The other day, I was out in my front yard working on something, when I hear a little yap-yapping. I looked up and there was a little scruffy JRT mix barking at me. Dogs are not allowed to be loose in my neighborhood, and there were no humans out walking around, so he clearly slipped out. No big deal, ours escape all the time and the neighbors are nice enough to not report us, so I’d like to extend that same favor. Anyway, I squatted down, made some friendly “come here puppy” noises…nothing. I cautiously took a few steps towards him to see if he had tags. The barking escalated, he was growling, no tail wagging, very clearly being aggressive. My two thoughts were either a) go inside, or b) try to run him off. I took a few Very Aggressive Steps towards him, and told him to scram in my Scariest Voice Possible. He definitely backed off, but continued barking, and the second I stopped forward motion, he tried coming back into my space. Typical back-and-forth body language. I didn’t want to have to punt this little dog, so I tried to diffuse the situation; maintained eye contact and posture, but I backed off and went inside. Once inside, he continued to bark at my front door until the neighbor finally came outside (from right across the street :rolleyes:) and got the dog.
If this happens again, what should I do? Aside from having a talk with the neighbors, of course. I obviously don’t want to set myself up in a dangerous situation, but I also don’t want a football-shaped furball dictating when I can and cannot be free in my own front yard. And there might be a situation in the future where I’m not able to just get inside quickly. How do I handle it, in-the-moment?
