I am 16 and am absolutely petrified of dogs, I was chased by two Labradors when I was 3 years old in a park and that’s why I’m scared. So saying to me “it’s okay they won’t hurt you” or “don’t worry he’s friendly” doesn’t mean a single thing to me because I will freak out no matter what. So please for the love of god if your dogs are not on a leash and they go up to people, if you can see the person is in distress put your dog on a leash immediately. Yes okay your dog may be friendly but that doesn’t matter to people that are afraid of dogs, we will still panic. It drives me insane, the other day I was going for a walk and two grey hounds came bounding up to me, I went into complete panic mode and started crying and freaking out, the owner said “it’s okay they won’t hurt you” and refused to put them on a leash. Please please please just keep in mind that saying things like that won’t reassure people that are afraid ❤️