Are Territorial/Aggressive dogs common on the Caminos? Are there any specific routes/areas to be avoided? What can you do to avoid them/defend/disengage?

A few years ago I walked a GR route in the Haut-Languedoc region of France and unexpectedly found we regularly came across aggressive dogs guarding homes/driveways/parts of the route through villages. We hadn’t planned for this at all - and not only was it extremely unpleasant and stressful, but we had a couple of encounters with small groups of dogs that really did feel a bit dangerous. Every village we passed through we had an encounter, some with aggressive groups of loose dogs in gardens, most of which could easily get out onto the road and chase us, some where we were stalked a few hundred meters by a loose dog, some where the GR was rendered impassable due to extremely aggressive territorial behaviour, it was honestly kind of a bummer and made what should have been a lovely experience pretty grim at times. For context, I’m really not afraid of dogs generally, I regularly walk trails in rural farming England and Scotland and have done some excellent walks in the alps, encountered Patou, guard dogs, territorial and aggressive farm dogs in these areas - I know the drill generally. But this experience felt particularly horrible, went way above the usual warning/guarding/barking behaviour, and I’d like to avoid similar ones! I think in 3 days of serious walking we had 7 or 8 dog encounters which feels like a lot compared to what I’m used to.

I would love to do part of the Norte from Irún to Bilbao, or perhaps a week of the Francés, late next month.

How common are aggressive dog encounters on these trails? How can we dissuade/protect ourselves against a dog if we do find an aggressive one? Is there anywhere on any of these routes known for aggressive dogs that we should avoid? Is there a specific camino where encounters like these are particularly rare due to popularity/national park/not cutting through farmland?

I think I’d just specifically appreciate some assurance that the routes aren’t as I’ve described above!