Helping Those in Fear: 5 Ways to be a Responsible Dog Owner
Whilst the thought of someone being scared of your dog may feel impossible, for those in fear, the thought of being within close range of your pup could ruin their entire day. cynophobia is a reality that many people face on a daily basis, where a morbid fear of dogs can be a disabling feat that could place many obstacles in front of those suffering.
As someone who suffered from cynophobia for the first 20 years of my life, it is my mission to draw as much attention as I can to cynophobia, where if we all work together as responsible dog owners, we could make the lives of those living in fear a little easier. Being able to show those in fear that you are a responsible dog owner with maximum control and consideration can make a world of difference.
Here are 5 key recommendations you can follow to ensure you are being a mindful dog owner:
1. Treat Everyone With Caution
One of my biggest pet-peeves when I was scared of dogs was the fact that dog owners were totally naïve to the fact that I had a fear. Until it was ‘too late’, where my fear took over and I’d usually end up blacking out or running away, the dog owner would be completely unaware of the fact that I was scared.
This is not entirely the fault of the dog owner, where in these situations, it’s unrealistic to expect them to be able to magically know that you are scared. However, a foundational level of consideration and awareness could eradicate the symptoms those in fear experience at the height of their anxiety.
By walking your dog securely and with full control, my experience as someone with cynophobia was slightly more bearable! If you treat everyone approaching you as someone who could potentially be scared, you are removing the first obstacle for those with cynophobia. Put simply, those with cynophobia are not going to approach you calmly at the height of their fear to tell you they’re scared. For me, that would have been close to impossible!
Treat everyone as if they’re in fear unless you learn otherwise. If dog owners did this to me, I could have avoided many meltdowns!
2. Telling People Your Dog Won’t Hurt Doesn’t Help
Now for my biggest bugbear – people saying ‘my dog’s friendly’ or ‘they won’t hurt you’. I know this feels as if it should ease the minds of those in fear, but for me, it actually made things much worse.
Whilst it’s likely that you’re only trying to help by telling those in the height of the fear that your dog is harmless, which is also probably a true fact in your eyes, to me, this would often translate to a dog owner telling me that they were going to let their dog continue to jump, run or sniff at me. My cynophobia never stemmed from the fear that a dog could hurt me. It was a totally irrational phobia that I had had all of my life – it never stemmed from a bad experience or previously being bitten by a dog, or whichever other cause could have a lasting impact.
3. Work On Your Recall
Being able to see whether a dog was ‘well-trained’ or not was a dealbreaker for me. It might sound dramatic, but being able to tell whether an owner had full control of their dog or not could change the course of my day.
Although it might be super fun to unleash your pup and let them run free, it is super important to ensure that your dog has a strong recall prior to letting them off in populated areas. Granted, an open field or park isn’t somewhere I would go when I had cynophobia, sometimes facing an off-lead dog can’t be avoided. If I would come across an off-lead dog that would not respond to its owner upon being called, my anxiety would skyrocket! Dogs are attracted to those displaying symptoms of fear – this was especially the case for me when I’d run away, only to provoke a dog to chase me!
It's important to remember that it’s hard to think logically at the height of fear and sometimes running away is a subconscious action that you don’t even realise you’re doing! By being able to successfully recall your dog, you will be diffusing the situation as much as you possibly can.
4. Respect the Fear
Despite telling those around me that I was scared of dogs, I was often not taken seriously. Typically, people would not understand the scale of my fear until the ‘damage’ was done. I’m sure it can be agreed that letting anxiety implode is not the only way for the severity of a fear to be communicated or understood.
Whilst it’s not expected by those with cynophobia for dog owners to completely understand how scary dogs can be, it is important to display a respectable level of consideration and empathy. Being taken seriously can be transformational – as a child, I went to friends’ houses and was listened to, where their dogs were taken out or kept in a separate room at all times. Alternatively, I had experiences where I told friends and their parents about my fear, only to be exposed to a bounding dog five minutes later. After a full meltdown, I’d often be met with ‘I didn’t know you were that scared’, or a similar phrase. Understanding the fear builds a culture of trust that makes the individual experiencing fear feel listened to and safe.
5. Avoid Enabling Fear
Children are highly impressionable. For instance, we don’t encourage them to eat junk food at all times or we avoid using foul language around them. View a potential phobia in the same light – if we expose a child to a negative experience with a dog, they are likely to experience a consequence of this action.
At my cynophobia class, the majority of the children were there as the result of a bad experience that caused trauma. Whether it be a large dog bounding at them and knocking them over, or them trying to stroke an untrained dog and being bitten – these moments had a lasting impact on their lives. When I had cynophobia, I couldn’t go to a park. It was a challenge to walk down residential roads at some points, where the fear of someone opening their front door and a dog being able to run out completely dominated my mind. I missed out on going to parties, hanging out with friends, being able to enjoy picnics. Even school sports days felt off-limit. That one misjudgement on your part could transform a childhood. By being vigilant and responsible, you are reducing the risk of causing another child to suffer.
Our Approach to Cynophobia
All of Wiggle & Woof’s products are designed with cynophobia in mind. Whilst our stock are practical dog walking accessories, they are also created in bright colours with bold patterns to highlight to those in fear that your dog is securely attached to a lead and therefore can’t get to them.
My nemesis during the height of my fear were dark coloured leads that would not be visible from a distance, leaving me in a state of mystery as to whether the dog was on or off lead. Remember, with peaking anxiety, logic is not at the forefront of your mind, so making the fact that your dog is secure as obvious as possible is a valuable way to communicate your dog’s security to those you are approaching.