To a dog, a direct stare is an invitation to fight.
You can turn your head forward but you can still see the dog with your peripheral vision.
Watch two strange dogs meeting for the first time.
-Neither- looks the other in the eye.
It’s “rude” and considered an aggressive act to do so.
They stand side by side sniffing, averting gazes until one of them makes the first friendly overture of a “play bow” or lowered tail wag.
If one dog seems intent to lock eyes with the other, that is the dog who is about to start some crap.
*Most* dogs understand all this quite perfectly and universally.
Their subtle body language speaks absolute volumes to anyone who understands it.
Some, like Pits, have that normal behavior “trained out of them” so they can be ‘good fighters’.
[a thousand plagues and poxes upon those who would so pervert the dogs’ normal natures]
Other dogs [most notably small toy breeds who are “babied”] are so poorly pack-socialized that they don’t even “speak dog” any more.
I dread those the most but feel sorry for them, too.
They’re frequently neurotic and miserable.
Again, what you say rings truth. I guess I never thought about it like that. I always figured I was top dog and I had to let the other one know I was ready to go.
Yer shaking up my whole world here Salamander ;)
I don’t want to hurt nobody’s animule. I’ve just always had to figure I was going to end up on top of a fight. Back when I lived in Arkansas I would carry a bottle of vinegar on my bike when I was out and about. It usually worked, but one time I squeezed the whole thing in some old yard dog’s face and he barely blinked. After that I carried ammonia in that yellow bottle. I never had to use it because my tactics of fearlessness worked. Not that I am fearless, but it is a good shirt to wear in the country.
Here in the city, I haven’t run across a dog that wanted any beyond a firm stare and some choice vocals. It is the owners I am more concerned about. I don’t want to bust a cap on somebody’s dog, but I don’t figure to let one tear me to pieces either. I’ll chew (!?!) on the advice you have put to me. Sounds like right, I may have to reunderstimate my own place in the food chain. I’m too old to get myself into a dogfight.
The golden I have now gets along with every dog she meets. I attribute a great deal of that to having spent her puppyhood with my co-owner and friend who runs a boarding kennel. Pauli met many strange dogs during that time and she knows how to make friends and get along with all kinds of dogs. In essence, she’s never met a stranger. Of course, she has a very stable temperament, but she also just knows exactly how to get along. I never have to worry when I take her anywhere because she was super socialized.