Do Dogs Sense Fear?
Most childhood fears subside over time, as the child gains the experience to discern what is possible from what is impossible, and increasingly relies on logic. Few 10-year-olds still fear the bathtub drain. And fears outgrown can often be altogether avoided. For example fear of heights poses little problem for a resident of Vermont, as there are no skyscrapers (unless one counts silos). But it’s harder to avoid dogs in a culture in which about 50 percent of homes have them. And as it turns out, you wouldn’t want to. Behavioral psychologists have shown that avoidance of a feared object actually maintains or even increases that fear. Avoidance results in missed opportunities for fear reduction, and since avoidance itself is reinforced by an absence of anxiety, it increases the cycle of avoidance behavior. Furthermore, a fear of dogs actually can place a child at greater risk of being bitten. According to Patricia McConnell, an animal behavior expert and author of The Other End of the Le
