Treatments>
All dogs are related to the wolf and 10,000 years of selective breeding to meet man’s different needs has led to all the breeds from Great Danes to Basset Hounds earning them the old saying ‘dogs are a man’s best friend’. To those who own dogs, they provide companionship and much pleasure. So to them, the thought of being afraid of dogs doesn’t enter their minds. The default social nature for the vast majority of dogs is to be friendly yet for some people, even the thought of being in the same room with a dog, any dog is terrifying. A fear of dogs, Cynophobia (‘kýon’ Greek meaning dog) can be acquired by being bitten by one, seeing someone bitten or being told by someone, dogs are dangerous; that said there is a school of thought that suggests the fear might be inherited through our genes.
Once a relaxed state has been achieved, previously distressing ‘dog’ experiences are reprogrammed so that these memories can be brought to mind without distress. This retrains the mind so that when a ‘dog’ situation is encountered in future the previously associated fear is gone.