Now he feels bad, the fault is not this young wolf's, but the fault of the dogs in his youth he fought off and grew terrified of just to survive. Perhaps the pup deserved an explanation to his fear, as well as Xue Yang. A vulnerable side of himself, but Xue Yang has continuously shown him that he's not a threat to him. Or the Daozhangs for that matter.

"I don't want him to be tossed aside to fend for himself..." He pauses, wincing at that last bit of being tossed aside and forced to fight for their meal. That hit very close, but after a moment and an inhale, he continues. "Funny you say that about being forced to fight for a meal. Before Sect Leader Jiang adopted me, I had to fight dogs for scraps as a very young child. I got bit all over a lot of times."

The tone Wuxian gives and the phrasing hints at that being a fear of dogs, and the reason why it's such a terrible fear.