Scared of dogs and hopeless

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Babinicz

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What should I do about it? Im panicly scared of dogs. If its friendly dog, its ok. But if there is one which approaches me and tries to corner or something like that, I get stressed and Im literally paralyzed with stress. This happened to me today.
Its shameful! Imagine that I walked with my girlfriend and a dog approached us. What if he were aggresive? I couldnt defend my girlfriend and even hide behind her? Its shameful.
 
But I cant do anything when something like this happen. Its not normal.
Im paralyzed out of stress.
Can you imagine a man hiding behind his woman because a dog is aggresive? I think a man should be able to defend women.
 
It is normal to be scared of dogs, especially ones you don’t know and have no idea how they will act towards you. Your worrying over ‘what if’ isn’t helpful to you though. Are you seeing a therapist/doctor for your anxiety?
 
Your reaction, that you are describing here, is an irrational fear, a phobia. It’s normal to be cautious in the presence of an unknown dog. You don’t want to pull its tail playfully, for example, in case it misinterprets your intentions. But the urge to hide behind another person at the mere sight of a dog is, as you say, something else altogether. There is therapy available for phobias of that kind.
 
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If it helps any, maybe learn to notice the dog’s body language for cues about their intentions/emotional state.

If you don’t mind, what aspect or potential outcomes are you worried about? It’s not completely unreasonable to be weary of unfamiliar dogs
 
I agree with those who recommend professional help. You are suffering from an excessive automatic reaction to a common occurence. It is not only affecting your quality of life but starting to implant a misplaced sense of shame in you. There are people who have studied human psychology who can help you to manage your perceptions and give you skills you can use to regulate yourself so that your body won’t mount a massive fight-or-flight reaction in response to danger. Go talk to one of them and train yourself to be able to respond as you choose in a dangerous situation instead of reacting in a way that upsets you.

In other words, you aren’t going to learn how not to be afraid. You’re going to learn skills you need to keep control of your body when something alarms you. After that, you will be more free to act as you want to act instead of helplessly reacting. In the meantime, let go of the shame. That is really going to get in your way in getting over this. It would be wrong to look down on someone else who has the problem you have, and it is wrong to put yourself on a pedastal such that you are ashamed of something when you know it would be uncharitable to find that shameful in someone else.
 
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porthos11 said:
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Oh goodness, another snowflake flagger. And over a withdrawn post to boot.

CAF is becoming less and less fun each day.

Lame. Lame. Lame.
 
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If you can’t go to therapy for this problem, you might try volunteering at the local SPCA. They would teach you how to interact with dogs, and that might help reduce your fear.

There are not that many dogs loose which would attack, so learning how to approach and handle dogs might help reduce your fear.
 
Volunteer at a dog shelter and learn the techniques for managing a dangerous dog.
 
Overcoming fear of dogs is one of the classic examples used when describing therapy for people with phobias.
Basically, exposure therapy is how it is treated. It can be cured if you really want to do it. You’ll probably need to work with a therapist.
Best quote about dogs I’ve ever heard, from a friend of mine: “My favorite kind of dog is the one that is farthest away.”
 
ScouseGirl said:
It’s okay not to like dogs. I don’t like dogs. Not everyone has to like everything.
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I was afraid of them as a child. As I grew older I became less afraid.

I’m ambivalent about dogs. Neither like 'em nor dislike 'em. Take 'em or leave 'em.
 
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