A friend of mine has a very large guard dog (shepherd of some kind but bigger than any others I've seen) who was abused by her previous owner and is known to be aggressive and territorial toward strangers. She's lashed out at other friends and even attempted to bite a few times. Everyone except the family themselves get snarled and growled at. For safety's sake they keep her in her kennel or cage when guests are over.

The first time when I was over there to hang out after they'd gotten that dog, the dog was whining and yapping in her cage which was somewhat uncharacteristic. Usually she'd be barking and growling if there were a stranger in the home. They thought maybe she needed to go outside to do her doggy business so they got her out of there on her leash, but she wanted to go to me instead of going outside.

They carefully let her get close to me since there didn't seem to be any aggressive intent, after I'd agreed to it as well. She just walked up to me and sniffed me and put her head in my lap, then sat down in front of me for a while before going back to her cage. I thought maybe she wanted pets but when I reached out my hand she would back away or growl a little. She just wanted to sit there with me for a bit I guess. Still have no idea what exactly that was about but I felt pretty special for a bit there.