The process of avoiding direct eye contact, known as averting gaze, will show the aggressive canine that you mean to avoid a fight. In wolves, a submissive wolf regularly averts gaze when a dominant wolf attempts a dominant display toward them. During drastic submissive displays, the submissive wolf will even open their eyes wide when averting gaze, thus showing the whites of their eyes. This behavior is thought to be the most dramatic of submissive eye postures.
Wolf Education Research Center
It is interesting to me that the McCain team spin is that McCain was the dominant fighter, when he took one of the most submissive physical postures an animal can take towards another.
(via slowpoke)
