On my job I go into other peoples houses on a daily basis. I have observed two things: most dogs are poorly socialized and almost completely untrained. Most owners have little to no awareness of their dog’s behavior, demeanor, and potential for injury. “Oh, he’s friendly!” When the dog clearly is not. “Oh, my dog won’t hurt you! But he IS protective!” What part of what you just said makes sense to you, when protective of you =aggressive towards me? And my favorite, “Oh, the dog’s ok! “ To which I reply, “Well, I’m not!” And to top it off, some of these are the very people who get very offended if you ask them to secure the dog elsewhere while you are there. No, sorry, I don’t take your word for it that your dog is harmless.
I’ve had close calls with small dogs; I generally don’t let big dogs get close enough to attack.
An elderly lady in a town near me was killed by her neighbor’s dogs. They had escaped from his back yard due to a fence in such poor condition anyone could see it was inadequate. I’m not sure about the dog breeds but there were six or seven of them. Another gentleman I know was attacked by a neighbor’s rescue pit bull simply because he came outside when the dog was being walked past his house. It had him on the ground in an instant and the owner couldn’t pull it off him. A neighbor arrived home just in time to help get the dog off him. As it was he was hospitalized and required a blood transfusion.
It’s my personal opinion that a lot of dog owners have no business owning a gerbil or goldfish, much less a dog.
A dog is a canine predator with millions of years on instinct hardwired into them and even a well trained and well behaved dog will, for reasons only known to it can and will revert to those instincts.