My girlfriend and I are going on vacation to California to go rock climbing, hangglide, and generally be adrenaline junkies for three weeks so she needed someone to watch her dog. Her dog happens to be a giant German Shepard (which I find hilarious as she is a petite Asian girl), and even though he is very friendly, he is still very young and doesn't really know his size. When new people come over he will bark and bound over to them to say hello which can be understandably intimidating but if you stay calm he is harmless.

So my girlfriend invited a couple of would be dog sitters over the past few days to meet Alfie and see if they were compatible. Most were disastrous but by no fault of Alfie's or my girlfriend's.

One of the sitters came over and as he came up Alfie got excited and barked from the window. This caused the guy, who was 6'2" and probably 200 pounds, to clam up and my girlfriend had to hold the dog back for the guy to come inside. Even when he did finally perk up enough courage to come inside, he continued to hold the door open which I assume was so he could make a quick escape if Alfie came at him. The dog of course did come toward him once my girlfriend let go and the guy immediately clammed up expecting the worst. Alfie just barreled past him to the freedom of the open door and she spent the next 20 minutes convincing him to come back in. Even after she got the dog inside the guy was still stand offish and looked ready to bolt out the door if Alfie made a move at him.

Dogs can sense fear weakness or apprehension. If you clam up they think "he is scared of me, so I must be the aggresive one in this situation" and they will be aggressive. They match your energy. So if you are dominate they will be submissive.

People are the same. If you are confident and relaxed people will pick up on that and be relaxed around you. Conversely, if you act shy and introverted people will be less inclined to talk with you.

When you think about maintaining frame think about it as remaining calm and assertive around a seemingly aggressive dog. When a dog growls it is like a girl giving you a shit test. If you stay relaxed and confident the dog will realize that he is not supposed to be aggressive and relax. But if you clam up the dog has won and will dominate the shit out of your wimpy butt. If you fail the shit test, the girl will do the same.

TLDR: Just like dogs will pick up on fear and require you to maintain frame, women will do the same. Stay confident!