Dog Growling Unexpectedly

Cailin CoisFarraige

I have a jack russell terrier, just 3 years old. A bit hyper at times, but in no way vicious, never snaps or growls at anyone.
We follow roughly the same walking route most days, he knows it well so I usually let him off the lead for parts of it - would put him back on it if other dogs are coming but he doesn't take the slightest bit of notice of other people walking and will come back whenever you call him.

We were on the same walk during the week, the dog was about 10-15 feet ahead of us when he suddenly stopped and growled, really loudly, at a man coming in the opposite direction. This man was still a good distance away, but the dog just kept at it. Suddenly dog turned around and sprinted off in the direction we had come from. No way would he stop, followed him for a good 5 minutes before he allowed us to put the lead on and go home. He was happy out again by the time we got home, no trouble, like nothing had happened.

Any thoughts?

Birdnuts

Sounds like normal JR behaviour - indeed most terriers are cranky around strangers, both people and dogs.

Cailin CoisFarraige

I understand where you're coming from, I've heard that about terriers myself. Like I said in the OP, it's completely out of the ordinary for him. Normally the issue is trying to stop him getting overexcited by people coming to the house, stranger or otherwise, and when we're out walking, he pays no attention to people.

SillyMangoX

Is it possible this man could have hurt him or at least tried? When hes off lead do you always have a full view of him? Maybe one day your dog ran up all excited and yerman thought he was aggressive and kicked out? Or is your dog a rescue who maybe had bad experiences with men who looked similar? They are the only things I can think of!

Cailin CoisFarraige

Thanks for the suggestions SillyMango. Nope, we could see him the whole time and this fella was still a good bit away from us. He's not a rescue, we've has him since he was a baby!

barbiegirl

Our lovely calm retriever has done this 2 or 3 times. We think maybe she is sensing something we're not. It is definitely fear she experiences. We joke that maybe they are the devil incaranate or she's seeing a ghost. So far it's been a boy about 10, a random man and an old lady. In fairness the old lady came over and calmed her down rubbing her down and giving her a treat, so I don't think she was in any was devilish