Leslie,

I know what you mean. My brother & I were allowed
into a yard of a relative while we were much too young
to be unsupervised, and my brother was bitten badly
on the leg by the chained Chow in the yard. He merely
picked up the dog's bowl b/c it was empty and he wanted
to fill it. a simple childish gesture, that had bad , but
predictable results. The incident caused a lifelong avoidence
& distrust of dogs. I was not bitten, but I saw it happen.
No, I agree , even though I love all dogs, I would not
just go up to one I did not know & try to pet it, but I'm
not fearful of any dog just because of it's size.