The dragon didn’t eat him before because it wasn’t hungry. If there’s a tiger in your garage, it probably won’t attack you as soon as it sees you, but the longer you spend in its vicinity, the greater your chances of being mauled.
The footprints were dragon-shaped, and it preferentially targeted the types of dogs that dragons most like to eat.
[...]it preferentially targeted the types of dogs that dragons most like to eat.
But that doesn’t exclude other creatures. For example, the Giant Chupacabra is known to have similar preferences for the kinds of dogs it eats (when it can’t find goats, its preferred meal).
The dragon didn’t eat him before because it wasn’t hungry. If there’s a tiger in your garage, it probably won’t attack you as soon as it sees you, but the longer you spend in its vicinity, the greater your chances of being mauled.
The footprints were dragon-shaped, and it preferentially targeted the types of dogs that dragons most like to eat.
But that doesn’t exclude other creatures. For example, the Giant Chupacabra is known to have similar preferences for the kinds of dogs it eats (when it can’t find goats, its preferred meal).