Daughter has a dog phobia, can anyone help?

jos_4

Excellent advice given by everyone. My two boys (4 & 5) were petrified of dogs and cats after having two awful run ins with dogs. It was watching house of tiny tearaways that gave me the ideas of how to overcome this, lucky for us grandad has a nice calm friendly dog who we slowly introduced them to. It did take time but now they are happy to stroke and play with him now and do not scream and run from others. Check the BBC website to see if they have any info about it. Good luck.

Dora_the_Explorer_5

I had thought of hypnotherapy as mentioned here, because when I was young my cousin had a dog phobia and had hypnotherapy

No properly qualified, trustworthy hypnotherapist would or should work with a 7 year old without a referral from a GP. If you feel that a therapuetic intervention is necessary ask your doctor to refer you to a private cognitive behaviour therapist who works with children. HTH

Penny-Pincher!!

Are you confident around dogs/animals? Sometimes as parents our children can pick up on these kind of things and our fears rub off on them.

PP
xx

Sweet_Pea_2

Yes I like dogs, I was a bit nervous when I was really young but then we had a dog when I was about 8 so I grew up with one. OH is not at all dog friendly, hes not scared he just does not like them, but is usually too polite to say this in front of the dogs owners!
My cousin was scared I think because both my aunt and uncle were, they definately passed it on to her. I have tried to gently encourage dd's to stroke or pat friends dogs in the past, but haven't got very far.
My cousins hypnotherapy was carried out by our own gp. Unfortunately he has retired now. I will avoid this route unless nothing else works, but thanks for the tips.

kitten_jo

maybe this could help
it hard when a child hates to be near dogs with my kid it was ok to she was 11 and got bitten badly by a dog
we took things slowly had more and more dog films on so had her laughing at the things they got up to
then i had a friend that had a dog so we met him on a lead and let it up to her if she wanted to go near him in the end over time she did and now loves him
the next bit was to get her to go near a dog that was like the one that bit her ( no most people think why do that but u have a kid of 12 running into a road just to get away from a dog like one that bit her and u would want to do something)
we went to friends house was playing with the other dog and she was told that the next day he wanted his friend to play but she could stop it at any time and the dog would be on a lead at all times
he was at the other side of room and both dogs was playing and she was laughing at what they got up to slowly over a few days we got the lead to come off
now she is a happy kid of 15 that know not all dogs are bad that its the owners that have not trained them right
she now loves dogs and would love to have one of her own
why did i do this i did it for my kid as there is a lot of dogs out there and no way do i want her to have to hide/run away all the time

Sweet_Pea_2

Kitten-Jo, I know what you mean. I didnt realize just how many dogs we encounter on a daily basis walking 5 minutes up the road to school. If we dont help our daughter the way that you helped yours I can see it will have a serious effect on her life.
She wont go to a friends house after school for tea if she thinks they may have a dog, she wont play with her friend a few doors down because of her dog, she does not want to go to the park any more because there are always dogs there off the lead. We dont visit our best friends very often (her godparents) because of their dog, poor old thing has to go in the garden which isnt fair on him. Its affecting her life already. Her sister is now approaching the age where she wants to walk to and from school with her friends (that a whole over story - LOL) but dd2 will not be able to do that unless she conquers her fears.
Thanks for sharing your story, this is why I need to help my daughter, because I want her to have a normal life like her friends.

Bergaspeed

Hi,
I am 36 and still scared of dogs, I find I have to explain myself to a lot of people and let them know how scared I am. My parents didnt help much they just told me not to be so stupid. I think it's wonderful that you recognise your daughter as having a phobia and want to help her.

I have started going to the local dogs home, where they are all kept in locked cages and behind an enclosed fence. This has helped me a lot as when we first started going I would stand behind my husband and hold on to him for dear life. Now I can go off on my own and look at the dogs.
It will be a long process and she may never fully get over it but she will be able to deal with it better.
BTW I became scared of dogs in exactly the same way as your daughter.

moggins

This is a great thread, my daughter has the same problem and can not even visit her best friend now as they have a boisterous young dog who jumps up all the time. I thought she was coming out of it as we have a found an oldish dog near us who she loves to bits and doesn't mind stroking but it seems it's only one dog she doesn't mind any boisterous dog has her screaming in terror.

magoogy

im 37 and absolutely hate being out alone because of the selfish owners who let their dogs out by themselves - ive always been afraid of dogs but could walk about alone and go near them if i had to but, when i was pregnant i was surrounded by a pack of dobermans (about 5 of them) and ever since my phobia has got worse....if i like the look of a dog im ok, but, if not i wont go to that house again....

i cannot walk outdoors alone and some days cannot even hang my washing out because i fear a dog will jump into the garden....i need to get someone to walk with me wherever i go or i get a taxi which is a dear do....

please get your daughter help before she ends up like me....

good luck

mike_orme

Just for future reference if anyone finds this thread and has a similar problem.

The reason hypnotherapy might be a good idea is you will be relaxed when you do the desensitisation. Some other therapies do this anyway but hardly ever as good as with a trained hypnotherapist. Also, it's all done in your head rather than with a real dog, so there's far less anxiety about the whole process.

And yes it does transfer to the real world when you have completed your treatment.

Hypno-desensitisation has a high success rate.

Just remember a healthy respect for things that could potentially be dangerous is not a phobia, it's good sense.

here's an article on it.