Most dogs are behind fences, but there’s no taboo here on letting dogs venture out of the yard. One nearby family has two dogs that live on their patio, more or less, but can run out into the street any time they choose through a 10-foot wide missing section in the fence. Only one of their two dogs ever chooses to venture out. It guards the half of the street nearest their yard. This seems to be the expectation of free roaming guard dogs in this town. They are entitled to guard the half of the street nearest their owner’s house. When you come to such a property, you pass by on the other side of the street and there’s no problem.
One dog dragged its teeth on my pant leg, but didn’t quite bite down on the fabric. An oncoming car had nudged me onto the dog’s side of the street. By then I had a feeling about this particular dog and wasn’t afraid.
Some of the neighborhood dogs only did the guard-dogging routine 1-2 times and then switched to ignoring me completely. A guy near here works on cars in front of his house and a couple of his dogs will hang out nearby, sometimes sleeping under one of the cars across the street. The first time I biked past, one of his dogs chased me 3 blocks. Every subsequent time I’ve passed, it doesn’t get up off the ground at all. It doesn’t even look my way.
A yard full of dogs took a week or so of my passing by several times per day to start ignoring me. When their owner is present in the yard, they still make some show of barking at me when I pass.