Curing dog phobia. Desperate

[Spotsbeforemyeyes]

I'm desperately seeking a cure for my dd's debilitating dog phobia.

She's 11 and Autistic. Nothing has caused her to be afraid of dogs she just is. We avoid going to places that there might be dogs, if she sees one off a lead she's paralyzed and if she sees one in a lead she's hyperventilating and sobbing.

She's resisted hypnosis because her fear makes her too scared to be cured if that makes sense.

She's sobbing in bed now because one of her new friends has 2 dogs which means she can't go round their house and the other friend ( a group of 3 including DD) can and she'll get left out.

I don't know what to do, desensitization is not an option for the time being.

Misty9 I've googled, there's nothing where we are or even close ish for dog phobias.

this might be helpful. I've tried to find an image of a graded hierarchy to give you an idea but difficult on my phone. Might be worth contacting the NAS as it's a fairly common phobia?

Ds, also 11 and ASC, was terrified of dogs, I think he found them unpredictable and he didn't like that. SENCo at school suggested pet therapy, not for the dog phobia but as part of managing his anxiety at school. I didn't think he'd go for it because he was so scared but he agreed to try it after I explained that therapy dogs aren't jumpy or noisy. He loves the therapy dog now and although he's still frightened of other dogs he can walk past one in the street without becoming hysterical. Is pet therapy available at your dd's school maybe?

hippychickmama sadly no. They had one at her primary school that she touched once but that's a long time ago. She's in year 7 now

We own horses and also a very big dog (who has no interest in children and doesn't jump up). We've found that children who are scared of dogs but who spend time with our horses adapt really well to our dog too and end up making friends with him.

The book Overcoming Your Child's Fears and Worries has a decent explanation of how to do graded exposure (I think they call it a step by step plan). It's important to read the whole book though.