ioplokon:

thatadult:

Stop taking personal offense to people being afraid of your dogs and just move them. If you’re walking down the street and someone jumps back or hangs right to the wall, just keep walking your dog and pass them. Don’t stop to explain who your dog is and defend them to the person and have the dog lingering around them longer. Dogs are used as police animals and traumatize people, dogs attack people, dogs can just be scary to people personally without being connected to institutionalized violence or trauma. People are allowed to be afraid of dogs.. it’s a dog. Don’t stop and explain that it’s trained or it’s a service animal, or talk about the leash or how strong you are. Don’t stop to guarantee that the dog won’t hurt them– literally just keep it pushing. No one has to feel okay with your dog! It’s okay if someone just is scared of the dog. if they’re scared of it, they’re allowed to be scared and back up and go around the corner and cross to the other street if they have fear of trauma surrounding dogs. You don’t need to make them feel stupid for being scared by telling them how good a boy Fido is. I already explained this, leave people alone! Dogs don’t need you to defend them, they don’t speak English, they can not understand you..

Also many of us who are afraid of or uncomfortable around dogs understand that our body language is often stressful to them as well. By calmly and quietly moving away and disengaging with your dog, I am being considerate of their comfort as well as my own, and doing what I can to prevent a bad situation, or even just mild stress/discomfort for your dog.