Commuting - Dog Freaked Out by Balaclava!?

Weird experience on the way home today...
I met a woman and her dog on the bike path. The dog was not leashed (illegal in this particular park but that's a whole different rant). As I approached, she tried to grab her dog, telling it not to get "spooked". She wasn't quite quick enough. The dog growled & chased me for a while before she was able to call it off.

It wasn't a big deal - It didn't seem too viscous (sp?), but it got me thinking... I guess I might look kinda strange/frightening to a dog with my balaclava/ski goggles/helmet/bright yellow jacket. :eek:

Has anyone noticed a difference in dogs' reactions to you depending on your gear?

Not around here, I haven't.. they chase me whether I'm wearing a t-shirt and jeans or whether I'm covered up like an Iraqi terrorist.

Ooohhhhhhh yeah !!!!!!!!!! When in my normal clothes, dogs fall all over themselves to ignore me, but when I put on my mailman's uniform........................................................................

A friend of mine had a dog that hated people with dark skin. It was really odd.

LOL...yeah, a block dog in my neighborhood started barking his head off at me a couple of weeks back for the first time. Next time I rode by he barked his head off at me again. I couldn't figure it out because he and I are buds and he usually just wags his tail at me. I finally realized what I had on, and rode up without my balaclava on the next pass. He just looked up at me like, "Dude, that was you?!? Why were you dressed up like a fooking terrorist?" I stopped and he was all happy and actually looked relieved. I guess he was just doing his block watch thing and thought I was a stranger.

I guess he was just doing his block watch thing and thought I was a stranger.

Or an alien! Dogs get real concerned about that sort of thing.

My dog used to be freaked out by people with hats or hoods. We got her from the shelter last January and she absolutely adores people. You stick a big winter hat or hood on someone and she got real nervous though, growling and barking. She seems to have figured it out.

my parent's dog either hates hats or really loves them. anything on the head makes him go crazy, and he tries to take it and run around with it. anytime you put something on your head he gets all wild eyed and you know exactly what he's thinking. very strange.

My next door neighbor used to have an old half-blind Rottweiler named "Kaiser". The dog was fine when I was in street clothes, but when I dressed up in my bike gear, it would woof and charge the fence like I was lunch meat, until I talked to him and he finally realized "oh yeah, neighbor man". Scared the hell out of me.

Dogs go a lot on eye contact and body language. I can see where a balaclava would freak 'em out. If I put on a hat though, our own dog goes crazy because she knows putting on a hat usually means I'm going out, and that usually means she's going out as well.

One day a couple of years ago I came out of Lake Champlain from a scuba dive in full gear, which includes a hood. There was a dog on shore and it had an absolute fit seeing some sort of lake monster emerging from the depths. :)

I finally realized what I had on, and rode up without my balaclava on the next pass.
A balaclava... in Texas!? :eek:

Sorry, I couldn't resist... but seriously... you actually get cold enough weather for a balaclava? Or were you on your way to the bank?:eek:

To be fair, I've never been to Texas. I suppose it sounds just as strange for a Texan to hear that we often wear shorts & t-shirts in Saskatchewan. :)

it gets cold in texas, not artic cold, but it's not uncommon for there to be frost and ice on the roads. the temperture in that region of the US can swing quite a bit.

LOL...good point clever. It typically would be overkill even for my part of north Texas. We had single digit temps with wind chills well below zero the day that I went out. But the main reason that I wore the balaclava was so that the sleet didn't sting. I had a great ride! :p

That same storm moved well into south Texas and they had a White Christmas for the first time in over 100 years. It was back up into the 70's within a few days. That kind of swing is pretty typical around here though.

Funny, I had the same type of experience yesterday night. The dog in the apartment next door who is usually happy to see me, flipped out at me with my balaclava on. A few minutes later I saw the same dog with a bare head, and he didn't bark. I didn't think dogs were all that visual.

<snip>I didn't think dogs were all that visual.

If the dog knows you already, I think their mental picture of you doesn't match what you look like w/ headgear on; and it freaks them out, like you swapped heads or something. Fido knows its you by your smell, but you have a 'different head on' at the moment. That makes Fido a little unstable...

there's a dog down the block from me that freaks out at men in beards ... he's actually bitten twice. Each time the person's clothing prevented him from breaking skin. Both guys with beards. I figure he had a bad experience with a bearded man but I may be reading too much into it.

I read something a few weeks ago that said that some research had determined that dogs are very good at reading human facial expressions and body language, it was a survival technique developed early in the domestication process. So they're probably more visual than you think, and having your face covered probably bothers them if they're not used to it.

They also do not like dark glasses or goggles sometimes. Never mind horses and bright yellow jackets!