Seems that our strategy worked. Holly Jun is much more comfortable with the dogs, and has even begun to boss them around a bit. We took it slow, and tried to be very matter of fact. We gave her time with each dog, one on one, and did not give into her attempts to just avoid them. We would walk her through the room they were in, and kept telling her it was ok, and see, the doggies like you.
Over the past two weeks she has gone from screaming in fear at their presence in the same room, to trotting out to the backyard to get her hat when the dogs were out there, and she knew it. She didn't hesitate for a second, just marched out, with them following close behind. I hadn't even realized she had gone out there until she came back in, proudly carrying her hat and telling the dogs that they could not come in, in Chinese of course.
By not making a big deal of it, and not keeping the dogs away from her, or reinforcing her fear by overreaction whenever the dogs came too close or by always keeping them separate, I think she had a sense that when we said it was ok, we were telling her the truth, and she trusted us. I hope that by learning she can trust when we say something will be ok, she will be less upset at changes as they come, which they will when she goes to kindergarten in the fall.
Way to go guys - that's the kind of progress that we're talking about! Happy for you guys!
ReplyDeletehugs - aus and co.