Afraid of dogs? That will be resolved in one session

Recently I helped Osca who, despite having had dogs for years, had become afraid of dogs. Not of her own dog, but of dogs she then encountered when she went for walks.

Fear of dogs can be treated very well with hypnosis ( 1). Even if it is fear of what you might get if a dog were to bite you. That was not her fear, but it shows that hypnosis can do a lot.

Because when she was walking her dog and another dog approached, she could still tell from her body that that was a problem.

In and of itself, she didn’t mind that she’d been bitten by a dog three times, but she still noticed that her body would have a fear response whenever someone approaching her was accompanied by a dog.

When Osca was 13, she was also bitten by a dog of her own. It was eight months old at the time. She gave her mother a kiss and then the dog lashed out.

Now she has a dog training program that requires her to be close to the dog, so she learns to communicate well with the dog. Surely that gives a different energy. She wanted to get rid of her anxiety so she could have a better relationship with her dog and other dogs.

Rating Fear

To see what is actually the anxiety problem that needs to be solved, you can give grades to the anxiety and to the anxiety at specific times.

I asked her what grade she would give fear of dogs when she thought of a dog. That was a four.

When she thought about the event of being bitten, it caused a lot of tension and pain on her lips because she was bitten there. She gave that grade a 7.

Surely that was a different figure. I asked her what she was doing before she was bitten by that dog. That she was in her room she remembered, but what she was doing, she didn't remember. Probably doing homework or listening to music.

After being bitten, she also went to the hospital. But at some point it was over. I asked her what she did then, when it was over.

Her biggest frustration was that she then had to wait longer for her braces to be placed. And she was allowed to sleep with her parents because she had gotten a very fat lip from the bite.

At some point, that was indeed over as well. She went back to school as usual, even with that fat lip.

I asked her what it was like when the fat lip was also gone. Then she just went back to cuddling with the dog. That was the image we were going to focus on.

I asked her if she could think of such an image for herself of her snuggling with that dog.

Working with a movie

In fact, if you have a timeline you can work with a video and it can change the way you feel about certain moments.

I suggested to her that we make a new video. The first scene is her doing her homework with Wham playing in the background. The video continues. She wants to give her mother a kiss, but then gets bitten by that dog—all that commotion—and then everything is fine again. It’s over, and you’re cuddling with that dog.

I mentioned that we’re going to rewind that video a few times to see what happens to the feeling. Because people never actually rewind memories or do anything with them—like turning them black and white or making similar changes—most feelings usually don’t change.

By doing this you may find that at some point it feels fine. Then we will generalize that feeling. So that when you're out walking the dog again and you come across another dog that feels fine too.

After all, when the anxiety of the moment feels like 7, it's helpful to do something with that moment.

She received the following suggestion:

"Then I want you to close your eyes and imagine that you are walking into a movie theater. That movie theater is just your movie theater. Yeah, so people can be in there. It can be empty ... The seats can be relaxed ... I don't know, you think of anything and it's all good, because it's your cinema. You feel safe and fine there. Yeah, and even if there's only one seat... Yeah, that's fine, so to speak... So you see that cinema like that and you sit down somewhere... Yeah, but somewhere in the front row, huh. So if there is only one row... Well, then you sit there, but if there are several rows... Then you sit in the first row and if there is a middle, in the middle.

So now you're looking at a white big screen... Yes, white big screen... So immediate to play that movie on there. So not now... So now it's just a white screen. You imagine that now you're floating out of yourself as it were... You're floating all the way back, all the way back, all the way back... You see yourself sitting in the front row... All the way back, all the way back, you see yourself sitting in the front row and you go to the projector room. So, now you have all the control... You have all the control, you're at the projector room and you can start the movie right away.

You can stop it whenever you want... You can do whatever you want with it. Yes, so right away that movie starts running. You're standing by the projector room and you see yourself sitting in the front row. Yes, so in a moment I count from one to three and then you press play and then the movie starts running: 1, 2, 3, play.

Well, the movie is running now and it starts and picture is fine and it ends. Wham Lalala... and it ends at the other picture, but you're just standing in the projector room... You're just looking at yourself in the front row and somewhere over there on that screen that movie... It's spinning off, but it's going pretty fast, spinning by. So you're standing by the projector room. You feel fine. You feel safe. You feel comfortable and you're just watching yourself in the front row... At some point that movie just ends... Now that movie is just ending already and you're thinking "Oh, it's already ending." He's on the last picture and the last picture is the picture: You're snuggling with that dog. You're just cuddling and you see yourself sitting in the front row and looking at the screen where you see yourself cuddling with the dog.

Now I want you to imagine that you're running all the color from that movie. So you have one of those little control panels there... So, you take out all the color so it becomes a black and white image. It's a black-and-white picture and now you float from the project room so you're in yourself in the front row. So you are back in the front row and you also look at yourself on the screen and you see a black and white picture there a picture of you cuddling with the dog. You are happy there or you are cheerful or at least you feel comfortable. You see that in everything and you are now floating as it were... You step into that screen. You step into that screen now and you are in that space and you are cuddling with that dog and you feel fine and the picture is black and white.

Then I count so directly from one to three and at three you rewind that whole movie and maybe you hear sounds ... Maybe you see some images, but that's all going to be in black and white. So I count from one to three, at three I say "Rewind," then you rewind that whole movie.

1, 2, 3, Rewind.... Faster and faster, faster and faster, faster and faster, you might hear some sound, music.... You're back at the beginning again.

You're at the beginning. You're sitting in your room ... Doing homework ... And you hear Wham and then you go to the end again. You go to the end again now, you're cuddling with the dog... End of the movie... I count from one to three. At three I say "Rewind" and then you rewind that whole movie again, but now twice as fast still as just now so:

1, 2, 3, Rewind, faster and faster, faster and faster, faster and faster, faster and faster and faster, plop and back at the beginning and you're hearing Wham again... Thank goodness I wasn't the lead singer, huh... That makes a difference again, so and you're hearing... You're doing your homework and you're going to the end of the movie again, again to the end and you're cuddling, with that dog everything is black and white.

Counting so directly from one to three I say "Rewind" and then you also hear a crazy little music: 1, 2, 3, Rewind and you're back to the beginning, (Now in a quieter tone) you're back to the beginning and now everything is back in color and you hear Wham... And you hear Wham and the movie is now spinning forward and that one event happens and you're back to the end, where you're cuddling with that dog... You step out of the picture, you're back in the movie theater, you walk out of the theater. The door falls shut behind you. Bem... It's all over and while you keep your eyes closed, if you think now about the moment on that bed with that dog what happens next?"

Osca indicated that she now looked at this very neutrally. I asked her what had happened with the tension at the chest and lip. The one at the lip was gone and the one in the chest had also decreased. She gestured this with her finger. She made a small twisting motion.

Taking the feeling completely out of the body

That finger motion, I could relate to that. So I had her do that motion again. She made little twisting motion. She continued with that. Then I made her stop and make the motion the other way, and faster and faster and faster.

At this, she was reminded of a moment when she felt very comfortable. Such a moment she could think of.

I asked her what she was doing at the time. She indicated that she was not doing anything at all on her couch in the room where she was also sitting during the session.

Delightful! Snuggle up.

I gave her the following suggestion:

"Okay, then step into that moment and just see what you see, hear what you hear, feel what you feel, and let that feeling - so you may stop with your finger - let that feeling that you feel there, now spread all the way through your body here. Every cell, fiber, nerve, muscle fills up with the wonderful feeling of being totally at ease... Totally at ease on your couch, wonderful... You're totally wonderful doing nothing and imagine that feeling has a color... What color would that be?"

Osca: "Fuchsia pink"

"Fuchsia pink all the way through your whole body ... When you think now with this feeling of that moment on that bed with that dog and your mother, what happens next?"

She indicated that nothing was happening, maybe a fiber that was still doing something.

I indicated that she could let that fuchsia pink go all the way through her body, that feeling, and asked her if she felt any sounds with it. She didn't.

I confirmed this feeling for her. That wonderful feeling of napping on the couch in silence and asked her what the moment felt like now when she thought about trying to give her mother a kiss and then that dog bit? I also indicated that if she tried to retrieve that old tension, she would not succeed. And the more she would try, the more she would fail.

Nothing at all was happening now. When I asked if she really didn't feel anything, she also indicated that really nothing was happening. I asked her how she knew that, this was because she felt that.

Taking a moment to double check strengthens the new connections made in the brain to overcome fear of dogs.

I asked her to think about training with her current dog and how it would feel if a dog then came at her.

It felt like peace now, but she also found that she wanted to keep control in it.

I asked her what kind of control that was. That was then the feeling that the other person would have to leave with the dog.

Then the question is whether it had to do with fear or calmness? With her, there was no fear, there was only calmness. It was more of a habitual behavior. That it was her mechanism to do it that way.

I also indicated to her that indeed you can also control from rest. That also works better with dogs. Being in charge from calmness and authority. Forcefully, calmly and clearly, that the other dog just goes away.

As long as it's clear, because then dogs just do it. That then has to do with leadership. That comes from calmness.

I asked again what it felt like now when she thought about it. According to Osca, just nothing was.

I affirmed that all of this has been too. It has all passed. I asked her to imagine herself walking her dog outside and then one of those men comes. A big man with a tattoo, a can of Heineken and three rottweilers. What happens when you think about that?

Then nothing happened either. I asked if that wasn't separate? It wasn't. And that's actually totally fine.

She would now just walk through instead of cramping.

I gave her the post-hypnotic suggestion:

"Yes, normally you would cramp up... Yes, not now so.... Those dogs that come to you... Or at least they come walking towards you... Yes, they just notice your calmness... Yes, you walk by quietly. Yes, they think... "Yes, then I also walk by quietly"... that's how it works, isn't it, in energy... You do a lot with energy so you know exactly how that works... Yes, those animals think "Okay yes, fine then we also walk by". Yes, and whether it's a rottweiler or a pit bull or a wolf - so to speak - or a Jack Russell... Basically it makes no difference. But it may be a difference in the idea for us, but not for you. Well, that's top notch anyway."

Osca indicated at the time that this felt very nice.

I wanted to do one more little test. That she would imagine going to a kennel trained by one of those Martin Graus people. Those dogs are all messed up and need to be disciplined and taken apart. So that she's there with these people saying "he's not doing anything you know," while that dog is just barking. How would she feel about that?

Again, nothing.

So I indicated that she had arrived as the leader of the pack.

With dogs, I always find that pretty simple myself, not easy, but the idea is simple.

Osca experienced that, too. Even when she thought of dogs she normally walked around with a bow, nothing happened.

I indicated to her that she could open her eyes.

Watch the entire session here:

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Sources:

1. Research on hypnosis for dogs with anxiety