How To Stare Without Looking

This dog is trying to be very polite. She’s staring without looking directly at me. It would be very bad doggy manner to stare directly at me. I’m kneeling with my right knee on the ground and my dog which is by my side and is waiting very patiently so we can resume our walk.

She’s not looking at me directly but she’s at full attention, you can see from her ears that she’s trying to understand what’s happening. Is this a “safe situation” or is there any danger? She doesn’t know, she’s never seen that before…

The “proper doggy manners” are:

1. Dogs don’t walk straight to another dog straight on “cutting their escape route”. Dogs will usually go sideways and make a half circle before going to sniff the other’s butt.
2. Dogs don’t look straight into the eyes of the person or the other dog, unless all the other signs of aggression are off (usually ears backward and not nose to nose) and it’s time for the treat/biscuit.
3. A dog keeping its distances and not entering the personal space without being invited is a sign of respect.
4. Don’t go nose to nose. Somebody’s going to get hurt…

Technical

Camera: Canon 7DMkII ISO 250 and 1/320
Lens: Canon 70-200L/f4 @200mm and f/5.6
Processed with Darktable 2.4.1: http://www.darktable.org/