difficult child Faced A Fear Yesterday

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Bunny

Guest
husband and I are very good friends with another couple, J and C. husband actually went to high school with both of them and when I came along I became very good friends with the C as we share a hobby. Anyway, they recently adopted a little German Shepard puppy. She is the cutes thing and C has been after me for a few weeks to come and meet her, ut I haven't been able to get over there for various reasons. They asked us to come over the dinner last night so that we could meet her. One of difficult child's biggest fears is dogs. He doesn't like to be around them. He's always had a phobia of them, but when I got bitten by a pit bull and wound up in the hospital with a raging infection he was just done.

Friday morning I told difficult child about the invitation and about the puppy. I also gave him the option of staying home if he really felt that he couldn't do it. I told him that I would totally understand. He decided to go, reasoning that she's just a puppy and it would be better for the puppy to get to know him now so that she can grow up knowing difficult child. On the ride over there was beginnin to think him coming with us was a bad idea, but once he got there he did really well!!

We gave him all of the time he needed to warm up to her. When we got there the puppy was in the yard. At first he stayed in the house, but stood by the door so that he could see the puppy. Then he came out, but stayed on the patio while easy child ran around the yard with the puppy. Then he came out onto the grass right beside me because the puppy and easy child were on the other side of the yard. Eventually, he got to the point where he petted her and let her chase him.

I was so proud of him last night and he was really happy that he came with us and got to meet her.
 

keista

New Member
Awwwwwwwwww puppy! thanks for sharing the great story. The heart really soars when they surprise us and overcome.
 
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TeDo

Guest
Bunny, this thrills me. Did you use it as a teaching moment without him knowing it? You know, the "all dogs are different. There are good ones and bad ones......" I am VERY proud of him for overcoming a huge fear. THAT is so huge. Give him a pat on the back from this board auntie.
 

buddy

New Member
That is so huge.... I love how he worked through all of that. Who among us can't relate? He did better than many adults would have done.

very proud of him!
 
B

Bunny

Guest
Bunny, this thrills me. Did you use it as a teaching moment without him knowing it? You know, the "all dogs are different. There are good ones and bad ones......" I am VERY proud of him for overcoming a huge fear. THAT is so huge. Give him a pat on the back from this board auntie.

I did my best to turn it into a teaching moment. He said something about this puppy and the dog that bit me being the same kind of dog and I told him that that was not correct. The dog that bit me was a different breed, that that breed is kown for being aggressive, this puppy is being exposed to alot of people very early on and is going to be trained not to bite.

C even swaid to me that she could see that his fear was real and that it wasn't an attention grabbing thing. We were all pretty proud of him for being so brave. Now, will this brave new face come out the next time he comes face to face with a dog? Probably not, but I'll take things one dog at a time.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
Now, will this brave new face come out the next time he comes face to face with a dog? Probably not, but I'll take things one dog at a time.
Not in general... but maybe if the next "dog" is a "puppy"...
It will take consistent exposure to multiple breeds and ages, to begin to "generalize" how dogs think, behave, and how to read their body language. This last one is actually the most important one to learn - the best way to read a strange dog is to know what it is "saying".
 
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