Use of être/avoir for non-reflexive verbs that use reflexive pronouns

Question

Do non-reflexive verbs used in the past tense with a reflexive pronoun use être or avoir?

For example, if the above sentence "Les deux chiens se fixèrent avec méfiance" is put in the past tense, do we use être with the verb "fixer" (-->"Les deux chiens se sont fixées avec méfiance")?

Or, am I asking the wrong question? In other words, in French perhaps there is no such thing as verbs that are "non-reflexive." Instead, is it that case that any verb used with a reflexive pronoun automatically becomes a reflexive verb, which means the rule regarding use of être in forming the past tense applies?

Accepted Answer

Hi John,
If I have understood your question correctly, the verb 'se fixer' is reflexive, so it will use the auxiliary verb 'être'. Here, it conveys a reciprocal action.
But if you used the verb 'fixer' on its own , it would use 'avoir' in the past tense -
La dame m'a fixé/e avec un air de méfiance = The lady stared at me , with a look of mistrust
Hope this helps!

Answer

I had this question too. The point of the lesson is the semantic *distinction* between reflexive and reciprocal. (Did the boys bite themselves or each other?) So it's a bit confusing just to say that reflexive verbs take être!

I take it the answer is that reflexive and reciprocal verbs both take être? (Elsewhere I see them described as two kinds of "pronominal" verbs, all of which take être.)

Answer

Hi Adrian, 
Verbs like s'habiller, se lever etc are called pronominal in French , it means that they have a extra pronoun, a reflexive pronoun.
I believe the general term to describe them is 'reflexive verbs' in English whether they are conveying reciprocal, reflexive, or just used idioms ( se passer = to happen).
There are lots of reflexive verbs in French and the important thing is that they all take the auxiliary 'être'.
In the case of - 
les chiens se sont mordus
you would assume that the dogs bit each other.
In the case of boys, you would also assume that they bit each other and not themselves in a group in a kind of wierd cultish way, so again it's all to do with context.
Hope this helps!