Now that I have gotten going, here are some more thoughts along with a tragic story.
Ultimately this is a safety and spatial integrity issue and a human-animal issue. It doesnt matter if dogs are friendly, aggressive, big, small, cute or whatever else. They are not in the same category as people. Dogs are not anyones children. I know that feeling is out there. I can also understand it. But, its ridiculous when it comes to violating another persons integrity or safety. If your child attacks my child, any adult would intervene with the aim to separate them and stop it. If I reacted by kicking your kid in the head, not only am I sick in some way, but I would rightfully be charged criminally. However, if your dog attacks my child, I will not worry about your dog when I intervene. And if the attack is viscous, I will not hesitate to kick your dogs head off (so to speak). I would then call the police and try to have you charged criminally.
While Im at it, lets look at another myth. This one is based on a difference between a dogs owner and everyone else. The owner operates with their close knowledge of their dog. The rest have to navigate a world of many dogs, almost all of which are completely unknown to them. The owner knows their dog. They know it is friendly and just wants to jump on you to say hi. They know it is not aggressive, so even if it has a mean bark they feel its enough to tell you its OK, she never bites, or some version thereof. There are two problems with this. First, the stranger is asked to stand down and be OK with the dogs behavior. It should be the other way around. Secondly, a dogs character and history are no different than that of any other being; they are very good predictors of future behavior, but they are not foolproof. When it comes to aggression, we need to err on the side of caution.
Heres what I mean. Years ago, I was arriving home with my beautiful 4 year old boy on a nice summer day. He stood beside our vehicle while I reached in the back to get some things. Before I could register anything, a nice dog from down the block was on top of my boy chewing on my kids face. I kicked the dog in the chest and it went flying. I dropped to attend to my kid, while my neighbour rushed up, grabbed the dogs collar and started yelling at me. She said my kick was too much, that her dog was friendly and had never bitten anyone before. She stopped though when she got a look at my boy, blood everywhere, who was missing some of his face and eye. And his (and my) sanity. So, ambulance and fire truck, hospital, surgery, trauma, recovery, and so on. He almost lost his eye and has a ridiculous scar which two bouts of plastic surgery have repaired only some. Closing the circle, since then, he has had a pretty serious dog phobia which we have been working on for 14 years.
So, no, your dog is not a kid. And, it is irrelevant what you know about your dog. The odds are very high you are correct but those odds do not make a certainty. Every dog who has bitten a person did so for a first time. Thats the only way it can be. So, respect needs to be shifted off of the dogs and on to the people. Its simple, but I will repeat myself: you should employ whatever means you need to, to keep your dog under your control, out of other peoples personal space, unless invited otherwise.
As for phobias, they are difficult partly because by not being rational, they are plenty odd. My son had nightmares for years, he almost jumped out of his skin at the sight or sound of a dog, raccoons didnt go down too well either, BUT, he found incredible comfort, in all places, with our own dog. Thats right, I am a dog owner and have loved dogs since my childhood. Our dog passed, and thanks to my neighbour, I will never be able to own one again.