Stray dog following you
An old English saying held that dogs avoid wicked people, so a stray at your heel is a kind of compliment. Being chosen by a stranger is also a small responsibility, and a question about what you owe whoever picks you.
What it may mean
A dog that falls in beside you on the street has made a judgment about you in seconds. Dogs read faces, posture and pace with remarkable skill, and a stray will often pick out the calmest person on the sidewalk and stay with them. That is flattering, and it is also a little heavy: now you are the one deciding whether to stop at the next corner, check for a tag or keep walking. Being trusted by someone who did not ask your permission first is common in human life too, from a new coworker who copies everything you do to a younger relative who watches your choices. The dog gives you a chance to ask what you owe those who decide, on their own, to follow your lead.
Depending on how you saw it
Following you all the way home
A dog that follows you to your door may be lost rather than homeless, and its family may be searching the same streets right now. The kind thing and the right thing line up here. Where else is helping someone home better than keeping them?
Trotting a few steps ahead
In many cities, street dogs walk with pedestrians for a few blocks, leading the way, then peel off at the edge of their territory. Company does not have to mean commitment. Who walks part of the way with you, and do you let them turn back without guilt?
Trailing at a distance and freezing when you turn
A wary dog may follow at twenty yards and freeze each time you turn around. Crouching and looking away usually draws it closer than calling it. Which relationship would move faster if you stopped chasing it?
A farm dog joining your hike
On country walks, a dog from a nearby farm sometimes joins hikers for a mile or two and then heads home on its own. It knows exactly how far it wants to go. How far do you want to go with the plan you have joined, and have you said so?
Why it happens in nature
Stray and lost dogs often follow people who seem calm, who once fed them or who smell of food or other dogs. Dogs are very good at reading human faces and body language. A dog that follows you may be lost, and a collar tag, a microchip scan at a vet or shelter, or a local lost-pet group can help it get home.
What folk beliefs say
England
An English saying recorded in 1903 held that dogs always avoid wicked people.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 617. View the page
To reflect on
Who has chosen to follow your lead lately, and what do you owe them?