What is the meaning of this proverb?
There is a saying that "The dog that barks doesn't bite", what does that mean?
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For much the same reasons that lions don't roar until they've eaten dinner. If a dog is intent on hunting/killing something, they don't warn it that it's coming.
If a dog is seriously trying to threaten and warn something off, they'll growl.
A bark maybe done for a variety of reasons, but most of them are related to warning or attention seeking, rather than actual aggression.
But they will bark to intimidate potential competitors, to say 'hey, I'm a big dog, and any food is mine, right?'.
I think this is the point of the saying - people who don't speak dog, might not realise that a dog barking at them isn't actually a prelude to being attacked at all, and if they just ignore it... that's probably actually the best way to stop the dog doing it again anyway. (Where if they react defensively, the dog picks up on that very quickly, and assumes they're someone who can be intimidated).
The concept is that threatening posture is very different from an outright attack.
A dog who barks is warning you but is prepared to back down without a fight if it's not escalated and might, depending on the dog, back down even in that case.
A truly angered or threatened dog would attack without barking, so if it's running at you silently then it may be much more dangerous than someone who is barking threateningly.
The proverb is based on the idea that a dog that is barking loudly is really just threatening and trying to scare you away rather than actually fight. It's usually used for people to indicate that they're all bluster and without real threat.
With respect to actual dogs, don't assume that a barking dog won't bite, it's not really a good rule of thumb.
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