When the weather is nice, of course you go outside. You go to the park or the forest, but unfortunately for you, people with dogs come there too, and if you have a fear of dogs this can be the reason for not enjoying the beautiful weather in summer. This is actually a shame because fear of dogs is not always necessary and often unreal. After all, what can a pug do to you?
To ensure that you can enjoy the outdoors without fear of dogs, in this article I will go over everything you can do to overcome fear of dogs.
Fear of dogs is something that many people suffer from to some degree; in fact, research shows that half of people have a fear of dogs to some degree. Fear of being attacked by a dog was lower than "general" fear of a dog, though. Women and older people were also more affected than men and younger people. Older people also tend to be more afraid of actually being attacked by dogs. So fear of dogs is not something to be ashamed of.
Especially if you have never owned a dog, you may suffer from fear of dogs. You may find it difficult to assess their behavior and fear that you could be attacked.
This can have a big impact on your life because in the Netherlands, 1 in 5 households has a dog. That dog needs to be walked and get exercise so they are often outside. If you want to avoid dogs at all costs, this can cause you to stay inside or worse, spread poison to kill the dogs in your neighborhood. This is a very bad plan. It is better to determine when your fear is justified now and when it is not.
It is much better to do something about your fear. Because your fear of the dog affects the dog's behavior, making your fear come true sooner than if you were not afraid.
Fear of Dogs
Fear of large dogs is more common than fear of small dogs. This is probably due to the idea that you cannot defend yourself as well against large dogs as you can against small dogs. If a small dog attacks you, you can just "kick it away" whereas with a large dog it is a little more difficult.
The stupid thing is that big dogs often have better manners than small dogs. Owners of large dogs know they can be more "dangerous" and so they are often better trained than small dogs.
A while back, an acquaintance of mine was visiting someone who had a wolf dog, one of those dogs that plays the direwolf in Game of Thrones, you have to imagine then you have a shepherd dog of the size of a Great Dane. The owner had already put the dog in the garden, but the dog could come inside for a moment. Immediately the acquaintance of mine stiffened, but with the idea that if you don't do anything, the dog won't do anything either. Fortunately, the dog only walked around her and then went back outside. The dog didn't even bark, but still with such a large dog the shivers can go down your spine for a while.
With another dog, who was much smaller, the threat was actually much greater. Because that one started growling at her, and if barking dogs don't bite, do growling dogs? This already shows that the size of the dog an sich does not matter for the behavior of the dog.
Origin of fear of dogs
Research conducted on 100 adults and 30 children shows that fear of dogs can have multiple causes. For example, children are often warned about dogs which causes them to have the fear. Adults who have a fear of dogs have also often been warned about dogs by their parents, so actually that fear of dogs is conditioned. The striking thing is that adults who had a fear of dogs had been in contact with dogs much less often than adults without a fear of dogs. So the conditioning that dogs are dangerous also prevents them from coming into contact with sweet dogs that can actually be an enrichment to your life. It was also found that people who have a fear of dogs were also more likely to suffer from other fears than people who were not afraid of dogs.
Through experience, you can naturally develop a fear of dogs. If you've ever been bitten by a dog or if a dog keeps jumping at you and scratching you as a result or if the owner just can't get it under control you naturally don't always have faith anymore that all owners keep their dogs under control. There are two kinds of experiences namely you have experienced something with a dog but because of that you did not get pain or you have experienced something with a dog and that also caused pain.
Defining fear thresholds
Since it still happens from time to time that a dog in the news has attacked a child, it is not bad to have a little fear of dogs, but it should not affect your life too much. That's why you can use this test to determine your fear threshold
- I only go out on the street when I really need to, such as going to the store or to work, but avoid it because of dogs in the neighborhood.
- If I see a dog walking down the street I quickly turn around and walk the other way.
- I panic when a dog barks.
- I get panicked or upset when a dog growls.
- I find it scary when a dog jumps up to me.
- I find it scary when a dog bites me (playfully).
Especially with the first two fears, you suffer from a problematic fear of dogs. As such, you don't need to fear barking dogs either, but the other fears are understandable and less irrational.
How do you recognize a truly dangerous dog?
There is a difference between a playing dog and a dangerous dog. For example, a dangerous dog becomes aggressive when you try to pick up its toy, if you think about it at all. Or it jumps at everyone in a rather quick and unexpected way. A growling dog is also a warning that it actually wants to do something to you.
But if a dog is just walking nicely next to its owner or playing with other dogs, there is nothing wrong and you can just walk past it. This really doesn't have to affect your life negatively.
Reducing and rationalizing anxiety
To ensure that you can enjoy public spaces as much as people with dogs, it is important to reduce and rationalize your fears. If a dog does not exhibit dangerous behavior, there is no reason to be afraid.
Hypnotherapy can help you overcome your fear of dogs. With fears, it is important to identify the cause, because in some cases that can cause the fear to be easily removed. By tracing an event where the fear arose, it is also possible to find out what thought process at the time caused you to become afraid of dogs.
By identifying those thoughts and beliefs, it is possible to change them.
Another way to reduce anxiety is through desensitization. Confronting yourself with dogs can reduce fear of dogs. The fact that people who have not often encountered dogs have more fear of dogs than people who do encounter dogs a lot is evidence enough for this.
If you find it scary to confront yourself directly with dogs, hypnotherapy can help you with that, too. First, you learn techniques to stay calm when fear strikes. This is because the feeling of fear is amplified by the physical reaction you get when fear hits. Faster breathing, tension in the muscles and dizziness, in turn, cause additional panic. Hypnosis can help you normalize your breathing and reduce tension in the muscles. This prevents you from getting dizzy and your anxiety reaction from turning into panic.
In addition, during hypnosis you can visualize how to handle a confrontation with a dog. Initially a dog is visualized, but also your desired reaction and how you feel when you are not afraid of dogs. Is the dog then suddenly your best friend or just an animal that also walks down your street. How do you react when a dog doesn't do what you want? Can you calmly indicate to the owner that you still find the dog scary?
You then take steps with the hypnotherapist to actually achieve this goal.
Want to learn more about how hypnosis can improve the quality of your life? Come to a seminar or check out hypnosis trainings.
Sources:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/000579679290050Q
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2752/089279304786991800
