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!

Plus some people are twats. I was walking our dog in woods behind a family. Parent said to child to hurry up as the dog behind would get her. She was on lead a fair distance behind at that point. Child started screaming and ran so I guess it hurried them up but what a stupid thing to do.

To be fair, some dogs can easily kill you if they chose to. That seems quite a reasonable fear to me.

I get what you are saying I think. We had dogs as kids, nor very well trained rescues but basically ok dogs. But somewhere along the line in my 30s and 40s I’d not had much to d9 with dogs but did a lot of walking and so seemed to meet a lot of bouncy dogs that 8 wasn’t keen on or dogs that I seemed unpredictable. I developed a slight uncertainty about it Not a dislike or phobia but i really wasn’t keen.

then a family member got a lovely dog, we met some other lovely dogs through friend and then got one.

she’s adorable and my uncertainty has gone with other dogs, 8 can read their body language better now and oddly see, to meet fewer bouncy dogs….

i am now a huge fan.

I think you’ve had many replies explaining why some people are scared of dogs OP. I do find it a bit concerning that someone who has so much experience with them needs to ask this question - that suggests a lot of dog owners might not “get” it. I’m not scared of dogs other than certain breeds when their behaviour is aggressive. What annoys me is that SOME dog owners have no respect for others. A family member is allergic and we now have to leave many places due to there being dogs there. I hate that I can’t go for a walk locally in the woods without being approached by dogs off the leads. I’m also a cyclist and don’t even start me on the MANY incidents where I come across dogs off leads who come running at me full speed. I’ve been knocked off the bike on a few occasions but that’s alright isn’t it, the dog is “friendly”.

You can be scared of things that are less likely to kill/ harm you than another thing. That doesn't make it irrational.

I am not afraid of dogs, I grew up with them, but am wary. Mainly because they are not properly managed.
eg 2 dogs off lead 'playing' one nipped the other which ran away and directly into me - knocked me right over the top of it cue concussion, multiple stitches to eye and lip, permanent scarring. I was some distance away from them initially.
DH cycling chased by dogs - knocked him off the bike and bit him.
Not the dogs fault but only a small proportion are actually properly trained whatever theitr owners say

I’m not scared of them but I had similar as a child. I remember one coming in our garden and jumping up I had my nurses dress up uniform on and it made it muddy. I am also from an era where if a dog jumped up or snapped or bit, the adult would bollock you for doing something to make it do that. To be fair my mother still subscribes to that theory with her terribly behaved dog

1. Doctrine of religion
2. Parental fears being needlessly passed on to their children. Not being taught how to behave around or read a dogs behaviour
3. The person may have suffered a previous attack.
4. Dogs that are allowed to be noisy and show their teeth to strangers

For me it’s not irrational. I’m scared of spiders but could kill one with one stamp so that is irrational. However, when I was 4 the boy next door had his face ripped off by a German shepherd dog. I’ll never forget what I saw and what I heard. Add to that the stories on the news of people being killed by dogs- well that’s why I am scared.

Well the barking my daughter finds really scary and has never liked dogs that bark a lot! Then one of these harmless but barky dogs bit her on the face so that sort of reinforced that her fear of them was correct - she’s now not afraid unless they bark as we have worked so hard with her, but there are a lot of really bad dog owners tbh so it’s a reasonable fear

I don’t really like dogs, I wish there weren’t so many around. I don’t like them touching me and they are unpredictable. I haven’t had any bad experiences, I just don’t want to be touched or approached by them.

One of my first memories is being at a beach when i was 3 and a very lively standard poodle came up. I was terrified, it was probably the same height as me.

Im not frightened of all dogs- several friends have dogs of all sizes and im fine with them, because I know and trust the friend and know how the dog is likely to behave. I am quite wary of (mainly large) dogs thst I dont know. I run and have had dogs jump up at me on several occasions and its not something I enjoy even if the owner says they are friendly

Also (and this is slightly different) so many places have become dog friendly that if youre not a "dog person " or dont love them, you have to encounter them a lot more frequently than say, 10 years ago. We went to a pub for a meal, for my birthday a few years ago. There were a couple of people with dogs in there when we arrived which wasnt an issue. By the time our food came there were probably 7 or 8 dogs in there, barking or yelping each time one got near the other or someone passed etc. It was chaos, you couldn't hear yourself think, and not the relaxing meal id been hoping for.

Why does any person have any phobia ? I knew a guy who had a phobia about cotton wool. I can’t even begin to unpack that one. Dogs is much easier to understand. When I was a kid I used to walk home from school and pass this house that had no gates and I’d be scared of two Yorkshire terriers that would come after me. Teeny tiny Yorkshire terriers who were quite frankly horrible. Some dog owners are also dismissive and contemptuous of anyone who isn’t besotted with dogs or doesn’t want to be covered in dog hair or slobber. I say this as a person who owns a very lovable ( to me) rescue mutt but I understand if other people want her kept well away.

It’s pretty obvious, dogs can and do bite, harm, injure and kill adults and children.
It’s a completely rational human fear.

Clearly dogs are a big part of your world but they’re not for everyone, I very rarely see dogs because o do t go places where they are, if I do see them in the town centre they’re always on leads. The reason I’m scared of them is because they’re an unknown threat, if I see a cat in the street I know it will just walk past me and ignore me but dogs bark and jump and sniff, and I can’t tell which are just friendly and which will take it too far.

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.

Young children are taught to be wary of dogs for very good reasons. Every single dog including every 3kg bundle of fluff has the potential to injure. Children shouldn't approach dogs without permission and guidance from the owner so of course there will be an element of 'fear' asdociated with dogs. As they grow older children will become able to apply greater reasoning. BUT alongside this developing cognitive reasoning comes experience. And many children will have some form of direct adverse experience of dogs whether it's being snarled at, barked at, snapped at, or for some being bitten. They also.learn about other people's experience of dogs through talk or the media. They witness dogs being unpredictable, and owners not controlling their animals. They gradually develop the understanding that if dogs need to be kept on leads, they are inherently dangerous.
When you really think about it, it's much harder to understand why more people don't have serious anxiety about dogs! And I write that with my own, adored, hairy bundle on my lap. I adore him but I understand why others could be scared of him.

I get such a visceral reaction now when I hear dogs going for one another after seeing/hearing what happened to my relatives. Once you’ve seen what they can do you can’t unsee it. I hope the boy was ok.

What am I to teach my children how to be around dogs? Why? We don’t want to be around dogs thanks. They’re not in our lives and we don’t want to be approached at the park by them. Keep your dog away from me and my family!

Don’t dog owners understand it’s completely unacceptable to let your dog come up to my family in public? My kids will scream if a dog bounds up to them and I can’t stop them from doing so, it’s an entirely understandable reaction.

The kids have a therapy dog at school and I’ve no problem with him as he’s very well trained and only interacts with kids when they want to. My kids really like him and have been taught how to interact with him. But in the park when a random dog runs up to them, how do you expect them to react?

If you’re a dog owner, please keep your distance and your dog away from families unless they show interest first

Alsations were used to intimidate others on the estates I grew up in. It was common knowledge for me as a child that alsations were dangerous and to stay away. Families deliberately had aggressive dogs as status symbols, home or personal protection or a way to let others know who’s ‘boss’.

I now know these dogs were aggressive (would bark/growl/strain on the lead towards you as you walked past) because of how their owners trained/handled them but I didn’t know this in childhood. Back then, a dog = someone trying to manipulate my behaviour for their gain.

This was my direct, frequent and regular experience of dogs in my formative years. Add to that they were widely used as guard dogs and police dogs, further cementing my belief. There are plenty of ways people used dogs to let you know they could harm you if they wanted.

That said, things have moved on (or maybe I have) and I’ve tried very hard to update my view of dogs as the ones owned by families and friends in my neighbourhood now are not tools for aggression and fear so I’d rather my DC and I were having a more neutral reaction to them!

I absolutely understand people’s fear of dogs.

For me it was being circled by a pack of dogs as a toddler. I can’t remember it but it left a lasting impact. In later years it’s been ignorance from bad dog owners thinking it’s ok to allow their dog to jump on you, chase and bark at you because they’re being “friendly”. On a bigger scale lots of people have different fears such as flying that doesn’t seem rational.

My fear comes from a childhood experience where a boxer puppy, bigger than me at the time, "just playing" came bounding towards me knocked my flying and pinned me to the ground whilst trying to lick me to death.

I wasn't harmed but it was a very frightening experience, which the owner was very blasé about, and thought my parents were most unreasonable to complain about. Plus my mum is scared of dogs, which probably rubs off.

Also, dogs do do actual harm to people so it's not an irrational fear.

Being attacked by a dog as a small child

being bitten by a dog as an adult

In both cases everyone believed it was the dog at fault , or the owner, but not my actions

pretty rational I think

dh was also bitten by a dog who was charging towards us, he put himself in front of me and his arm was bitten

i can be ok with dogs I have slowly gotten to know and trust but I am utterly fed up ok dogs off lead being allowed to jump up at you or snarl and growl and threaten you. Being told “oh he doesn’t normally act like that “ does not help

I like dogs but I am always mindful that they can be unpredictable regardless of how usually well behaved, fluffy and cute they are. I am especially careful with dogs and young children. I think sometimes dog owners are a bit blinded to their dogs being a potential danger to others, no your big lump of a dog is not ‘just a baby’ when he’s jumping up on a small child in the park.

Yes, exactly. I used to be scared of them as a child. A small dog once chased me off the swings at the park. I was terrified, what I remember is my mum telling me off, saying it was my fault for running away.

I did overcome my fear and had a dog of my own for many years. He was always on a lead in public places so he didn't scare others - he was a small, gentle dog who never in fact bit anyone through his entire life, but I was mindful that others wouldn't know that.

Dog lover myself. Always wanted one. Never been scared by one. Had kids. One had a staffy puppy run and jump at his face at about 18months old. It nipped his face. Then he was terrified of dogs. I worked with him to build up to being ok around dogs as lots of our family have them, he was ok until he got to about 8 when at a friend he suddenly jumped up in excitement about something which startled their dog who then ran at him and bit his toes and grabbed his leg. He will never go near a dog again now even though I’ve worked with him like before. I do understand it though and he’s right to have his fear based on his experiences with dogs, as much as I love them myself I wouldn’t ever get one now because of his experiences.