Daughter has a dog phobia, can anyone help?

paddypaws101

Well, it may have been spam that resurrected this post but I will give a big thumbs up to hypnotherapy as a cure for phobias. I had a really bad experience with a Boxer dog when I was young and it did leave me with a horrible, irrational fear of all dogs.
The greatest thing about hypnotherapy is that it not only stops you fearing the original object..but often allows you to really start liking the object.
Lets just say I have a real hankering for a Staffie in my life!
( oh and it worked on my spider phobia too....went from leaving a house if I saw a spider in there to just laughing when a HUGE house spider jumped down off my head one morning not so long ago! )

mike_orme

Nice one Paddy Paws

Just for the record my intention was to leave a link to an ezine article I wrote on hypno-desensitization, not to my homepage. As phobias are one of my specialties I set up Google Alerts to make me aware of anything that pops up on the subject.

I hope (as someone who professionally helps people with phobias) the information I have given is useful. Lets face it, I doubt if I will get much business from this site, after all why would someone pay when someone with five gold stars can advise them for FREE.:T

Cheers

samkent

Hi,
A very safe option for you and your daughter would be to contact Pets As Therapy (PAT). PAT dogs visit schools, hospitals, care home etc to sit with the patients/ residents (alongside the dogs owner). They have a scheme of working with dog phobic individuals. The important thing here is that each dog is temperament assessed and they are highly trustworthy. Pets As Therapy have a website with contact details on. I hope they have someone local to you who can help. I am a counsellor and PAT dog owner. I wish I could help.

scooby088

I contacted pets as therapy and they need a referral from a clinical psychologist to proceed with any courses to treat dog phobia.

ladymarmalade1970

How about buying her the Tina Humphries with Chandi DVD? No one could possibly be scared of Chandi! She dances and everything. If you type Tina Humphries into youtube you will see what i mean. She has won crufts several times.
Another VERY important thing to note is what the other poster said in that you CANT let your daughter run as to a greyhound or dog with a high prey drive this could be lethal. I am not trying to scare you but an offlead dog with high prey drive that see's a kid running and screaming is VERY likely to chase it. Of course dogs like this shouldn't be off lead but some owners are irresponsible.
Not being horrible about greyhounds, they are lovely dogs but couldn't think of any other example breeds with known high prey drives.

WolfSong2000

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

It's definitely worth working on this one. Dogs react differently to those who are frightened of them - essentially as the frightened person cannot assert themselves "above" the dog. The dog then knows that it's higher in the pack than the frightened person and will effectively be "a bully". Not necessarily aggressive, but the dog is likely to assert some dominance over the frightened person. This will only make them feel more nervous.

Just want to clarify that this is a massive generalisation and from my own experience largely untrue (unless the dog already has an aggressive nature).

Different dogs respond very differeny to nervous people. Some dogs get nervous themselves, others recognise that a person is nervous and respond in a much better way. It's why animals are so great for therapeutic purposes . Of course there are animals who will take advantage of fear - I used to know 2 horses that would "attack" you (one feigned it, and never did any harm, but the other really meant it and could potentially have done serious damage) if you showed fear, but if you were confident around them they were totally different animals.

I had a friend who was literally terrified of dogs - she just had to see one from a distance and would start having a panic attack. I introduced her very slowly to my family's dogs. The dogs couldn't have behaved better, and although they're normally very excited and the opportunity to meet a new person (golden retriever and his son who's a lab X), they both lay down on the floor, stayed calm and didn't make a big deal when my friend eventually plucked up the courage to stroke them.

By the end of the evening she was quite happily sitting next to them and giving them attention (which they lapped up).

It really is just a case of finding a dog with a suitable personality who will react appropriately to your daughter's fears (i.e. will stay calm, not get over-excited, etc).

For the record, though, I have found it interesting how people's dog phobia's have come about...I used to know one girl who was attacked by a pet dog as a kid - still has very visible scars on her face as the dog took a chunk out of it - but she still loves dogs and has no problems around them whatsoever. I am curious as to what makes some people phobic, whilst others who go through a similar experience are fine...guess I should have done a psychology degree

thermalnermal_2

I was scared of dogs all my life up until I was about 30. I used to avoid walking places where there might be dogs off the lead. I was OK with dogs that I knew and had been introduced to properly. When I was about 4 there was a yappy little terrier next door that used to bark whenever I went into the garden. That's where it started. My Grandma tried to desensitise me to dogs by taking me to visit people with calm dogs. that was fine and I have always been OK with dogs when I knew the owner, it was just unpredictable situations which made me anxious. This continued until my 30s when our neighbour bought a Rottweiler puppy. I was absolutely terrified. I was scared to go into the garden. I love gardening and I made up my mind that I wasn't going to let it stop me. I started bringing it treats and putting them over the fence. then I started giving it the treats. then I started to open the gate and pet it. Eventually I started to take it for walks. I would call this desensitisation it worked for me, only it didn't come from a therapist and nobody told me what to do or how to do it. I started reading books about dogs and understanding dog behaviour and body language. A few years later I decided that I would like to have a dog. We got a Border Collie, my husband has had them before and we like smart dogs. I learnt to work with my dog and help it overcome its fears (our first dog was a rescue dog, five months old with some challenging behavioural problems). I learnt to be the pack leader. We now have a 3 month old pup as well and I am so glad that I overcame my fears. The human race's relationship with dogs is an ancient one but now many of us have forgotten how to interact with dogs and understand their body language and behaviour and how to be master of them and this is what causes many of the problems today. I am so glad that I overcame my fear as I always knew it was totally irrational and that it made me take avoiding behaviour. Being a dog owner has significantly improved my self esteem and confidence. If I could I would like to help others conquer their fears.

Raksha

Whilst getting a dog may help some phobias, it often fails if the family of a phobic child get a puppy - puppies come equipped with very sharp pointy teeth, and there is no quicker way of scaring a child than having a cute fluffy puppy hang off their arms with those teeth.......