.

The only thing I would do is go back there fairly soon to reassure Tex that this woman isn't there still, and that things are as they were before. If, by any stroke of bad luck, she is there, then just leave. It's not running away from the situation or anything, it's just dealing with it the best way for Tex.

Poor Tex hope she recovered quickly it's not nice seeing them distressed like that and I don't like it when people just make a grab for dogs without asking even if it is with good intentions.

Poor Tex, this women was so out of order. Sure the next time you go to the pub Tex will be loving the attention from others again and yes I agree, if you see that women then leave.

in this situation id tell them quite bluntly to be fair then just walk off mias reactive to people and alcohol and as liz says make positive association with the pub again.

yerh we'll go in again soon. It's just a shame it happened. I don't like seeing my poor girl wound up. The people I were with were great though, really supportive and made moves initially to block the woman from Tex's view as soon as it was clear she was uncomfortable...obviously it didn't help but it was nice of them to be so understanding because they've never met me or Tex before - like i said, they're work friends of my OH.

Bless her! Bug had quite severe fear aggression (human and dogs) on arrival and though she's more sociable now, the odd person still triggers this response. I also have PTSD from past incidents and used to become very anxious around some people (men especially) but as Liz says, I don't feel anxiety treatment is required for an odd incident like that.

You did the right thing in respecting her anxieties and removing her from a scary situation. It makes you feel awful when your dog shows aggression - I understand - Bug recently set off at a council worker after a long period of no incidents, but he also ignored my advice not to try to fuss her and she couldn't cope with him touching her. This doesn't make your little lady aggressive, she responded appropriately, she didn't attempt to bite and trusted you to get her out of the situation.

Depending on the pub and if you would like to continue visiting with Tex it may be wise to revisit soon, at a quieter time perhaps. I don't take Bug inside pubs as one of her triggers is enclosed spaces, they're also usually quite dark and Bug's sight isn't the best which makes her more anxious. But she sits outside happily, just people watching and interacting with the odd person that she feels happy to.

Try not to get too stressed and takes things easy. Even the most socialised dogs will occasionally growl at a human. I haven't tried those supplements before, I've tried pet remedy sprays on a bandana, DAP collars and rescue remedy. It takes the edge off I think.

Aw poor Tex. I agree that it was probably the smell of the woman that triggered her. I would probably not change anything at the moment and just see how she goes.