Anyone who says that a dog's bark is worse than its bite has obviously not had the privilege of getting a large chunk of skin ripped from the back of their leg. I still do not trust Dobermans. I hate them. Hoagland touches on this in part of his essay. He comments on how some people like to have a dog in the house sleeping on a rug in the corner, and a guest will be terrified by it.
Some people seem to see a dog's gaze as a look of death.
They feel as if the dog will lunge and try to kill them at the first sign of weakness. This is almost always not true. Hoagland starts an interesting thread on how the social structure of a dog fits into their lives with humans perfectly. After spending a couple of minutes thinking about it, while playing with my dog, I think I agree. A dog is used to being at the bottom.