who could be scared of this?

The man may have had a bad experience with a dog. Which has left him afraid of them for life. But making the child frightened of dogs doesn't make what happened to him right. He needs to teach her proper "dog etiquette ". First, if the child approaches a dog that is loose on the street she shouldn't just rush up and pet the dog. You never know what the dog might do. If the dog charges you, drop on the ground on your face and cover your head. If the dog is with it's owner, ask the owner first if it is okay to pet the dog. If the owner says yes, don't just start petting the dog. Offer the back of your hand in a non threatening manner and allow the dog to sniff your hand. Then if the dog doesn't show any sign of fear you can raise your hand slowly to pet the dog. I NEVER pet a dog without the owner's permission. Even though your puppy is friendly and wouldn't hurt anyone, it's better to be safe than sorry. Sometimes dogs don't feel good and really don't want to be bothered. Or, they can just take a notion that they don't like a person. With children though, it seems like dogs instinctively know that they need to be treated gently and that children won't hurt them. I had Rottweilers who were raised with adults and really hadn't been around children, yet they absolutely loved children were very gentle with them, and would protect them. I taught my daughter all of the things that I mentioned above. She grew up respecting and loving dogs and never got bit (except her mother in laws dog has bitten her...but that dog bites everyone.). In fact we have pictures of her asleep on top of my parents dog (he was a Irish Wolfhound and Royal Standard Poodle mix). Next time you see the man and the child, it is an opportunity to teach the child the proper way to approach a dog and to also ease the man's fears.

I've had large dogs all of my life so I'm not nervous around any dog but I do know that there are those who are and it's a shame when they pass their fears on to another generation. My daughter and my parents both have labs and they are the most gentle dogs I've known. I've had several breeds of large dogs and I would have to say that the labs have better temperments than even the Shephards I've had, which have been great with kids, too. As far as my kids go, they're grown now, but I taught them at a young age that, when they met a strange dog, they were to hold their hand out and let the dog sniff them before trying to pet it. They're grown now and teach their children the same technique.

My son is afraid of dogs, which I don't understand since I'm a huge animal lover. I don't know, maybe its because he was raised with cats rather than dogs. But his grandparents had dogs. He did get bit once when he was a teenager, but he was afraid of them even before that. Myself, I've been bit as a child but still never afraid. Just last year I went out and chased off a pitbull that was chasing my cat. My son scolded me later and told me I shouldn't have done that. In retrospect it could have been dangerous. But I've just never been afraid of dogs and don't plan to start now. I think the way that man handled it is wrong. What he should have done was asked the owner if the pup is friendly and if its ok for her to pet the dog. Teaching children to fear animals isn't the way to go.

Well not everyone likes everything,some are animal lovers who like having pets but some dont. The might have had sought of bad experience with a dog or something like that, or the guy was just being over cautious. I think there is no point wondering about the incident.

I am an animal lover and have never for one minute been afraid of dogs. I have had friends that were, but I have never been. My mom also owns a dog that don't like children and has been known to bite them, so I can see both sides of this. I would let my child pet the dog, if it approached my child first and if it seemed friendly, it would help if the owner was there to ask if it had ever bitten anyone. As long as it wasn't showing signs of aggression, I would let my children pet it.

When I was like 2 or 3 I went to my grandpa's dog and he bit me on the head, he wouldn't let go and my grandpa had to pull me out of his jaws....so I can understand why some people would be affraid to let children play with dogs. But I wouldn't try to make my child scared of animals, I would just invent something like "Your too young to play with dogs now" and only let her play while I would be really close by.

To be honest I would not allow my kids to stroke a big dog I did not know. Just because the dog is okay with its family and has never harmed nobody. It does not mean it will tolerate strangers the same way. Why do you think mailmen get attacked by dogs who supposely who would never hurt a flea? I have been attacked as a child froma neighbors dog just trying to walk to my house after being let off at the bus stop. If it wasn't for my three sisters hitting the dog with their books. It would of bene much worse. Many days I had to run past that house. My teen was also attacked by a a small breed dog a few years back. Nobody gave that dog a thought as it was to small to harm anyone. But my teen know knows how dangerous they can be after landing in the ER. Not once but twice because of it.

some pets may be sweet and tame for the owners but will not be to other people sometimes they are over protective of the owners, thinking all strangers are going to hurt them. or they are just not used to humans aside from the family hat owns them. they may also have their own history of being abused so from time to time they shock their owners by being aggressive. the man you mentioned might have bad experiences with aggressive pets especially dogs. I don't think he is animal hater, at least I hope not. but yeah I agree that he shouldn't make the girl afraid of dogs, he could just tell her not to stroke other people's pets without him being there because if he is there and something unexpected happens, he can save her anyway.