I had a fright today while out walking my 2 (patterdale dog, and st Bernard bitch) in the woods we visit every day.
It's a lovely walk , we meet all sorts of weird and wonderful people and dogs, my 2 are good and never bother other dogs or people.
My st Bernard bitch is so laid back that despite people always assuming she must be a good guard dog, she is in fact probably the worst example of a guard dog on the planet. That's why I like her, she is friendly and I know she is good round people, never a problem. So imagine my surprise and shock today when I was walking though the woods on my own with the 2 dogs. My st Bernard had walked only slightly ahead of me and was happily sniffing round when suddenly she started to bark. I rarely ever hear her bark, in fact it is so rare that when she started it frightened me. I called her to me, but she was not moving, as I got near to her I noticed she was stood there looking at the bushes and barking with so much force her fount legs where coming off the ground as she barked.

I  suddenly saw 2 very strange looking people with huge sticks, and loads of bags, in there late 40's, possibly travelers and they where growling at my bitch and egging her on.

She came back to me and sat in front of me, followed by little Archie who stood next to me as well. The people just stood there staring at me, and mumbling to each other.
I quickly put them on there leads and said sorry, but the people just started at me, even when I walked past them, both dogs where growling silently. Then as I passed them I heard the lady mumble something about "How they she could have had a nice bitch then"

Weather they where going to attempt to steal my bitch I don't know. It left me shaken up, but also made me realize that she is a good watchdog after all, just is better at judging character. Had she not of been so suddenly cautious they could of got her. :-(

That does sound like a scary experience - glad you are all okay though

They probably just wanted to frighten you, because your dog frightened them? I think they may of had a little trouble bundleing her into one of their rucksacks and racing back to the van, don't you? Now that's a good picture ;)

That is scary! and sounds like you had a lucky escape.

Good job youre bitch did bark and react like that or she probably would have been whisked off especially if they were travellers! Just shows you how good the dogs senses are. They sense a bad person I swear.

years ago whilst exercising my GSD a strange looking man came running down the beach in a long raincoat he was running from something and my GSD just stood in front of him at first not letting him pass, but I think he was making sure this man didnt come near me.
Now my boy was not skittish, aggressive or problematic, it was a day I never forgot and to this day always wondered what he sensed with this male

I would warn all the other dog walkers in that area about these people and keep your dogs in sight at the moment

Give your St Bernard a special treat for that!

How very scary!! I do believe dogs sense things that we cannot......... glad your all ok.

Hayley

I do believe they can sense something.

One of my rough collie boys the most laid back boy you could meet ... showed this behaviour twice during his life, both with men who were approaching me , this didnt happen with all males in my company so it wasnt a dislike of men,The first time he did it he showed teeth and his lip went up I swear the man was about 15 ft away walking towards me then past as soon as he had gone my boy jumped up and put his front paws around me as if to say 'I saved you Mum' the second time again when we were out walking alone .
R~

How frightening for you.

Two men once came up to me and started asking questions about my jack Russell. Thankfully I had my GSd with me who started growling at them and they backed off. I'm sure they would have tried to take her.

They where not frightened of my dog, they carried on stripping huge sticks off the tree, and I could tell by the way they reacted to my bitch that they where probably used to dogs, or at least where not scared of them. In a normal circumstance I would be mortified if my dog ran over to someone and started to bark at them, and to be honest when she did start to bark I was all ready to be apologetic and was about to shout out "im sorry. She is ok , she wont hurt you" however when I turned the corner they where both stood facing my bitch moving towards her with arms out stretched then the guy had a stick. They where making growling noises at her, like they where trying to intimidate her or something. Up to this point they did not know I was there, or at least that close to her, I think I startled them more than the dog did.

I once had an incident where I was walking a boxer going back a while ago, on a stretch near my house. It's a popular stretch for dog walkers. I suddenly met 2 rough looking guys with about 15 dogs, all mostly of bull terrier type breeding, all where thin and had cuts on them. I was so shocked at the state of the dogs that for a moment I forgot that the boxer was off its lead, although he was not one to pester other dogs or people as he was abused in his last home.

One of the guts looked at the boxer then to me, and said "that's a nice dog isn't it" and made a grab for his collar. Luckily the boxer was not one you could just grab like that, and any sudden movements sent him running, he ran off from the man, the guy stared at him for a while then walked off. I was on my own that day and I swore he was about to try and steal the dog, or at least look at the tag on his collar and see where he lives, so they could come and get him.

There are a lot of dog thefts in my area,  there was an incident not that long ago where someone had a staff pup stolen from there arms as they walked through town. I am always vigilant, but I have to admit that where I was today is near a busy livery yard and there are a lot of doggy/horsey people around and I suppose you do become more complacent.

I am actually petrified to walk my pup now!!
He gets so much attention- and I am a bit of a paraniod person lol! but now im scared someone will take my pup!! I wanna keep him locked in now forever- and treble lock my doors !
Argh, that storys horrible, Im happy your dog was so alert!!!! x

Hi wolfwoman,
I was not belittleing how you felt or with what has happened to you today and I'm sorry if it sounded like that. I was however trying to make you feel a little better about it as we can see that it really scared you. Your all safe and sound and that's the main thing. We should all be on our guard out there whilst walking, but we should all be able to enjoy a walk without being terrified. There is just to much of this kind of thing going on now.

Hey it's ok!
It did shake me up, but I have since been out again for there second walk now, witch was a nice walk after earlier, Dogs where non the worse for earlier and so im going to try and put it behind me. I think what shocked me more than anything was the way my girl reacted as I had never seen her like that before.

I remember when we were on a canal holiday and I'd got off the boat first thing in the morning so the dogs could have a wee, a funny looking old tramp came shuffling along mumbling to himself and my dogs started barking at him - they never usually bark at people, it was so out of character! I don't think he was planning any mischief but it was quite reassuring that they thought he looked a bit dodgy too! Glad you are all ok.

I have read something very similar to this on other forums, it seems to be the way that people are trying to steal dogs of late, always in the woods and the persons involved always carry large sticks, usually a man and woman and the woman is the one who calls the dogs.

Well done to your dogs for protecting you.

It is very worrying.  It's also why I'm not so bothered that my dogs aren't too good with strangers - I know that isn't good from the point of view of the DDA and such like but honestly, they don't bite unless severely provoked (never happened) so I'm not really worried about that.

What it does mean is that if anyone tried to take them - especially make a grab for a collar, and especially doing that to any of the girls - they would be in trouble, and there is no way in hell they would manage to get hold of the dog they were trying to.  Especially Soli - she would go absolutely mental (and in truth, yes, she most likely would bite).

What I am starting to do is train them to stick closer - they tend to run off into the udnergrowth which is fun for them, but if they were to get lost, they wouldn't let anyone pick them up - I've been through that before with Opi.  Plus for my own safety, if they're off exploring and someone attacks me, then my protection is elsewhere!

What made it more worrying for me is that I am 7 months pregnant, and so more vulnerable I suppose. Also less agile so if they had tried to attack me I would of not been in the best situation to flee. Don't get me wrong, I am more agile than a lot of non pregnant people I see walking dogs round here, lol. However it is obvious I am pregnant, and I also like to think that my dogs know I am pregnant or at least more "special" However this is probably just a fantasy.

If your pregnant I would say thats probably why she is becoming more protective as she senses you are in need or not yourself, only say that as you mentioned she doesn do it usually!
I would have been proud as punch if my girl had sniffed out and alerted me to 2 dodgy looking people, I would have hugged her so much when I got home even if you werent in danger! :)

Sounds like you have a great girl there ;)

Edited to add - Doesnt sound like she would be a dog to easily be stolen as well, gonna be very hard to get a St Bernard who is barking at you to be quiet and come with you or even put a lead on it, not like you can carry it and if she didnt want to go they wouldnt be able to move her I dont reckon!!

Sometimes it can also be how someone smells! they sense fear, and sometimes prehaps agression.

Jesus, i had no idea this sort of thing was so bad. Suppose it helps if you have thje dog on the lead or a dog with amazing recal. Can you imagine if you had a dog with bad recall or a really inquisitive dog that went after these kind of people. Doubt it would take them long to get the dog and run off with it. Well, my breed anyway. They may struggle with a Great Dane etc :-)
Thanks for the post though. Certainly good to be reminded now and again to keep a look out.

Hi Wolfwoman, what a rotten experience for you.  Which part of the country are you from? Got to admit I'm always a bit nervous of this sort of thing when my two are off squirrel chasing.  They are mongrels, but very nice looking ones and there's always a lot of interest in them wherever we go, people are always asking what breed they are - this is nice, but also makes me very wary of them ever being out of my sight! I won't even leave them in the car two minutes whilst I nip in a shop!  It's such a shame you have to be so worried about this sort of thing.

I have often wondered if it is something they can smell?

One of my flatcoats, years ago acted very strangely when we were out. I had taken my children, and my dogs to meet up with friends and their children. We were a large party and the children were playing hide and seek in the woods by the lake. All of a sudden my dog broke away from the children and other dogs and went towards some bushes. He stood there growling loudly and would not budge until one of the children came up to the bushes, then he would not let the child pass by him to get to the bushes to hide.

Seeing his odd behaviour I called him back but he would not come. His hackles were up and he continued to growl at the bushes. So we decided to move on and walked further round the lake. As we did so a young girl in her mid teens walked past us going in the direction of the bushes. Moments later she was running down the path towards us crying and her dog was running behind her. She told us that as she got to the bushes a man had jumped out and grabbed her, she said he had his trousers undone. She had managed to get away when her dog nipped his ankles, it was a little westie. We called the police and they came out really quickly, they told us they knew there was a man in the area who was exposing himself, but this was more than that. Shortly afterwards they did catch this man.

I have often noticed that Whistler (spaniel) will bark at people who (dare I say) look unkempt. Having had teenagers that make an art form of unkempt, but clean, he never made a sound towards scruffy just smelly.
He also knows when someone does not like dogs from body language and (i think) smell. So I am not surprised if their senses pick up more than we can.
I trust their instincts every time.
I was always happy when my son's were young if they went off with the dog. The dog was a lot more sensible than they were!! At least he could always find his way home (dear Peter 12 years at the bridge now)

crikey that young girl had a lucky escape.. You mentioned about smell , they have an amazing smelling ability that us humans could not even begin to comprehend. I am sure that a person hiding there true intent to us with smiles and being social a dog can smell the difference from a genuine person and not so. I read that a dogs nose spread out flat would be the size of a handkerchief where as us humans the size of a stamp !  My dogs can smell when one of my other lot is unwell  and is very caring around them. I think that is how they can read our feelings so well ?

I remember years ago me & my Dad were washing the car outside and  people he knew would randomly stop for a chit- chat, Kelly his dog was sat in the front seat of the car with the window down she was fine with everyone until a certain man came over and started growling for no apparent reason ? of course we were stroking her and asking her whats a matter with you- that sort of thing, as never have I known our Kelly to be off with anyone ever? so there was something she defiantly could tell was not right with this man. 

So glad to hear that you are ok, along with your dogs. 

I remember one time, I was staying at a hotel with my min pin, and she needed to be let out at 4am. (oh why couldnt she let me sleep????) Well, put her leash on, carried her down the hall to the door (wanting to make sure she didnt relieve herself before getting outside).  When we got outside, I put her down on the ground, and she started sniffing round.  Well, this guy come round the corner quick, and Cher started growling the loudest, most scary growl she could do.  All her hackles were up, and she looked intimidating. 

After realizing this guy worked for the hotel, I quickly appoligized, and he laughed it off.  Normally, Cher is friendly with people, but if you have a good bond with your dogs, then they will protect you no matter what size they are.  Mind you, a min pin thinks they be a doberman and thinks they can take on the world! 

Dogs are astonishing aren't they? I wanted a big softie that looks the part as I had a bad encounter in the forest too. After I lost my last beloved Golden, who DID try to look after me, I rescued a puppy that definately looked the part. Now we walk in the forest and I have come across rough looking types sleeping rough, and she rushes up wagging her tail and being everyones best friend. Not a scrap of guard in her. People knock on the door and she gets a pink teddy to play. What breed is she?.......... She is a nearly 3 year old Rottweiller!!! Not a scrap of guard there! I live in fear of her being stolen. Really!! She loves everybody.

Now I am thinking of getting another to look after us both!! 

> so there was something she defiantly could tell was not right with this man. 

i totally trust my digs instincts on people, if they don;t like them i definately won't. after my bf visited my parents (and the dogs) for the first time i told him that if the dogs hadn't liked him it would have been over- thanksfully he is adored by them, particularly the youngest who won;t let him out of her sight when he's up, loves him! she sits on his feet so he can't escape :)

my English bull terrier is just the same with me . People who come to my house are amazed that he just lies in his bed not a care in the world. Then he will come over and stick his head between there knees and that his way of giving them a subtle cuddle as he know he can't climb up on them for a proper cuddle because when he does you can't shift him for love or money ! 

I always remember when my son who was 5 & my kitten got trapped in his bedroom I couldn't open the door so eventually I called the fire brigade- must say I loved it- about 8 burly firemen came in all upstairs and all tried to open this bedroom door with their shoulder well no joy so they got some massive metal hammer thing and well killed the door thus freeing my son & kitten.. this was all going on mind with my dog asleep on my bed ! Not once did he bother to come and see what was going on ?

Hiya
Did you report this?
What area is this i am scared now!

I am glad you and family are ok :)