Why are some people genuinely frightened of dogs?

[WanderingStar26]

Not a TAAT but kind of inspired by one.

I adore dogs, I have my own dogs, I work with dogs, and my hobby revolves around dogs. I had dogs growing up and with the very odd exception, I’ve never felt any fear towards any dog.

But I understand that some people are terrified of them, and I’m really interested to understand why? Is it an instinctive fear, which now I think about it would make sense as dogs are descended from wolves, or is it based on a past negative experience? It seems to be more children that have an obvious fear, so do people grow out of feeling scared, or just learn to conceal their fear as they get older?

I’m not talking about just not liking them, I realise dogs aren’t for everyone, but an actual fear. My dogs are tiny and not at all aggressive but I still don’t let them approach people unless the person wants them to. I’m honestly not trying to mock or judge, just genuinely intrigued to know more about this fear and whether it’s rational or irrational, and whether it’s something people can overcome. It must be hard to live with either way as dogs are everywhere!

Dogs can bite . Simple really and I have no idea whether the dog approaching me is likely to.

Because you can’t control them, even if you think you can, and you never know when they might get spooked and turn on you.
Also they smell and slobber.

I love animals but do have a fear of dogs off lead. Negative events as a child. A German shepherd chased me and grabbed my coat sleeve and a collie barked at me and caught my leg with its tooth. I'm old and when I was a child people just let their dogs loose so walking to school I was continually on high alert and crossing the road in fear if one was approaching🤷‍♀️

Some people will have been bitten by dogs, some people will have been raised to be scared of dogs, some people are scared of anything that moves quickly, some people’s nerves are put on edge by barking and growling, some people are a little bit scared of anything they can’t control.

I mean, there are people out there who are scared of pomegranates - that’s what I’d call a truly irrational phobia. Plenty of sensible reasons a person might be cautious of dogs.

Because it's a strong animal with sharp teeth and no ability to reason in close proximity to me?

Do you have trouble understanding why people might be terrified of crocodiles even if they'd never personally had a run in with one?

Ya I dont understand the question.

Why do YOU think people are afraid of dogs? Surely you can think of something?

Attacked as a child by a dog tied up outside a post office. Traumatised!

My youngest is already terrified of dogs because they run at little one in the park and they are often bigger than my little one. Understandable to be terrified of them in those circumstances I think.

I’m getting the feeling it’s more instinctive from the replies so far - like a lot of people are with snakes and spiders (I have had snakes slither out in front of me twice in my life and nearly shat myself both times so I can understand that).

As for crocodiles, yes I think most people would be pretty wary of them. But in my eyes that’s different to a 3kg, fluffy, poodle cross, under control and on a lead, although from some reactions it may as well be a crocodile.

terrier sized dogs are ok but anything above that I'm very afraid of, mainly of being pounced on whilst playing because it's painful for me. For some reason dogs are off lead when they shouldn't be. I understand dogs are part of the family I have one myself who I love and I know you can be attached to a dog. But It doesn't matter how friendly they tell me their dog is. Also when a dog isn't sure of me and comes running over to me and wants to sniff me, I don't want to be sniffed and checked out! They do tend to (for some reason try) and sniff the crotch area! I am worried that if I try to move away they will react. Also they can sense if I am afraid and they are more likely to attack me then which makes the cycle worse.

Because I was savaged by a German shepherd dog when I was a child and ended up in hospital. I still have the scars.

Because they are unpredictable. They have teeth. They can bite. They bark or yap. They jump up on me.
And when I show I’m clearly not enjoying the experience, the owners OFTEN say “ oh it’s ok he’s fine”. The dog might be but I’m not!
it’s often dog owners that I dislike as much as the dog tbh. Eg the new trend for dogs in cafes, shops.

And the dog poop. Ugh. There are three mountains of it atm near our local primary school. One by the gates, . I’d love to know which selfish idiot let their dog do that.

Because they can bite you and do serious damage

How can you not know this? More concerningly - how can you be around dogs a lot and not know this? This is insane.

@WanderingStar26 you know it’s a fluffy cuddly bundle of joy.
As far as I know (never having seen your dog before) it’s a crocodile.

No, your dog is not the exception. They are also capable of doing damage regardless of how fluffy.

I wouldn't trust your dog or trust you to control it because:

1. I dont know you and wouldn't know if you were a responsible dog owner or a shit one.
2. I don't know your dog so don't know what its capable of.
3. Dog owners always say they are the best owners to their little fluffykins and they are friendly, but the history of dog attacks in this country would suggest that this is wrong and dogs cant be trusted in general.

Because if I'm interacting with a dog at all, it means its owners do not have it under control and do not see any issue letting it run up to strangers.

I'm actually allergic to dogs and it pisses me off so much that dog owners think that I should have to shout that across a park at them to 'justify' why I don't want to play with their dog, or even for it to approach me, when even touching a dog can leave me itchy and rashy for days, let alone getting dog hair on my clothes, which can completely ruin a day out.

And when owners say 'he's friendly' or 'he doesn't bite' they seem to think that is reassuring, when actually it's the bare minimum I would expect of an animal that has been allowed to run loose in the woods and come close to my children.

And because my husband was bitten by a dog, completely unprovoked, and it cost about £50 in prescriptions and dressings to deal with it, which the owners did NOT pay, even when asked.

And because when a dog chased my son and he asked the owner to call it away, the twat said 'stop running - she thinks you want to play' as though it was my son's responsibility to manage the dog's behaviour instead of it's owners.

So basically it's irresponsible and careless owners that make me wary and unwilling to engage with dogs.

Our 3 pound floofy pup left a permanent scar on my little brother’s face when he was a kid. The little high strung ones can be fucking vicious.

I’m not afraid of dogs myself, but if you seriously can’t understand why anyone might be, I suspect there must be quite a lot that baffles you about the world.

Bad experience? I am not scared of dogs but I don’t like them

I love dogs and have always had them, but it’s entirely rational to be afraid of them. Very few are docile enough and well trained enough that they couldn’t turn around and snap if grabbed unexpectedly or frightened, eg by an unpredictable toddler. The fact you can’t understand this suggests you are exactly the kind of person whose dogs are likely to be dangerous.

I’m really sorry to hear about experiences of being attacked, that must have been truly terrifying.

@IDoHaveACrystalBall of course I know dogs CAN attack, but I guess I’ve always felt more connected to dogs than people and have always been pretty good at reading them, and so far that’s stood me in good stead when it comes to avoiding being hurt. But that’s something that has probably developed from having always been around them - if you’ve not had that experience then I guess they’re all just an unknown entity. I worked as a groomer for years so had to be absolutely on the ball because I was dealing with stressed dogs all day long (dogs generally hate being at the groomers), so you do have to be adept at reading them because they will react, you have to know when to back off.

I think the only time I’ve ever been truly scared of a dog was when I was a child, about 11, riding my bike along a country lane when a big dog ran towards me out of nowhere, it had a look of pure evil in its eyes and it was completely fixed on me. I knew it would have hurt me if it could, luckily it couldn’t catch me on my bike (it tried!) but that was pretty scary.

I was bitten 3 times as a child by dogs and I was bloody terrified, 2 by big dogs and the 3rd by an ankle biter. I refused ti go near dogs for years and if one came towards me I’d panic . Luckily I’ve grown out of it and even had dogs myself.

To be clear, I’m not some simpleton who doesn’t understand fears, it’s just dogs are such a big part of my world and I’m just intrigued to understand more about people’s fears, where they came from and how people manage them. I don’t hang out with people on the whole, and those that I do hang out with are very much also dog people. I have never really given too much thought before about WHY some people are so scared of dogs, so I guess I’d like to develop some empathy. It must be a really horrible thing to live with, as you can’t walk down any street or go to many public places without encountering at least one dog.

And yes, my dogs are under control, as are the dogs I work with, my business wouldn’t have lasted very long if they weren’t.

You do know people can be afraid of anything, regardless on whether or not it makes sense. I've known people who were afraid of bananas! So I would argue being afraid of sn animal that can actually attack you, and has killed people does make sense.

There will obviously lots of reasons but my cousin instilled a fear of dogs in her children. She doesn’t like dogs because she thinks they’re dirty. From when her children were toddlers she said things to them like dogs are nasty, dogs bite, don’t touch them, they’re dirty etc. Both spent their childhood terrified of dogs and are now adults that are still terrified of dogs. Totally their mothers fault in their case.

Dogs are intelligent, fast, strong, fierce, loyal and have sharp teeth and claws.

I love dogs. I grew up around dogs. I know dogs. Been bitten, scratched and knocked over by dogs. So I totally understand why some people are frightened of them.

And that's before you get to the people who've been attacked or witnessed a dog attack someone else.

If you really don't understand why some people are genuinely frightened of dogs @WanderingStar26, you don't know enough about dogs. Or people.

I grew up in a country where there are a lot of feral dogs. They would frequently attack people. Everyone was very wary of them. If you went anywhere you had to carry something to defend yourself with. Seeing dogs behaving naturally without restrictions gives you a bit of an insight into their what they are like when left to their own devices, and they are a bit of a menace to humans and other animals. Owners are not always that responsible and it is hard to tell if they genuinely have control over their pet.

I am not scared of dogs and am even very fond of some of them, but I am wary of ones I don't know. I think the number of owners who have unsuitable breeds rather demonstrates that a lot of them haven't got much of a clue.

Look up the statistics on the number of people who have been bitten by dogs in the UK and the number of postal workers that get attacked by dogs every week. It is pretty obvious why people can be scared of them.