What do you do when a dog barks at you?

I mind my business if the dog minds it's own business. 

But what do I do if it barks at me?

What options does one have when a dog on street barks at her while s/he is busy minding her business?

Option-1, Fail-to-notice or Simply-walk-away hoping that it won't harm me.
Option-2, Flight as they say or Run-away thinking that it will harm me.
Option-3, Fight-back 'Acting' or Be prepared to Hit-back-hard (in order to prevent dog becoming offensive).

If you have tried each or some of these options sometime or the other in past, it may be interesting for you to study the consequences you faced. 

'Funny' were those days when I faced such situations particularly on lonely streets while returning late from library during my college days.

If I simply walked away, the dog would continue barking. At times it became aggressive too. What-if I had not 'acted' to hit back with a stone? 'Fear of consequences' itself used to force me to 'act' anyway. I still continue the practice of 'acting' if needs be.

Once while a friend was with me, by-design I 'acted' to run away. And the dog became aggressive. It ran after me. Of course we were well-prepared to protect ourselves.

What's the learning?

If you keep quiet when someone hits you, be it a physical assault or a competitor's attack, actually you end up reinforcing the aggressor's behavior as justified. Like the street-dog, aggressor might become aggressive every time you are in sight.

Unless there's clarity-on or fear-of 'consequences', the aggressor would continue enjoying the bullying.

What's your role then? To subscribe to the famous Gandhian principle of "If someone slaps you on one cheek, show him your other cheek."? Or behave like epic character Raam?

If you misinterpret this statement to your detriment, you should be responsible and accountable for the consequences.

Perhaps Gandhiji himself didn't mean it that way. At least I am not ready to believe this at the cost of facing consequences of some Gandhian researcher's annoyance though.

I believe that Gandhiji himself hated cowardliness. Perhaps difference in his approach was that he was bold enough to be ready to face adverse consequences, if any, of adopting non-violent mode while fighting for just-rights.

My corollary in understanding Gandhiji is if I am not bold enough to face consequences of choosing non-violent mode then I must either take help of available lawful modes or in fact hit-back-hard in case of emergency or rather fight back well-in-time (proactively) in order to prevent one from arising. Care-before-Cure I mean. It might mean using Krishna-tactics to ward off sanely-looking people but insanely-inside.

Title-line of a Hindi song aroused P.J.-poet in me to pen down my belief in Krishna-kind of philosophy in this context to live in the modern world.

जैसे को मिले तैसा

जैसे को करें ऐसा-वैसा
राम संग बर्ताव राम जैसा
तो मुँहमें-राम बगलमें-छूरीवाले
कंस संग कृष्ण जैसा
समझले वरना खुदी हो जाओ ऐसातैसा

जैसे को करें ऐसा-वैसा 

राम संग राम जैसा कंस संग कृष्ण जैसा

क्युं है ज़ड-जोरू-जमीन पे भरोसा
अंतमें ज़ड को सारोने परोसा
तो जोरू ने अच्छेसे तरोसा 
जमीन ने खिसेको जो खरोसा
समझले वरना खुदी हो जाओ ऐसातैसा

जैसे को करें ऐसा-वैसा

 राम संग राम जैसा कंस संग कृष्ण जैसा

क्युं तू करे पैसापैसा
भूल गया आया तू नंगे कैसा
जाओगे खाली हाथ वैसे के वैसा
होना ही है एकदिन ये तमासा जैसा
समझले वरना खुदी हो जाओ ऐसातैसा

जैसे को करें ऐसा-वैसा

 राम संग राम जैसा कंस संग कृष्ण जैसा