109 Mate i’d say the dog is just figuring it out, and has a healthy appreciation for direct eye contact which can obviously be a confronting behaviourism.
Don’t stress… he’s learning would be my call.
Its great that your awareness is so fine tuned just don’t let anything from you be a cue to him that something weird is going on, maybe in the future if you anticipate that reaction is about to occur engage with that particular person or thing (in a welcoming way) just before to provide a level of assurance that the situation is all good and there is no need for fear.
Great subjects Dave I’ve been following along and you’ve raised some great questions and conversations in the forums!
Cheers