I am not going to discuss all dog attacks or breeds I would like to highlight one area of attacks associated with great danes.  Danes are known as gentle giants but they also are responsible for serious injuries every year, partly due to their size.  And unfortunately most of these injuries are sustained by children for a couple of reasons.  One, they are at the right height, two, they are often responsible for tormenting the animals, and three they are scarred.

I am not going to attempt to look too far into the psychology of a Dane but what I have observed numerous times is that people who are afraid of a Dane are much more likely to be attacked by the Dane.  Showing fear leads one to be a little bit more outwardly aggressive, it leads to more eye contact, raised hands, sharper quicker movements, all of which a great dane associates with aggressive behavior.

I am not going to tell people to not be afraid of large dogs because many people simply have a fear of dogs which is easily intensified by size.  To these people simply keep your distance or stand your ground.  To those that would like to overcome learn the body language that will show that you are not a threat, such as, limited eye contact, sideways stance, crouched stance, hands down, higher voice (not loud, higher in pitch).

To the owners who want to make people comfortable with their Danes, learn to do proper introductions to strangers and reward the dane obsessively for good behavior.  Also learn to teach new people in the dogs life the proper mannerisms and how to establish dominance over a large animal.  Be present while these introductions take place and make sure that new people have enough introduction and bonding time with the great dane to overcome their fear.

One effective strategy is to model proper behavior yourself or what I like to do is have my six year old son model the proper behavior for new people.  When an adult who is afraid of dogs sees a six year old interacting without being eaten it can go a long way to overcome fear.