8 Year Old Terrified of All Dogs

Hello all, I haven't logged in for a while...a few big problems needed sorting out. I've missed reading all the dog advice

Anyway, back to my point.

I have a friend who's 8 year old daughter is terrified of all dogs. She goes into a panic whenever she sees or is near one. He really wants to beat this fear but doesn't know where to start. Can any of you guys think of a way round this please? Thank you.

Hi Hammer

missed you here, hope things are sorted


the only help i can give is that for the last year at the school gates i have had a little girl freak out every time i crossed the road with my two, her mum was concerned that she had this irrational fear (as she had never had a bad experience with any dog) so she asked if she could wait next to me everyday - no chat - no big deal - just stand in the same vicinity. Eventually the little girl got used to us crossing the road, then she got used to us standing anywhere near her and in a couple of months she was calmly standing next to my dogs. Then one day she asked if she could hold Rogues (CKCS) lead - Rogue is a very gentle and calm dog so yes i gave her the lead! by the next week she was stroking her ears! While she will probably never be a dog lover she had totally gotten over whatever it was that made her freakout!. This wouldnt have worked with my bichon as she is a fusspot so i think the choice of dog is important, a calm, friendly dog will ease a tense situation.

good luck

If this is a real phobia I would suggest seeing someone medically trained. If it`s something that is fairly recent, maybe starting with a puppy at a distance would be a start. I would say don`t go any faster than the girl feels comfortable with and don`t force it. My dog-training club has a Phobics / Fears programme but they work with the guidance of a psychologist.

I would say her first port of call should be her GP to see if she can be referred for a bit of counselling. My son's friend is petrified of dogs and always has been, but had some therapy done and improves. He will now stroke Cosmo if Cosmo is sitting still (which includes not wagging his tail, not easy).

If your friend doesn't know anyone with calm dogs for her daughter to be around, what about getting in touch with Pets As Therapy and see if there is a dog in her area that could help?

My friends 10 year old boy is like that and was getting worse, much worse as he started to be the same with cats, even if he saw one out of the window.
She was tearing her hair out as even her younger daughter was starting to copy his behaviour when she'd been fine before.

She took him to see a private child therapist. I'm not sure if she's still going, I know my friend was quite nervous as the therapist was asking allsorts of funny questions, but I did reassure her that that was appropriate, ie it may not be the dogs but someone other thing causing the problem.

She was thinking about getting a rescue adult cat to help.

I think though that the gp idea is a good start.

i think a hypnotherapist / life coach is your best port of call - I'd say better than a therapist or psychologist but thats just MO.

See if you can get hold of a copy of Paul Mckenna I can change your life series - he helps a woman on there with a strong fear of dogs.

my son was like this.

i took him to rescue centres to see the dogs. he felt safe there with the dogs in kennels knowing they couldnt get near him.

eventually we got our own dog and the rest is history.