> In my experience, being convincingly dominant towards dogs is enough to fend them off. The same holds for most non-herbivores, at least until they're so much

> In my experience, being convincingly dominant towards dogs is enough to fend them off. The same holds for most non-herbivores, at least until they're so much bigger than you that they don't have to consider you a threat at all (e.g. brown bears). There's something of an evolutionary angle to it: a carnivore with even moderate injuries might starve, while a herbivore who doesn't die of infection will probably live (grass has a hard time running away, after all). This makes carnivores way more likely to back off from the possibility of injury, with herbivores more likely to hold their ground or even reflexively go on the attack against an equal threat.