Fear of dogs??
 

Hey everyone :)

Just wondering me and my boyfriend own a trailer tent and we go camping at least every other weekend from april till october. We go with my auntie, uncle and their 4 kids they are 1,4,8,12

The one year old is terrified of poor Smudger (she's 2 in may) :confused: He can be just sat on the floor doing nothing and she will cry the place down breaking her heart crying :( :( I had to stand her on the kitchen work top at one point and hold on to her legs :rolleyes: ;)

I really need to do something about this as we are booked in for easter bank holiday for camping YAY!!! :D :D

Is there anything I can do, have any of you had this problem??

This pic is of my 4 year old cousin her brother, with Smudger who wasn't quite as bad was scared but he is getting a little better now. Because he understands that Smudger isn't going to hurt him. But how on earth do I explain this to a 1 year old

I have three neices and the two youngest are deathly afraid of cats and dogs. One will be 8 in March the other 3 in May. The youngest will freeze dead in her tracks, start screaming and shaking if she sees either a cat or dog. The oldest is now ok with Reagan, my yorkie, but still doesn't like my two cats or big dogs. Her grandmother held her and made her hold Reagan. The poor child screamed and cried, then finally calmed down and is now ok with her. I have to say I don't know that I myself would've tried this but really all she needed was to see that Reagan wasn't going to hurt her.

I think though that with her (your cousin) being so young she is just scared and after a while seeing everyone else isn't scared, that there's nothing to be scared of she will probably come around. My youngest neice hasn't come around but she sees her older sister(the 8 year old) scream as well as the fact that the 8 year old didn't want to be the only one scared so she would tell the 2-3 year old to "come away from the cat/dog, you're scared of them remember". I'm sure with with a little time she's get used to your pup.

Oh and by the way, your pup and cousin are both cuties....

Thank you very much for the reply some great advice and points in there. I hope she will see there's nothing to be afraid of soon :)

My cousin is a cutie. I saw him being born so he's very special to me. I love him to bits he's gorgeous :) ;)

Thanks again for your help

I also have a little fear of cats I really don't like them. I stayed at my friends house recently and in the morning I was woken up by one of her 4 cats walking up my body and opened my eyes to see it staring at me.

I won't be staying there again lol :eek: :thumbdown

i'd love to get some advice on this as well. i have a really good friend who had a very bad experience with a dog as a child (she was attacked) and is now deathly afraid of dogs, of any size. she wants to get over that fear tho so i'm bringing my bunjee around every so often so she can get used to having him around and she can see that he's very friendly and nothing to be afraid of at all.

she started out only being able to stand no less than 5 feet of him in the same room and would literally jump 3 feet away if bunjee walked towards her. her kids (4 & 6 yrs old) would play with bunjee but would sometimes mimic her reactions towards bunjee.

now, she's still fearful but less of a nervous wreck when he's around. she still won't touch him but we've progressed to getting within 1 foot of bunjee. in obedience class, they're teaching us to train our dogs to be well mannered with strangers (no jumping, no barking, no chewing). i'm hoping that'll help us progress even further with my friend.

The little one year old needs to be around dogs - but not bothered by them at all. Don't let the puppy near her. But do let her see the other children interacting with the pup and enjoying playing with it.

She should overcome her fear in time -- as long as nothing about your dog ever frightens or scares her. At this point, I am sure your dog even going near her scares her.

I can't tell how old your pup is. But - sometimes playful little puppies or even older dogs are just too active and playful for a little child. They do have little paws that can scratch and little teeth that can hurt even if they are only playing.

My pup plays a lot with a 4 and a 5 year old....and he can even wear them out.

Keep your dog away from the little girl for now. Let her watch the other children play with him.

Good luck - Carol Jean