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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.

Pretty much the same with Labs (although you'll almost never see one in a 'combat' position).

My experience is that when a dog is rigid - walking stiff-legged on tip-toe, hackles up, tail fluffed, eyes locked - the S is about to HTF.

I have one that is silent as a fish -- you don't see her until she leaps up (without touching you) to examine your tonsils and look up your nose. Friend has threatened to get her a white coat and a stethoscope. The other two bark like maniacs whenever anybody sets foot on our property, but if there was trouble the first one is the one to worry about. She's quite funny and playful until she perceives a threat, then she's all business.

Firstly, thank you very much for your time and effort in response to my question(s). I much appreciate it.
Now, I was only asking in general, and from past experiences, and what I might do in future instances.
But I will share an episode I had at my niece's a few years ago. She and her husband had a Rottweiler, his dog. My first exposure tyo this dog was when I arrived at there home. She seemed well behaved that night, allowing me to pet her without out any ado.
Well, next morn my niece and her husband left for work, (I was still asleep in my room), and 'Daisy' was supposed to be put outside. I got up, took a shower and went downstairs. Seated at the computer for only a few minutes I heard something coming down the steps. I turn in my seat and the dog is staring at me. Politely; in a normal tone of voice I say, "Hello, Daisy". At that moment the dog never approached, remaining about 6 ft away, but she started with that low, menacing growl. I stood up, facing her, (wrong action I now realize after reading your posts), and I shouted at her, "get out of here! Feck off!"
This did not produce the result I hoped for. I feinted a step to the side and she began to move, so I stopped. (All this time she never advanced towards me). So, as I was preparing to leave anyway, I got a 'bright' idea. One of Daisy's toys was lying near, so I picked it up, showed it to her and I tossed it across the living room, on the other side of a coffee table. Daisy 'fell for' this and as she ran one way I went out the back door.
Feeling mighty clever, I then realized that my car keys were up in my room, and by this time I could hear Daisy braking wildly on the other side of the door. So I grabbed the door handle and slowly pushed the door open, shutting it promptly after the dog, growling and barking, jumped up to the crack between the door and the door jamb.
needless to say, my niece's husband had to come back home and put the dog at ease whilst I collected my cars keys.

Thanks again for your help. I'll look on at the web site you've provided.