The Quick Answer: Check Your Messaging Policy
By default, Botdog stops your sequence if there's ANY unexpected message - whether from you or your prospect.
But you can change this behavior.
Head to your campaign messaging settings → Advanced Settings → "Choose your condition for sending this message". This controls the behavior for each message.
The default is: If it is a new conversation or if the last message is from you
--> The message will only be sent if the last message in the conversation is from you or if there are no messages in the conversation
Specific scenarios people often ask about
1. Prospect accepts invite and messages you first
Under default "If it is a new conversation or if the last message is from you": Your sequence will pause. This prevents your automated "thanks for connecting" message from looking tone-deaf when they've already started a conversation.
2. You manually message someone who's in a sequence
The follow up message will still go. If you want to avoid this, you should change the policy to "If it is a new conversation or if the last message is from the other person" or "If it is a new conversation only".
3. Contacts sends YOU an invite while they're in your queue, and you accept it
The key point: Botdog checks connection status when it's their turn to be processed, not when you added them to the campaign. Think of it like a queue - Botdog checks their status when it's their turn, not when they joined the line. This prevents awkward duplicate invites.
Example: You add 500 prospects. Prospect #400 won't be processed for 10 days (at 40/day). If they connect with you on Day 3, here's what happens on Day 10:
Campaign that starts with "Send invite": They're skipped entirely (already connected, no point sending an invite)
Campaign with "If connected/If not connected" paths: They'll get your "already connected" messages instead of the invitation flow
The Bottom Line
Botdog's pretty good at preventing awkward situations. The default "stop on any message" policy catches 90% of potential issues.
Just remember: you control this behavior through the Messaging Policy setting. Want sequences to keep running no matter what? You can set that. Want them to pause at the first sign of life? That's the default.
When in doubt, leave it on the default settings - they're conservative for a reason.