Petrified Londoners!

[PILhip]

I have a small, white, fluffy poodle X. I live 2hrs from London now, but often return to the where I used to live in East London. Where I am now, people want to pat my dog, say hello etc. In London, they squeal to get out of the way, walk on the road to avoid the dog and visibly look petrified. Are people worried about being mauled, think it has rabies or just not used to seeing dogs as pets?

What makes you think they are terrified, rather than just repulsed by the concept of such a dirty animal being in the vicinity? I am not scared of your small dog, but I find them thoroughly disgusting, and will move away when one is getting close to me.

Dog owners are like any other people, we understand body langage, and visual cues, this is a feature of our human brain.
Distinguishing between someone being scared and someone being repulsed is actually very easy.

But I'm sure you know it, you just wanted to let people know that you hate dogs.

You WANT to think people are scared rather than repulsed, because to know we are repulsed by your 'd'dog makes you feel like your hygiene standards are lower than low.
I have had numerous people see my reaction to dogs and they say "it's ok, he's friendly/won't bite" and I'm like, no, I just don't want that filthy thing near me.