People with dog fears

[Catillac]

Question: If dogs can allegedly smell fear in people, does my very nice and friendly Corgi know to back off if a person with dog fears enters the house?

Daisy loves visitors, but I had someone come by who was viciously attacked by a dog when she was a child. She was terrified of Daisy even though the dog was calm and friendly. We put Daisy in the bedroom, and both human and canine were OK with that. Did Daisy understand what was going on?

[Bobbie]

In my experience, no, dogs don't sense that a person is afraid of them. Either they don't know or they think that being friendly to that person is the thing to do anyway, but mine love to be all exuberant with someone who is terrified!

[MelmoK]

I think it depends on the dog.
My sister had a Lhasa Apso who seemed to sense how people felt about her and if it was okay to be near them. On the other hand my pit/boxer mix thinks everyone automatically loves her and acts as such.
And then you have the people who don't think dogs can think and...well...to each their own.

[LaRogue]

Either they don't know or they think that being friendly to that person is the thing to do anyway, but mine love to be all exuberant with someone who is terrified! Same here. We have neighbors who are very obviously terrified when they spot a dog, but Pip seems to think he should try to approach them and I have to lead him in the other direction.