How to Make Friends With a Dog

Dogs are very social animals. It's not that hard to make friends with one if you understand a few things.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• food

1. 

   Feed the Dog.
   Dogs are motivated by their stomachs. If you give a dog food, especially food they like, they will remember it for a long time. Jerky, and chicken skin are particularly effective. Most dogs will take anything though. I've seen a junk yard dog get friendly over a chunk of bagel.

2. Let the Dog Smell You.
   Dogs great each other by sniffing. If the dog isn't barking or growling at you, let it sniff your hand before you try to pet it. Hold up the back of your hand to the nose for inspection. Be sure to do this before you try to pet a dog, especially if the dog is being shy. The dog is finding out where you've been, who you've seen, and what you've been eating. If the dog sniffs, and leaves, let it go. Some dogs will want to lick your hand. Don't be afraid, licking is an affectionate gesture.

3. 

   Hold eye contact.
   In the dog world, you maintain dominance by maintaining eye contact. If you look away, you're saying I give in, you're the boss. You don't want to do that to a dog. The dog will either be confused, or take that as a cue to be aggressive toward you. Stare the dog down until it looks away.

4. Be friendly toward the humans in the dog's family.
   Dogs are pack animals. They view the humans they live with as members of their pack. If you appear to be a threat, the dog will feel it needs to protect it's pack. This protective nature is why dogs will bark at you as you come up to the front door. The dog's not being mean, it's just trying to warn it's pack of a possible threat.

5. Play with the dog.
   If the dog wags it's tail, and lets you pet it, then it wants to be friends. To communicate that you want to play, exaggerate happiness with your body language. Pretend you're 5 years old and you just got the coolest toy ever. Try running around in circles with the dog. Try playing fetch, or tug of war. A confined dog will appreciate just being taken for a walk.

6. Pet the dog.
   If the dog is wagging it's tail, and has sniffed you, try petting it. Pet from the head to the tail in the direction the hair grows. If the dog really likes you it may roll on it's back. This is a submissive gesture to show trust. You can rub the dog's belly, but be gentle. You don't want to betray trust.

Tips & Warnings

• Be very careful of angry dogs. If a dog is barking, showing it's upper teeth, or growling at you stay out of reach.

[pondripples]

on 4/3/2009 Good point on aggressive dogs. There are some dogs you should be very careful around.

[deepthinkin]

on 4/3/2009 This is a great read! One caveat however, in the event of an aggressive dog (a strange dog,) one should not make eye contact at all and should back away slowly.

[georgelarson]

on 3/31/2009 Good read. Thanks.