Trust The Dog Owner So The Dog Will Trust You

A friend is visiting for the first time since I’ve adopted a new dog.

Me: “She’s nervous around new people, so she’s going to bark at you for a minute. Just ignore her. Don’t acknowledge her and do not make eye contact. She has a thing about eye contact.”

Friend: “Oh, it’s okay. I’m good with dogs!”

As soon as we enter the house, [Friend] gets down on the ground and reaches their hand out to our dog, all while making direct eye contact and talking to her. The dog is, as expected, going nuts. 

Me: “[Friend], seriously, don’t!”

Friend: “But dogs like this!”

Me: “She doesn’t!”

When I finally convince them to sit on the couch and ignore the dog, it takes all of five minutes for her to settle down and, after some inspection via sniffing, she hops up on the couch next to [Friend] and tries to climb into their lap.

Friend: “What? How did that work? I didn’t do anything!”

Me: “It’s almost like she’s my dog and I know her quirks.”