My 12yr old was like this – utterly terrified of most animals. We tried the calm dog/puppy approach but in the end just didn’t make a fuss and whilst he’s not keen on dogs he doesn’t mind now. Puppies can be a bit bouncy and some get big fast (faster than a child).

IME most fears that appear to be an overreaction to an adult will be grown out of. Why should anyone have to LIKE dogs or cats anyway? As opposed to simply tolerating them and not being scared witless by them.

My nearly 4 year old daughter is was also very scared and wary of animals, especially dogs.

The local park is often frequented by people who let their untrained dogs run around off the lead – when she was about two, she was run at by a big boxer that was off of its lead. After that she was mega-scared of any dogs. My in-laws bought a rough collie pup about a year ago – my daughter was very wary of him to begin with. Now, even though he is quite big, she is not scared – unless she is surprised by him, or he is particularly boisterous. I would say she is just wary now.

My advice would be to let your son have regular contact with one well-trained dog (if you can) and let him build a relationship – maybe help with training if the dog is young.

If you can get him to the point where he is being wary rather than scared, I would leave it at that – being wary is not necessarily a bad thing for kids. My one year old son has no fear of anything at the moment – it sounds great, but I am worried he is going to be too confident and get into trouble!

It is also important to learn that you must ALWAYS ask if it is ok to stroke a dog before doing it.

I regularly bump in to kids who make a beeline for our dogs and immediately hold a hand out to offer a pat or stroke without asking. My two love the attention but a nervous or badly treated dog may behave differently.

It is also important to learn that you must ALWAYS ask if it is ok to stroke a dog before doing it.

I regularly bump in to kids who make a beeline for our dogs and immediately hold a hand out to offer a pat or stroke without asking. My two love the attention but a nervous or badly treated dog may behave differently.

This. Annoys the hell out of me when kids come running up to my dog. He’s a softie, but dogs are not always completely predictable and you never know if they might get overwhelmed/spooked especially if several children they don’t know go up to them at once, and it would be mine/my dog’s fault if he growled or worse, attacked. I’ve had to politely tell local kids before that they should ask an owner’s permission before approaching a dog because the dog might not be friendly.

Wary is not a bad thing, you want a child to be sensible around dogs, I agree with the idea of spending time around one dog, building up from there.

Don’t pick him up around dogs either as that reinforces there is something to be scared of – hold his hand and walk on confidently, talk to him and distract from the presence of a dog.

Annoys the hell out of me when kidsdogs come running up to my dog kids

etc