How My Daughter got Over Her fear of our Dog

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When I first bought Ruby, a Pomeranian Poodle my daughter, Meliah wasn't sure about her even when we went to the kennels she didn't want to touch her or be near her, but at the same time she was really excited. I couldn't believe how she was acting after years of constantly asking me for a dog. I thought would be a little apprehensive but not how she was.

On the way back form the breeder we were in the van and Ruby was very calm but curious as to what was going on and where she was going, but Meliah was so scared she couldn't sit next to ruby. She couldn't even let her smell her hand. Meliah was so tense I thought she would jump out of the van window if she could.

So when Sharene, my partner started getting sick on the road melaih was not happy in any way. She even tried to get out of the van when I pulled over to attend to Sharene. I started to think, had I made the right decision. The two of them were not in good shape especially Meliah who was really scared because she now associated Ruby with sickness and problems and not the happy fun times in the park she wished for.

When we brought Ruby home for the first time meliah went straight to bed and didn't get anywhere near Ruby. I was assured after a good night sleep she will get over it and we'll be fine. But I was wrong. as Ruby started getting used to the house Meliah seemed to still be very distant she started being able to stroke Ruby but only from behind and when Ruby turned around to see her Meliah jumped and ran away. As Ruby started being able to come out of the living room where her crate is meliah would run and hide in her wardrobe.

Now nearly two weeks had passed and I really tried to get Melaih being around Ruby by keeping Ruby in her crate when melaih was in the room Then I let Ruby out in the living room and Meliah stayed on the sofa with her legs up. At this point Meliah started getting used to Ruby and started calling her name. I show her how nice Ruby was and she will never hurt her. Meliah became more confident around Ruby and was able to tell her no when she tried to jump up on the sofa but she was still afraid.


To show Melaih someone who wasn't scared of any dog I started watching Cesar Millan's dog programmes with meliah. I tried to avoid when Cesar was rehabilitating the larger and more aggressive dogs. I realized that although watching dog programmes and other animal programmes she was still afraid. When we went to the shop I bought her an dog activity magazine from Pet Home which changed her associated from dogs making people sick to having run activities.

I found Beverly Hills chiwawa, a childrens film about a talking dog. on Sky demand. watching the fun dog movie was another turning point for her. Meliah stopped running out of the room but she was still a little scared on Ruby.

I knew Meliah loved thee idea of taking ruby for a walk and even pretended that her winnie the poo toy was a dog and tied a belt around it neck and walked around the house with the toy. I realised that Meliah is going to have to face her fears but I wasn't sure how. Then we found a CBBC programme called Who let the dogs out? This programme was perfect because it showed little children slightly older than Meliah looking after and training their dogs. Another CBBC programme that changed Meliah's view on Ruby was 'Pet School' when a little girl was afraid of her pet hamster and through the show she faced her fears and held her pet. I thought it was the perfect time to get meliah to face her fer of Ruby and start enjoying herself. I gave her a little pep talk about trying her hardest and the fun times that we can all have together. We then sat her down took Ruby out of the crate and Meliah let Ruby smell her hand. Once she done that I knew that Meliah would be fine so I quickly put Ruby on her lap. Ruby immediately started licking her hand and Meliah started giggling. After that Meliah has been great with Ruby and even showed my sister how to get to know her.




Meliah is now enjoying her time Ruby with and has finally achieved her dream of taking her dog for a walk.

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