Jim March
Member
Sir Galahad,
I'm not saying you shouldn't defend yourself, or that you HAVE to "read the dog's mind".
That said, if a dog is bounding up to you purely because he's playful and friendly, it's a damned shame if somebody mistakes that for aggression and kills the poor thing.
I've watched a lot of videos of dog attacks, I've played with a LOT of dogs in parks and such plus owned several myself as a kid, and I've never seen a dog get aggressive from a tongue-out expression. If a dog is worried, or puzzles, or anything similar, he retracts the tongue. In other words, I'm not saying "no tongue means he's going to bite" - not hardly. What I'm saying is, if the tongue is flopping around loose, he has zero aggressive intent, at least at that moment. If he gets the idea you're a threat, the tongue will get sucked in. If he's puzzled by your behavior, the tongue will come in. Doesn't necessarily mean he'll bite.
Some of the data I'm working from comes from watching dogs approach my ferrets. ALL were at a minimum puzzled by them, and hence no tongue. Dozens of times, they realized the ferts were playful and would bound around with 'em...and every single time, out came that doggy tongue.
Ferret body language is quite different from dogs. VERY different. The only real similarity is the "play bow" stance, but it's close enough that (most)dogs understand it when they see it, hence rather hilarious play sessions sometimes happen even when the dog has never seen a skinnykitty before.
I'm not saying you shouldn't defend yourself, or that you HAVE to "read the dog's mind".
That said, if a dog is bounding up to you purely because he's playful and friendly, it's a damned shame if somebody mistakes that for aggression and kills the poor thing.
I've watched a lot of videos of dog attacks, I've played with a LOT of dogs in parks and such plus owned several myself as a kid, and I've never seen a dog get aggressive from a tongue-out expression. If a dog is worried, or puzzles, or anything similar, he retracts the tongue. In other words, I'm not saying "no tongue means he's going to bite" - not hardly. What I'm saying is, if the tongue is flopping around loose, he has zero aggressive intent, at least at that moment. If he gets the idea you're a threat, the tongue will get sucked in. If he's puzzled by your behavior, the tongue will come in. Doesn't necessarily mean he'll bite.
Some of the data I'm working from comes from watching dogs approach my ferrets. ALL were at a minimum puzzled by them, and hence no tongue. Dozens of times, they realized the ferts were playful and would bound around with 'em...and every single time, out came that doggy tongue.
Ferret body language is quite different from dogs. VERY different. The only real similarity is the "play bow" stance, but it's close enough that (most)dogs understand it when they see it, hence rather hilarious play sessions sometimes happen even when the dog has never seen a skinnykitty before.