Dogs are our friends and it is an absurd and abnormal thing to fear them: a child afraid of dogs has a bad relationship with nature as well, and this disturbs his character.
  It has been proved that children that love animals have a better relationship with their friends of the same age (as well as with human adults); moreover children who panic and flee risk more than others to be bitten (see the paragraph "Children and predatory instinct" below).
  Children often inherit from their parents - even only through their attitude - the fear of dogs. Here is a useful piece of advice:

  For parents who fear dogs:

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  try to explain to yourself first, and to your children next, that fear of the dogs may have a personal reason (like a shock in their childood) but fortunately it is not an absolute: ninety-nine per cent of dogs are absolutely harmless;

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  never shout or make abrupt movements if the child spontaneusly approaches an unknown dog: this kind of behaviour scares the animal and may induce the dog to believe the child is a threat to him;

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  do not tell the child things like "do not touch him, he bites!" or "do not touch him, he's full of fleas!"; commends like that, beside inducing the child to be afraid of dogs, do not correspond to real dangers: fleas, if there are any, prefer to stay on the dog and it is very difficult for them to pass onto humans, whose blood is less attractive to them; as for the danger of being bitten, remember that it is almost sure a dog who bites, while walking on a leash with his master, is wearing a muzzle: if he isn't it means the dog is friendly and there is no reason to be scared of him; we can't predict the temperament of stray dogs: but they, as they are not on a leash, can leave when they had enough of the child's attention... and this is precisely what they do. Finally it is extremely unusual for a dog to bite someone, if he is given the chance to leave instead of attacking;

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  teach the child not to run and shout in front of a dog (see box "Children and predatory instinct" below, next table).

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  For parents who don't fear dogs:

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  do not tell to a small child fairytales with a "bad wolf" as a character, or try to explain (in a simple manner and suitable for their age) that the "bad wolf" is a fictional character, and real wolves do not eat people;

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  teach the child not to rush towards an unknown dog but to approach him slowly, calling him and offering him a hand to sniff; a correctly approached dog won't bite without warning;

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  explain to the child what are the signs an aggressive dog gives (stiff hairs, drawn back ears, growl); let him understand that this is the dog's language to communicate he doesn't want to be touched, and that we have to respect his wish to be left alone;

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  as mentioned above, another always worthy rule is teaching the child not to run or shout in front of the dog.

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  For parents who already fear dogs:

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  do not make the child approach dogs, just give the example, stroking gently and playing with them, without ever forcing the child to do it;

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  · show the child movies, documentaries and DVD that present dogs as positive characters; let the child play with puppet-dogs;

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  never choose a puppy or a grown puppy for a first approach. Puppies can't measure their love effusions: while playing, a puppy can nibble shoes and trousers, a grown puppy can throw the child to the ground to welcome him; in situations such as this, instead of being reassured, the child will be scared, since he can't understand the friendly purposes of the dog and, instead of solving the problem, it will get worst. Thus, the best thing to do is choose a nice quiet adult dog who loves children, a dog that lets people stroke him gently and take him on the leash, as if he was... a living puppet himself. A mature and calm Saint Bernard is the ideal dog for these tasks of positive conditioning.

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  see final advices at previous points.

  All dogs keep a share of the atavic predatory instinct (so does our Saint Bernard, even if in a very low percentage)..
  By definition, an instinctive drive is something that sets off automatically, when the dog is not "thinking about it": that's what drives him to run after - and bite at times - everything has got the look or the typical behaviour of prey.
  For the dog - as it is for his progenior, the wolf - the "prey" is anything smaller than him and flees quickly, letting out acute cries: these are exactly the features of the image of an escaping cat, of flapping poultry on the run... and of a child who, afraid of the dog, flees screaming and crying. With such a boost every dog, even the most calm one, could start a chase: a Saint   Bernard can do it to play, but a child could be scared and his phobia could worsen.
This is the reason why it is necessary to teach children never to run screaming in front of a dog, but stand calm and steady waiting for their parents to intervene.

  A child and a dog that get along well will share beautiful moments: but it could happen that the child forgets health rules.
Let's teach him not to do it, but don't make a fuss if it happens: the dog can transmit only very few illnesses to humans, and a regularly vaccinated animal, well-kept and in a good health is never dangerous.