I had a incident with a dog too although my case is propably less typical. Usually when you hear of people injured by dogs you think of aggressive dogs biting someone, but in my case an overly exited poorly trained dog accidentally almost scratched out my eye. Since then I'm also scared of dogs but its more because I dont trust their owners to be in control of them.
Since then some people who where there tell me i shouldn‘t hate the dog (which i don‘t) because it didnt want to injure me, didn’t know better, is clumsy and whatnot whenever I mentioned that the owner maybe should train the dog better. For some reason they feel like they need to defend the dog even in this case…

I get what your saying.. I'm a huge dog person aha but I think the reason people respond that way to anyone attacking an animal is because it is more often than not (like 99% probability) a human's fault why a dog retaliates aggressively. Not the victim's fault, but the owner of the dog. Some dog's are trained to attack for safety reasons, other dogs aren't and will still attack if they feel threatened, or they notice their owner is in danger. Some dog's are abused by human's physically, so they won't trust human's until they find a good companion, some dog's are put up for bid by being forced into dog fights (these dog's tend to be the most aggressive/mean). The list goes on and on.
But the number one reason why I think people get so defensive about dogs is that, no matter what kind of dog they are, once they are shown to a loving companion who trains them well, they are more than capable of change. And I say this from personal experience too. I rescued a pitbull-boxer mix who used to be very angry from being left to near death in an abandoned building, and now she would never even think about hurting another human being. She's the most playful, loving thing.
That being said, I completely understand your fear of dogs too (being bitten by a dog is honestly terrifying), so you shouldn't have to be afraid to ask these sorts of questions, or have your own differing opinions about them. But I will say this, the sensitivity regarding dogs, is most likely something you just won't understand until you have a dog of your own. Dog-lover's aren't overreacting about these sorts of things (though don't get me wrong, there are dog-lover's who do overreact, and trust me, you'll know hahaha) because there is a legitimate psychology behind raising, or caring for any dog that non-dog-lover's don't exactly get.
And also, if there ever comes a point in your life where you want to get over your fear of dogs, trust me, you will do fine!