A visitor who is afraid of dogs

Porcospino, I usually let my cats & dogs choose my friends. If my pets don't like them, I usually learn somewhere down the line that they have a major character flaw!!! That system has only failed me once. My cat loved my first hubby & he was a real priick!!! Guess I couldn't blame the cat. She was female & he had a special talent of charming ALL females. I had one friend who had a friend that nobody liked. Whenever they came to visit, I'd have to chain up the dog as my dog hated him & would even try & bite him. I had that dog for 10 years & he NEVER offered to bite anybody else except for that one guy!!! Hvedra...Interesting concept there!!! The part about the cat makes sense. I've always heard that dogs could sense fear & would respond to it. Never thought about it being from the facial expressions!!!

My husband read your response and he laughed and said "The thing are people who don't like dogs sounds like something you could have said" and that it true. It was a little shocked to see her reaction when I opened the door, I didn't think that she would react that way. I have had pets who reacted the same way as your cats. My pets often seem to approach the person who doesn't like them. My grandmother absolutely hated cats, she couldn't stand our cat and when she was here the cat couldn't stay away away from her. Most of the time we went her place instead.

Nature has played a very funny joke on humans by making their facial expression of dislike (squinting eyes and looking away) the very thing that cats do to show approval. This is why cats head towards people who don't like them - they are getting a "come on" signal! With dogs a human expression of fear looks the same as aggression so a person who is afraid of dogs will sometimes unknowingly provoke them.

Yes, our dog is friendly, he can be a little wild sometimes if he is happy or excited, but he just wants to play. The visitor we had today got very scared when she saw the dog, so we had to hurry up and get the dog away from her, I think she was surpriced that he was so big, and she was afraid that he would touch her.

Guess your visitor is not a dog lover she will now when a dog is just being playful and when the dog wants to attack her. Can't blame her though perhaps she had a bad experience with dogs and that is why she reacted this way. I guess as dog lovers we need to reach out to them by orienting them with friendly pets. My cousin is just a perso full of phobias do not know where in the world she got it because nobody tried scaring her at home but one of the things she fears most are dogs. When I brought home my Louise she was so darn scared especially Louise was barking loudly but she was wagging her tail. Funny thing Louise followed her wherever she goes and she kept screaming and crying. Then I went down and scolded her and then walked her infront of Louise and then Louise would not bark on her anymore but start offering her paw and she was cured of this fear. I also made a point of taking her with me when I was deciding on buying big dogs. She did not cry anymore although she would not dare get too close or pet them but she does not run away and cry like she use to.

I like your idea of getting a dog to break the fear. Doing the things that you are afraid of is often the best way to break the fear, and I am happy to hear that it worked.

That is true. Taking the doeg for a walk is not the permanent solution and it doesn't work if the visitor is going to be around for a long time, but she usually doesn't stay that long, so I think that a walk would be okay.