Overcoming Fear of Dogs

Billy had a friend over today. Nameless Friend was TERRIFIED of Honey. How did we determine he was terrified? Well, every time Honey merely began to look in Nameless Friends direction, the child would scream – at the top of his lungs, for a really long time. Given the commotion, Honey would then look in his direction. Nameless Friend would then jump up, run around, continue screaming, and yell to us to make Honey stop looking at him. Having explained more than several times that Honey could not get near Nameless Friend because she was tethered to me and I was going to stay in the kitchen, my patience began to wear thin. I know, I could have put Honey in her crate in my bedroom, but she was being good and I did not feel that in her (albeit temporary) home she should be banished for looking at a screaming banshee. I told Nameless Friend that he would have to go home if he could not contain himself and stop screaming. It worked. He wanted to play so much that he overcame his fear of Honey immediately. Nameless Friend stopped screaming and running, he and Billy had a great time playing together and Honey eventually settled down and went to sleep. If only all fears could be overcome with a ‘get over it or go home’ threat.