@zeddx
Hey Zed!
So I am not afraid of dogs, but as a social anxiety patient I am afraid of a lot of things! I learned that avoidance is not a good thing, but neither is diving in too deep too soon. Start with small exposures to well behaved dogs on leashes. Check out if there are any dog walking groups near you on apps like meetup or Facebook groups and message the leader. See if you can attend a leash walk and start by not interacting with the dog but just walking beside them and work up. Please take this advise with a grain of salt though as again I am not afraid of dogs but smal exposures is how I get over my fears! I wish you luck and hope you have a good day!
@akay06
(very good advice...)
@akay06
Thank you for your advice!
I understand your viewpoint completely, I think my previous encounters have been very all or nothing tbh. In the past I have walked beside a friend's dog and even let her walk off the leash ahead of me but there were other dogs at the park that made me feel uneasy as they were trying to start fights with my friend's dog! However shortly after that positive experience I was on a train where a man and his dog (not leashed) were running back and forth and it put me right back at square one and I avoided them since. Altogether, it's been over 10 years since my initial trauma and I think small, gradual increases in exposure would certainly help and I never thought about facebook etc so thank you very much for your help!
I wish you well and hope you overcome your fears too 😊