6 years old boy, scared of dogs!

leom

My son who is 6 years old now, is very scared of dogs, he does not want to go out and play on his own. When he was 4, he was playing in Park with ball, when a dog chased him (playfully), trying to snatch his ball. Since that day onward he will not go out on his own.
He has no problem in socializing in school, or playing with other kids. Its just he has got phobia of dogs.
I live in apartment, so can not keep a dog.
Please advice, what should I do? Should I see a child pscychiatrist?

smelltheglove

leom wrote: »

My son who is 6 years old now, is very scared of dogs, he does not want to go out and play on his own. When he was 4, he was playing in Park with ball, when a dog chased him (playfully), trying to snatch his ball. Since that day onward he will not go out on his own.
He has no problem in socializing in school, or playing with other kids. Its just he has got phobia of dogs.
I live in apartment, so can not keep a dog.
Please advice, what should I do? Should I see a child pscychiatrist?

DO you know anyone who has a dog of a mild temperment? I find kids that are scared of dogs often soften when they realise the dog is calm. We have nieces and nephews that were always afraid of dogs, our last dog terrified them but with our new dog they gradually started to calm and one has even started aksing for a dog of her own.

username123

Hi OP,
If I were you I would try to organise some positive experiences with dogs so that your son learns to overcome his fear.

Do you know anyone with a well mannered, calm dog that would be willing to allow interaction between your son and the dog?

Do you live anywhere near the DSPCA in Dublin? (Mount Venus Road, Rathfarnham).
They have some resident dogs who are absolutely bullet proof with children. You can quite literally fall over these dogs, step on them, poke them, prod them, scream right at them, and they have no reaction at all. They are allowed to wander freely around the centre itself. They would be the perfect dogs for your son to meet in a non threatening situation. You could also ask the staff there for ideas on how to help your son to overcome this fear. They may also be able to allow your son to meet puppies in a safe environment.

I think its crucial you help your son over this as he is going to experience dogs for his entire life.

His fear is based on one scary experience (and understandably scary), perhaps if made a start on verbally educating him about dog behaviour, how a human should behave around a dog they dont know (no touch, no talk, no eye contact), what a wagging tail means, what to do if a dog is behaving aggressively (stay calm and dont back off until the dog does), how to prevent a dog from jumping up on you (stay calm, walk into the dogs space), how to train dogs etc......

Ultimately dog interaction is going to be the way he loses his fear, and even without a dog yourself you could try to organise interaction with other peoples dogs.

A question for you - are you afraid of dogs yourself?

leom

username123 wrote: »

Hi OP,
If I were you I would try to organise some positive experiences with dogs so that your son learns to overcome his fear.

Do you know anyone with a well mannered, calm dog that would be willing to allow interaction between your son and the dog?

Do you live anywhere near the DSPCA in Dublin? (Mount Venus Road, Rathfarnham).
They have some resident dogs who are absolutely bullet proof with children. You can quite literally fall over these dogs, step on them, poke them, prod them, scream right at them, and they have no reaction at all. They are allowed to wander freely around the centre itself. They would be the perfect dogs for your son to meet in a non threatening situation. You could also ask the staff there for ideas on how to help your son to overcome this fear. They may also be able to allow your son to meet puppies in a safe environment.

I think its crucial you help your son over this as he is going to experience dogs for his entire life.

His fear is based on one scary experience (and understandably scary), perhaps if made a start on verbally educating him about dog behaviour, how a human should behave around a dog they dont know (no touch, no talk, no eye contact), what a wagging tail means, what to do if a dog is behaving aggressively (stay calm and dont back off until the dog does), how to prevent a dog from jumping up on you (stay calm, walk into the dogs space), how to train dogs etc......

Ultimately dog interaction is going to be the way he loses his fear, and even without a dog yourself you could try to organise interaction with other peoples dogs.

A question for you - are you afraid of dogs yourself?

username123, thanks a lot for detailed answer..
No i am not scared of dogs at all, my wife is though, but she never express her fear in front of my son.

username123

leom wrote: »

username123, thanks a lot for detailed answer..
No i am not scared of dogs at all, my wife is though, but she never express her fear in front of my son.

Thats interesting, the reason I asked that question is because fear of dogs is often passed along accidently. Your wife may think she is not showing a fear, but her body language may be showing it unintentionally, and your child may be picking up on that. Another reason I asked is that dog lovers tend to go over petting other peoples dogs, or looking at them, or otherwise showing an interest, and if your child is not being exposed to a natural interest in dogs this may be feeding his fear (along with his scary experience).

But anyway regardless of where the fear is coming from or what (if anything) helps feed it, exposure to calm dogs is your best bet. You son may never become a dog lover, but you should definitely be able to remove his fear. Unknown and unpredictable things are scary, if you know how to behave in the face of any dog behaviour then there is no need to be scared - you know?

My husbands niece (3 year old) was over on saturday and we deliberately asked for a loan of a neighbours dog (excellent little dog, but very excitable), she was very nervous of him, so we kept him well back until he had calmed down - you could see she was visibly calmer herself when the dog calmed down. We didnt push it or force her to pet the dog, we just let her see that we were having fun petting him and talked about how soft the dog was etc... After 5 or 10 minutes she didnt really mind the dog being around at all. We explained very carefully to her how its very important not to approach dogs you dont know, and to never try to pet a dog unless you have been introduced properly. Its good to expose kids to dogs in a responsible manner.

mymo

My friend has two boys that were terrified of dogs when small, one is now fine with them the other is ok if he knows them(11 and 12years old now).
They were lucky enough to get to know someone who breeds for guide dogs in UK(where they live), they introduced the boys to a litter of 4 week old Golden retrievers, and visited every few days until the pups went to their homes at 10 weeks.
At 4 weeks the dogs are moving around well but wobbly and funny to young kids, they watched them grow and the fear eased. They then went the next step to introduce them to calm older dogs and then to more lively ones.
Its a gradual process but while kids are young its not too difficult.
One thing I would say is before introducing the boy to any dogs or pup go through the stages of development of dogs and other animals and let him see how helpless they are as babies and how they need people to care for them, it may get his interest and help with the introduction, it helped for friends anyway.
Just don't push it and encourage him to ask questions.
Best of luck.

Little My

Going on my own fear of dogs, its very difficult to get over.

I was bitten by a dog when I was very small, I don't remember the incident at all but was always very frightened off them. I'm 28 and over it to an extent, but will still be very wary of any dogs I meet.

Any dogs I knew I was grand with, we even had a dog when I was around 8 and once I got to know it all was fine. But if a strange dog ran at me, barked at me, chased me, I'd end up very scared and even at 21 was still bursting into tears if a dog ran at me. All very embarrassing and not logical but not something I can help.

At this stage, I am very wary around dogs but can manage without completely freaking out, depending on the situation. (2 years ago a dog chased me on my bike, it chased me for ages and I was so scared that when I finally got away I fell off my bike and collasped in tears. It was horrible.)

I'm not sure what the answer is to be honest. I was fine with dogs I knew, but the complete opposite with dogs I didn't. So getting used to friends dog's is fine, but doesn't solve the problem of what to do if a strange dog runs at you.

CrazyRabbit

I'm still wary of bigger dogs, and certain breeds. I was quite badly injured as an 11 year old from an unprovoked attack by an neighbours Alsatian.

Introduce your son to some smaller, less intimidating dogs. Hold your son in your arms at first, so he feels much more secure. As he sees the dog as being passive, you can put him down. Then play with the dog, but don't let it get too excited. Reassuringly suggest that he pet the dog, or play fetch with the dogs favourite toy or something. Slowly, he'll build confidence around the dog.

mariaf24

OP,My daughter is 6 so i know the drill lol.
I would suggest you show your son films which sow fun,caring doggies such as Beethoven, 101 Dalmations, Snow buddies etc (There are countless others). My daughter has a passion for dogs and i think it comes from films she saw at a very young age - particularly ones which tell the story of a relationship between dog and child!

Also soft toys,anything fun and cute which appeals to children!

Good Luck

leom

thanks you all

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

I'm still wary of bigger dogs, and certain breeds. I was quite badly injured as an 11 year old from an unprovoked attack by an neighbours Alsatian.

Introduce your son to some smaller, less intimidating dogs. Hold your son in your arms at first, so he feels much more secure. As he sees the dog as being passive, you can put him down. Then play with the dog, but don't let it get too excited. Reassuringly suggest that he pet the dog, or play fetch with the dogs favourite toy or something. Slowly, he'll build confidence around the dog.

mariaf24 wrote: »

OP,My daughter is 6 so i know the drill lol.
I would suggest you show your son films which sow fun,caring doggies such as Beethoven, 101 Dalmations, Snow buddies etc (There are countless others). My daughter has a passion for dogs and i think it comes from films she saw at a very young age - particularly ones which tell the story of a relationship between dog and child!

Also soft toys,anything fun and cute which appeals to children!

Good Luck

Little My wrote: »

Going on my own fear of dogs, its very difficult to get over.

I was bitten by a dog when I was very small, I don't remember the incident at all but was always very frightened off them. I'm 28 and over it to an extent, but will still be very wary of any dogs I meet.

Any dogs I knew I was grand with, we even had a dog when I was around 8 and once I got to know it all was fine. But if a strange dog ran at me, barked at me, chased me, I'd end up very scared and even at 21 was still bursting into tears if a dog ran at me. All very embarrassing and not logical but not something I can help.

At this stage, I am very wary around dogs but can manage without completely freaking out, depending on the situation. (2 years ago a dog chased me on my bike, it chased me for ages and I was so scared that when I finally got away I fell off my bike and collasped in tears. It was horrible.)

I'm not sure what the answer is to be honest. I was fine with dogs I knew, but the complete opposite with dogs I didn't. So getting used to friends dog's is fine, but doesn't solve the problem of what to do if a strange dog runs at you.

beemaja

My tip, get another child who has a gentle dog to show your boy how to handle it, remind him to stay calm, no sudden movements.

Worked for my friend when she was 5, she was terrified of dogs, but once she saw other kids having no fear, she lost it, good luck.

lindtee

As suggested, I think introducing your son to a nice gentle dog or 2 will do the trick. There is a little girl on our road who was terrified of dogs a couple of years back, until we got a new puppy:) Now it helped that my dog looked like a little teddy that you could fit in your pocket. She was still fearful at the start but after a couple of weeks of getting to know the dog, she lost that fear. After another couple of weeks she was no longer afraid of our much bigger and slightly scarier(to her) lab cross. She was very, very proud of herself getting over the fear. Her mum definitely credits my 2 mutts in getting rid of her daughter's fear of dogs.