How to get over new fear of dogs

[onlychildandhamster]

I actually used to really like dogs as a child. in my home country, dog ownership wasn't super common (esp in the 1990s) but the dogs of my friends and family were usually super docile and lovely, I remember playing for hours with a lovely husky owned by my cousin's husband.

But now I am actually quite scared of a lot of the dogs I see in the park. This is because many of them bark at me very aggressively, I have had dogs jump at me, I have gotten nipped by a friend's dog (who was never trained). Its not a very serious fear, there are some really lovely dogs, but I find myself feeling quite apprehensive when dogs approach because I feel like I don't know what they are going to do (are they going to bark so loudly that my heart literally drops, are they going to nip, are they going to lick, are they going to get near my legs?). I would like to get over this as there are many dogs in my local woods/park and i don't want to be afraid of them. Any tips.

Go to the Dog's Trust website they have a lot of helpful information about dealing with fear of dogs.

@pigsDOfly thank you!

OP I'm almost the same. Grew up around massive dog breeds who my parents had before I was born but dogs just make me nervous especially if they are off leash.
I realise it is my issue though but ide be interested to hear some ideas too.

The best thing you can do is turn your back or fold your arms. A lot of people move their hands or throw them up in the air in fear and this just attracts a dogs' attention and they may think you have a ball or treats.

@InsertRudeWord what if its a narrow path.

I live in London and the dog population has exploded since lockdown. And it can be hard to socially distance on some narrow paths/pavements but other than that, there is a hyper dog. So I don't think there is space to turn away? I could try folding arms, thanks

I find myself feeling quite apprehensive when dogs approach because I feel like I don't know what they are going to do (are they going to bark so loudly that my heart literally drops, are they going to nip, are they going to lick, are they going to get near my legs?).

Let's set aside the fact that dogs should not be allowed to do this to strangers - because that doesn't help you specifically. I think one answer might be greater education on dog body language.

There are loads of great resources and some good videos on youtube, for exmaple, for you to see the behaviours in action. I'll see if I can find some to link. The more you understand of canine behaviour, the less likely a dog is to surprise you. Many dogs give clear early indicators of what they intend to do - if you know to look for them. Admittedly, not all do, but if you could look at 3/4 dogs in the park and be fairly confident about their intentions that might help you. Even simple things like understanding how tail position and wag types give clues to underlying emotions.

You can improve skills here by trying to guess what distnat dogs are feeling by their body language - even though those dogs are too far away to bother you, it helps remove some of the tension because you can be relaxed and just observe.

Oh, and eye contact. Many dogs are triggered into action (friendly or otherwise) by sustained eye contact - which is hard because, when we're fearful, we humans try deliberately to establish eye contact with a dog to better read their face. So it's counter intuitive but many dogs will read a turned away face as a warning not to interact. It doesn't need to be a full body turn - just a head turn away from them.

And now I'll repeat: no one should HAVE to do any of this stuff. Dogs should not be allowed to bother strangers. But it might help you.

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08KGMQKSM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Is a great body language book that is clear, accurate and accessible. If you don't want to buy a whole book, there is lots of exmaples by this author online that give you the illustrations to study.

@GhostPepperTears thank you, will check it out :)

The best thing to do is just ignore them. Most dogs respond to eye contact and won't be all that interested if you're not looking at them in the first place you don't even need to turn your entire body, just don't look at them.

I would also remember that behaviours like barking aren't necessarily aggressive or something to be scared of Lots of dogs bark out of excitement, or frustration because they want to say hello and their lead is stopping them. I know some dogs can have really loud and scary sounding barks, but a dog that barks isn't necessarily a dog that's going to do anything to hurt you.