I am looking for a suitable new home for my stray dog Eddy. A couple phoned me, saying they both worked from home, had no children and were thinking of taking a pound dog into their home for a companion. I went to see them. They were proving to be just what I wanted for Eddy. The next visit, they came to my house to meet Eddy. So far so good. Next step a short trip by car, taking Eddy with me to their house. I would be watching him and the couple interact. Eddy was making his way through the house, he padded upstairs sniffing everything. Suddenly I heard a scream of pure terror. All three of us tore up the stairs, passing Eddy who was frantically dashing downstairs.

The couple raced into a room, with me right behind them. What I saw had me frozen in my shoes. An elderly lady, was standing in the middle of her bed. I have never seen anyone so white. She was crying, trembling, then began to vomit. I looked for bite marks as I thought Eddy had bitten her. No blood, no signs of a struggle, just this poor lady who was in such a state that I was in tears. The couple asked me to leave the room, go to the living room and wait there with Eddy. They didn’t seem angry, only sad. Both urged me not to allow Eddy out of my sight.

In the living room, Eddy had crept in behind the couch. I coaxed him out. In his fright he had peed. He sat on my lap shivering as we waited. It seemed like a long time before the couple came back. They told me they had given their mother a sedative, she was now sleeping. I was totally confused. What on earth happened up there?

They said the lady suffered from Cynophobia. I had never heard the term. They explained that that word is used for anyone who has a ‘phobia’ of dogs. It is an excessive and inappropriate fear. When faced with a dog, this lady went into a state of severe anxiety. She coped by avoiding dogs. She couldn’t watch tv as a dog might be displayed in an ad. Photo’s of dogs sent her over the edge. Seeing a dog walking outside turned her into a screaming bundle of nerves that was only controlled by sedating her.

I asked them why they had thought they could adopt Eddy with this woman in the house with her psychological disorder that clearly disrupted her life. I was angry. Eddy was traumatized by the experience. It would take weeks of work to help him over come what ‘he’ had just been through.

The couple were just not thinking. They had been taking the lady for various treatments. She was seeing a behavior therapist who was trying to treat her by attempting to reduce her fear by changing her reaction to dogs. They thought she was ready, and could handle a dog being around her. Obviously not!

I took Eddy home where he immediately looked for my dog Jasper. My tiny Maltese could sense something was wrong. He moved over in the bed so Eddy could curl up beside him. Eventually my wee stray will overcome and put behind him the experience. My thoughts were with the unfortunate lady. How sad that she feared dogs so much. Her family told me as a small child she had been dragged around by a Great Dane, who never harmed her. It left the child with a phobia of dogs that carried over into adulthood.

I looked at Jasper who is working now and then as a therapy dog. He would never be able to offer his love to that woman. Unless she could overcome the fear of dogs, she would never know the healing power of dogs. What a strange and tragic situation.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 14th, 2007 at 12:44 pm and is filed under General Dogs' Topics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.