When human folk meet dog folk we usually mean well and are eager to make friends... but most of the time we humans do it all wrong. From the dog's point of view, a stranger facing them head-on, making direct eye contact, leaning forward to them, reaching out over their heads to pet them -- are all aggressive, scary (or at least terribly rude) acts.
When strange dogs approach each other freely (not on a leash) they usually do so in a curving arc, not face-on, with eyes averted, often offering calming signals to reassure the other animal that they are no threat. When humans approach strange dogs, we all too often cause anxiety with our behavior. To us a frank, direct look in the eyes indicates that we aren't shifty -- we can be trusted, and extending our hand is a sign of friendship, originally meant to show we didn't carry a weapon; meeting head-on reassures the target that we aren't trying to sneak up on them. But to dogs, every one of these actions from a stranger is an expression of aggression!
Here's a great page on dog body language with specific tips about how to approach dogs who display various specific fearful or aggressive poses, and artist Lili Chin of doggiedrawings.net has a super-cute poster teaching novice dog greeters the basics:
When strange dogs approach each other freely (not on a leash) they usually do so in a curving arc, not face-on, with eyes averted, often offering calming signals to reassure the other animal that they are no threat. When humans approach strange dogs, we all too often cause anxiety with our behavior. To us a frank, direct look in the eyes indicates that we aren't shifty -- we can be trusted, and extending our hand is a sign of friendship, originally meant to show we didn't carry a weapon; meeting head-on reassures the target that we aren't trying to sneak up on them. But to dogs, every one of these actions from a stranger is an expression of aggression!
Here's a great page on dog body language with specific tips about how to approach dogs who display various specific fearful or aggressive poses, and artist Lili Chin of doggiedrawings.net has a super-cute poster teaching novice dog greeters the basics:
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