Gull dive-bombing large dog, in a crowd of people, with lots of gulls about

Hello, I wonder if you have come across something similar?   during a windy, blustery day with lots of gulls flying quite low over the beach and beach promenade, one gull repeatedly approached my dog from behind, to within a metre, legs dangling - but then flew off again, before attempting the same thing up to 4 times. My dog is large, and it wasn't carrying anything that might have tempted the gull to steal! 

I have only seen this kind of bird behaviour in fulmars when they were nesting [obviously trying to shoo off anything that might be a danger to their nest] and also in barn owls - and this was when an adult owl was flying accompanied by  youngsters [thus again, I believe, they were trying to frighten away a potential enemy]. 

But the gull did not dive bomb any people [there were lots about, with ice creams!] or any other dogs, and it  obviously did not have any youngsters to protect. So what could have been the reason ? Just having a bit of fun, trying to spook a dog?

  • It may be that your gull found a four legged mammal a greater threat than humans, something in the birds make up may say "fox" when it sees dogs. I have seen this before at a quarry that had a big gull roost in winter and the quarry managers Alsatian seemed to be a fair target. This was our conclusion but it may be total rubbish when others come with answers..