Hi all

My sister is scared of certain breeds mainly GSD,Rotties, Staffies, Bullmastiffs, american bulldogs, Pitbulls because of what the news\ media says about them in attacks and so shes been scared of these breeds for awhile but give her a great dane , labrador or english mastiff and shes fine. Its only breeds that have been named in attacks on people. She wants to overcome her fear as she wasnt able to come to my house ever because of diesel ( my GSD) and she wants to not be scared anymore as she knows its not the breeds fault its the owners so since she keeps asking for my help in overcoming this fear but i have no clue on how to help her , i wanted to ask what can she do to overcome this fear of breeds name in dog attacks?

Tell her to read the following: https://www.caninejournal.com/dog-bite-statistics/

I am sure she knows that the two breeds she is not scared of belong to a similar group, bar the GSD, to all the other breeds you mention, in that they are all molossers.

Most dogs only bite if threatened, highly stressed or injured, so learning about dog body language may help her.  If your GSD is very responsive and reliable to obedience cues it could be that your sister can ask for 'downs', 'sits' and 'stays' at distance. This way she may begin to feel she can control the situation as well as learning to read your dog while building a relationship and trust.

I lost diesel my GSD a few months ago. But she hated not being able to come to my house because of her fear and incase i get a similar breed in the future she wants to overcome her fear.

Oh, I'm so sorry. My reply must have seemed very insensitive- must remember not to skim read threads.

No that fine , its a good artical you linkd so im going to send her that.

Pyshologically fear of a certain breef of dog, can be overcome by interaction with a puppy(ies)of the breed from a very early age. Even people with the strongest of phobias of an adult of the breed will be able to cope with a baby puppy & most GSD puppies are incredibly attractive & if the person gets involved with hands off training it can be even better.

I don't fear any breed, but I do have dislike of certain breeds which I find unattractive in different ways- not just appearance

> Pyshologically fear of a certain breef of dog, can be overcome by interaction with a puppy(ies)of the breed from a very early age. Even people with the strongest of phobias of an adult of the breed will be able to cope with a baby puppy & most GSD puppies are incredibly attractive & if the person gets involved with hands off training it can be even better.<br /><br />I don't fear any breed, but I do have dislike of certain breeds which I find unattractive in different ways- not just appearance

Thanks, im the same im not scared of any breed and a lot of the breeds i like are in the working group. But im wary of certain dogs when i use to walk diesel and now i only have kiara ( my lab) im still wary of certain breeds but not because of breed but because i dont know what the owner is like and what training if any they have given.

I sent her the link above and she found it interesting. I want to ask if anyone knows of good books you would reccomend on dog body language \behaviour as she wants to read books.

I use to be afraid of dogs, I now have two and all my friends have dogs, I go to dog shows/sports/training as well. For me it started to change when I went to do animal care at college, learning more about dogs including their behaviour and being around them got me over it.
We had just moved to Wales from England after school and at college every week we had to go to a breeders kennel who bred great Danes and had English mastitis, they also took in rescue Danes. We had to walk, clean kennels, bath dogs, give tablets, practice some first aid, worm puppies and of course play with them too, health check ect. I would shake most of the time at first but had no choice if I wanted to pass the course. Also my new friend I had made there between her and her mother had 12 dogs (all small breeds) so whenever I spent time up theirs it ment being around their dogs.