Is Smiling At Dogs Weird?

Okay so this is another one of my weird and random posts..
Who else feels the need to smile at a dog when it walks past them?
Please someone tell me that I am not the only one..

Everyone I walk past a dog and it looks up at me, and stares for ages without breaking eye contact, I can’t help but feel the need to smile at it.
It’s just so awkward..
I can’t just look at it with it staring back at me, without smiling or feeling really uncomfortable

To be completely honest I don’t like dogs, they scare me..
They are so hyper and I’m always terrified they are going to make a hole in my clothing as they jump up at me, or knock me over.
They genuinely scare me..

Just today I parked my car at a local park and walked a short distance to work. On the way I passed several dogs, one was on a lead and was with its owner. And the other was just running along on its own.
The first dog looked up at me and tried climbing up my leg, to which I ignored it and awkwardly stepped away. It then carried on staring at me, and I smiled until I had walked past it. I genuinely would have felt rude not to have smiled.
The owner was in its own world and was on the phone at the time and wasn’t even paying attention to the dog.

With the second dog..
Well okay it was a little bit cute (but not a lot) and it came running up to me and just stopped at my feet.
I looked around and there was no owner to be seen.
It seemed really happy to have found someone, so I just sort of stood there looking at it..
It’s tongue was hanging out and it’s tail was wagging away, but I just looked at it with a blank expression on my face, not knowing what to do.
Eventually the awkward feeling was overwhelming and I felt that I simply had to smile!
After grinning at the poor thing for what seemed like ages, I eventually, casually strolled off.

Please tell me I am not the only one that smiles at dogs, as if they are human, and actually care if we smile or just ignore them…