Yes-- but--
all the more reason to develop an understanding of dog behavior. THIS dog was clearly socialized and quite friendly.
Given the number of dogs in America, and the things that young and not-so-young children
tend to do around dogs (staring at them, not reading avoidance correctly, reaching without allowing the dog to sniff and approach, etc. etc.), the miracle is that the number isn't HIGHER, quite honestly.
I also don't think that stating that plane crashes tend to be fatal is a useful way to defend a fear of flying-- as an analogy, I mean. The problem with this as defensive data is that the
per capita or
per incident risk is a bit more nuanced and certainly far, far, FAR lower than such statistics reflect.
Another thing that people may commonly be afraid of (irrationally so): heights. Falls actually injure or kill
how many people annually? Well, it's a fair number, actually, if one were to look at the raw data. But on the other hand, if looked at in a per-incident fashion as falls FROM HEIGHTS, the risk is actually quite low. Yes, the risk is inherent. But usual caution
seems to be adequate most of the time. Same thing with dogs. Usual caution and awareness really
is enough most of the time.
The response of climbing a tree or going inside to "escape" the danger presented by a dog which was obviously friendly with the other children is therefore probably a bit disproportionate.
Ergo, I think that while the parental impulse would be to find reasons why the fear is completely rational-- it probably isn't. A strange dog that approaches a SINGLE child making eye contact and moving purposefully with the tail raised, "flagging" and ears forward? Yeah-- THAT is a dog to avoid, since those are aggressive postures and behavior.
More about dog posture:
http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/canine-body-languageTo compare accidental injuries treated in emergency rooms, a person is roughly 23 times more likely to be injured from a fall than from a dog bite, 12 times more likely to be injured by a car, 7 times more likely to be injured by a sharp object and 1.5 times more likely to be injured by a bicycle. These data are all the more remarkable if the prevalence of dogs in human society is considered—an estimated 74.8 million dogs were kept as pets in the United States in 2007–2008.
From the
Dog Bite Prevention page at ASPCA.
That page has a LOT of good information about dog behavior and how children who may not be familiar with dogs
should (and should NOT) respond to unfamiliar dogs.
All of that is not (in the least) to say that the group of children should have engaged with this strange stray animal-- they SHOULD have told an adult that the dog was there and appeared to be without an owner/handler.
