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Community Corner

Facing Your Fears

Columnist comes face-to-face with his fear of dogs.

I will admit it. I am afraid of dogs. In fact, the fear of dogs of any size paralyzes me. I am also afraid of cats. Whenever I go to someone’s house or apartment, I have to ask them if they have a dog and if they do, I am very bold to ask if they could gate the dog or put him/her in the other room. Many people assume, at first, that because I am blind, I must love dogs and have a seeing-eye dog. Neither is the case.

Both in the children’s ministry at RiverGlen Christian Church and in the teaching I have been doing at North Shore Middle School in Hartland, we have been talking about fear. I’ve shared my story about being afraid of dogs with both of those groups. The teacher, Dave Christman, who I was team-teaching with at North Shore, reminded me that we have to practice what we preach as teachers. In other words, if I am telling elementary and middle school students that they have to face their fears, I also need to be addressing what I am afraid of.

I knew that there were some therapy dogs coming to North Shore that work with the special needs children every week. I felt like I was being pushed to meet them. I didn’t really want to. Dogs usually scare me because they bark, they jump and they lick. They come up to me without me even seeing them and I don’t know what the dog’s next move is going to be.

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I nervously walked down from Dave Christman’s class room to the special needs class room at North Shore. I could hear the basset hounds bark a few times. They knew that I was coming and they were excited to meet me right? I wish I was half or a quarter as excited to meet them. That’s when I met Rose Anne and her owner Bill Graham.

Bill is a busy man. He and his wife train therapy dogs and bring them to schools and nursing homes in Waukesha County so young and old can overcome their own dog fear. He also is a retired therapist and he volunteers at the Waukesha County Department of Health and Human Services. He also shows his three therapy dogs.

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I attempted to remain in control with my hands shoulder-high covering my ears just in case the dog would let out a loud bark. She never did, by the way, for the entire 20 minutes I was standing there. Part of my trying to remain in control of the situation involved asking questions. Asking questions, I told the children, is a good way to lessen the fear factor as we are often afraid of what we don’t know. How long have you had the dogs? Is it OK that I am taking baby steps to get over this life-long fear? What else do you suggest to help a person get over a fear of dogs? I also learned some very cool things from Bill such as dogs can smell fear as there is a certain subtle odor that humans give off when they are afraid.

I didn’t pet the dog even once. I thought it was enough for that day just to stand there. Meeting all three dogs, I feel, would have overwhelmed me, so only Rose Anne was brought out for me to meet. Again, this is an example of taking baby steps to overcome my fear. We agreed that I would meet Rose Anne again sometime either at North Shore or at a to-be-determined location. My anxiety level was still quite high.

The absence of fear is freeing for the soul. Paraphrased, that is one of the things I taught my students at North Shore the past few weeks.

If and when I overcome my fear of dogs, I will be more free to walk around my neighborhood independently in the spring and summer months. I could more easily attend gatherings at family or friends houses that have dogs and not be worried. If I was free of this fear, I could also volunteer my time to interact with the animals at the Waukesha County Humane Animal Welfare Society. I knew I had to get that Waukesha connection in somewhere, and I know they are always looking for willing volunteers to play with the animals.

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