I'm sorry to hear that. I know when I walk by people's houses, with or without my Shepherd, if a dog barks I almost aways usually say, "Hi!" or completely ignore them (the little ones that bark just to bark). I admitt though that if they are large dogs with a deep bark I might "jump" usually because I'm deep in thought and just realized their presence. When I approach the fence, I find that they, more often then not, appear to be pretty friendly with wagging their tails and whines. I steer clear of the ones that growl though.
In my opinion, you're innocent until proven guilty.
I have a few neighbors that have dogs that I'd really like to "pet". Although, I think it'd be very akward to just knock on their door and say (when they open it, of course),
"Hi, I've walked by your house a few times and I've noticed you have some great looking dogs, may I play with them?" I guess I could go up and ask where they got their dogs...this would probably be a better approach.
I don't know...how would you respond if someone walked up to your doorstep with this question?
Oh! I went to Jamba Juice a few weeks ago and saw a couple walking their 2 fawn Danes (one cropped, the other natural). I figured that I could order my juice and then catch them on my way out...but noooo...the person in front of me had to take forever to decide. The Dane people were right in front of the entrance by this time. I couldn't just leave the line either because a long one was starting to form behind me. By the time I finally ordered, ran out and looked for them...they were long gone. Geez, they're fast walkers, there was no trace of them. I was really upset at the people who were in front of me. I really, really, realllllly wanted to pet the pretty danes and talk to their humans! ::sighs::
By the way, I'm more afraid of my friend's chihuahua, "Bonita", then I am of any Shepherd, Rottweiler or Dobermann in my Schutzhund club. Infact, my friend had to lock Bonita away because the dog wouldn't leave me alone. It kept barking and growling. Upon my leave he let Bonita out and the Chihuahua attacked me! He bite my ankle and then kept pulling at my sock! Oh, I was trying soooooo hard not to kick him. And I didn't, aren't you proud of me?
I've found that smaller breeds, especially toy, tend to be very nippy and more aggressive. They are more prone to bite then any larger breed I would say, based upon my personal experiences.
I wonder, if enough people are bitten by minature poodles and Chihuahuas, are they going to be on the "dangerous dog" list and banned from certain cities too? Probably not...gosh, what's up with the descrimination? I believe they are violating the consititution by creating such law restrictions.. .not to meantion racism in dogs. I thought this was a "free" country...what happened?