Studies find that teenagers are well informed about the risks of tobacco, but they also think that smoking is cool, that they themselves will be safe from harm, and that smoking projects a positive image to their peers. 1  So, the symbolic meaning of smoking overrides that actual facts regarding smoking and risk.
Alternatively, it represents a deterioration of your instincts. To dream that a dog bites your on the leg, suggests that you have lost your ability to balance aspects of your life. You may be hesitant in approaching a new situation or have no desire to move forward with your goals.
Using the hair of the dog that bit you means that someone is using the thing that caused the pain to cure it. The idiom has a historical basis, thanks to the antiquated belief that curing a dog bite required getting some fur from the dog that administered the bite and applying it on the bite area.