Aristocrates – It is a step in coming to terms with your real self. A black dog is simply a black dog; it is your reaction to it that counts – you woke up as an escape from meeting it. Below is an example of a man who demonstrates a different way of meeting it.
Example: I walked down a slope to where the centre of the haunting existed. It was an open space with an old double-decker bus in it. To my right a short distance from the bus an animal that was the ‘haunter’. It was a mammal of no particular type - a bit like a mixture of dog, rat and guinea pig. It seemed very ordinary and tame, and stood looking at me. I walked toward it and stretched out my hand. It was a tan colour with short fur and gave a feeling of being okay to approach, so I touched it to stroke. This was okay and I was thinking there was no problem when the creature leapt at my throat in a flash of movement and ripped my throat out.
This sounds disturbing but I simply observed this and thought to myself that stroking and trying to be friendly was no way of dealing with this thing. It was as if I was in command of the imagery in that I simply formed another body. The only way that felt as if I might deal with the creature was to have the meditative state of holding on to the nothingness that was my centre, and not feeling panic at its attacks. In fact, apart from the gory imagery, there was nothing to be frightened of, as the creature was only attacking my dream image of myself. As I wasn’t identified with this, it couldn’t hurt me. That was the end of the dream.
Of course the man could have taken the next step of trying to find out what the imagery signified – which he did later.
Your black dog, if you allowed it to land on you/enter you, – for anything approaching you in a dream is becoming more conscious – you may have felt your own feeling of aggressiveness.
See
http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/opening-to-life/ and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/dream-yoga/Tony