>>2793462 (OP)I used to be afraid of dogs. I had a traumatic experience as a kid, and was never around them growing up. So it was just always scary. When I saw a dog I would be scared.
I'll tell you that the cure is exposure. My parents got a dog, and I interacted with that dog a lot, and even looked after it for a few weeks occasionally when they were away. And I interacted with a lot of other dogs because when you walk a dog, you inevitably encounter other dog owners, and the dogs interact.
I learned that dogs are awesome. And their behaviour is largely predictable. They are pack animals, they respect authority, and most of them want to be your friend and are just curious. They like chasing.
Dogs have been perfectly selectively bred to be human companions (with some exceptions). They are highly attuned to human emotions, including fear, confidence, and sadness, and will respond appropriately.
Dogs which bark and aren't friendly are often very loyal to their owners, and won't harm anyone who isn't a threat, they're just wary of strangers until you prove yourself to be safe, which can be as simple as the owner vetting you. Dogs pick up on subtle non-verbal communication better than autistic humans.
If you are walking on someone else's territory and there are unleashed dogs walking around (this happens to me occasionally on footpaths in the UK that go near farmhouses), bear in mind that any dog that's unleashed is most of the time safe, or it would be on a leash. If you walk confidently to your destination, you'll probably have no problem. They may observe you, they may bark. Don't run.
Despite 99% of dog encounters you could have being positive, there are obviously bad dogs. Some people are cunts, and they buy the most aggressive breeds and train them to be dicks. It's unlikely to encounter such a dog, but if you do, you are basically at the behest of the the owner as to how well they trained it and how well the owner likes you. You can usually tell from the breed
