OK. Next time a dog like does that I will put your advice to action. May I ask another question? Does it mean anything if a dog growls rather than barks at a human?
Wow.
This is a super-complex issue to explain with words.
The -expression- of the dog means everything, whether it’s growling or barking.
If the mouth is wide open and the back teeth are showing during a bark or growl, it’s 99.9% “display” behavior that is usually a sign of fear aggression, fear or “bluff”.
If the lips of the dog are -forward- over the back teeth and only the very front teeth are showing, *that* dog means it.
Barking is more an alert for the dog’s owners.
[Sort of a “Come see what’s happening!!”]
Growling [depending on the rest of the dog’s body language context] can just be a fearful head-fake meant to keep you from getting close to it because it’s afraid of you.
This page gives some illustrations but doesn’t address the many nuances of each expression.
http://www.pawsacrossamerica.com/interpret.html
The “Aggressive” pic doesn’t give many details about ear position/body stance/lip position, etc but it’s a start.
If it helps any, my breed expertise is Dobermanns.
If they’re growling/barking at you it’s just a warning/potential threat behavior.
Their “silent rush” is what you really have to worry about.
Right now, Odin’s inside, ferociously barking at something going on outside.
If he were outside and perceived whatever’s out there to be an -actual- threat, his target wouldn’t even hear him coming.
But that’s _just one breed_.
My Ibizan Hounds, OTOH, could stand and bark and growl at you 24/7 and you’d have nothing to fear but a splitting headache from the noise.
They’re just mouthy, wimpy posers.
What breed of dog is doing this to you?
I could probably get a better fix on the situation if I knew that.