Talk:Cynophobia

Wtf?

The opening paragraph needs rewording: -

The fear of dogs is a natural emotion, because dogs are potentially dangerous. The abnormal fear of dogs, i.e., a specific phobia related to dogs, is called cynophobia.

The fear of potentially dangerous things is not a natural emotion. Fire is potentially dangerous, if someone lights a match it shouldn't cause anxiety. Further, cars are potentially extremely dangerous, yet it is considered abnormal to have a fear of travelling inside one. Thus, I would say that the fear of dogs is not a natural emotion based on their potentially dangerous aspect. Dogs are the oldest domesticated species and mankind has worked in unison with them since time immemorial, all fear would be bred out of most people through upbringing, especially of European descent. Perhaps cultural interpretation of dogs should also be added? Many people from African roots have a higher fear of dogs, where as people of Asian background are indifferent as most of us don't really have pets (or of the older generation ate a few :P). But this is a really fascinating phobia and allows us a look not just at the irrational fear, but the culturally rational conceptuality of dog-human interrelations. 211.30.71.59 02:17, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

I attempted to make things more neutral. mceder (u t c) 09:43, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

WP:NOT#HOWTO

I agree with this removal. It is not the job of an encyclopedia to give how-to manuals for things. Also, it is off topic as the article is about the fear of dogs, not dog safety. ((1 == 2) ? (('Stop') : ('Go')) 17:27, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Fear of dogs

Hi there. I removed the information you inserted again into this article. The information is dubious at best (this is my opinion) but the reason it was removed is due to the WP:NOT policy. WP:NOT#HOWTO explains it in detail, but in essence Wikipedia is not a howto guide. If the information is reliable and sourced we can work the material in the article, but not in its current format. Thanks. mceder (u t c) 17:18, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Disagreed with ridiculously superficial application of the rule: the deleted text contains encyclpedic info about dog's behavior. `'Míkka 00:55, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

I can call everything I don't agree with "ridiculous" too... I am certainly not interested in reverting with you back and forth. But what does "deleted under dubious and non-binding pretext" mean? The text I removed is a how to guide, writing in a manner not suited for the article. If you believe there is good information in the text i deleted, then perhaps we should take the time to write it into the article properly? The way it looks now is amateurish at best. (I have copied this to Talk:Fear of dogs so we may continue there). mceder (u t c) 05:35, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Very wise words: "we should take the time ". I am glad that I finally see the word we here. Now I am ready to talk to you seriously. But I do't have time right now. I will address the issue somewhat later.

At the moment let me explain why you interpret the "howto" too liberally. Please keep in mind that all policies and rules require a good deal of common sense to apply and they are not so unambiguous as it seem. A really dedicated person may delete plenty of content arguning "howto": mathematical formulae, treatments of diseases, dance desriptions. The "howto" policy is intended to exclude recipes and other detailed step-by-step instructions (BTW which would be either original research or copyright violation in the majority of cases). Back to the topic. This doggy thing lists some points related to dog's behavior which are helpful in overcoming the fear of dogs. It is not an instruction manual for dog training or something. `'Míkka 15:53, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Well, I would not call myself a deletionist, or a howto removal police. I just felt this part did not fit well in the article since the article is Fear of dogs. I will also take a stab later to see if I can work in any of the deleted material back in a more appropriate style. Perhaps. mceder (u t c) 17:46, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Mikkalai, while it is nice you participated in this discussion, it would also be nice if you addressed the issues brought up here instead of calling other peoples opinions "ridiculous" and flat reverting. As I already mentioned, the section is off topic and unencyclopedic. We are not a how-to site, and this is not an article on dog safety. ((1 == 2) ? (('Stop') : ('Go')) 14:22, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

As I already mentioned this is your opinion. I don't call opinion "ridiculous". I call deletion ridiculous. If you don't like the style, the proper approach is to rewrite, not to delete. Deletion of referenced and useful information is against the spirit of wikipedia. In this way I can delete half of wikipedia. If you think that information is incorrect, please provide your reasons you think so. If you think that the style is wrong, please use an appropriate tag. There are plenty of people with good command of English who improve wikipedia articles. Oh, and I forgot to mention: I hate deletionists which shoot first then ask. I hate them more than vandals: vandals are "force of nature", deletionists have ideology of destruction. `'Míkka 15:53, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Mikkalai, please stop edit warring against consensus. It is off topic, the article is about fear of dogs not dog safety. You don't have special authority in content disputes, and for the second time I find myself warning you about WP:3RR. ((1 == 2) ? (('Stop') : ('Go')) 16:20, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

There is no consensus.

The content is on topic, because it is well known that many fears and phobias arise from misunderstanding, and proper understanding the subject of a potential phobia is a core of its prevention.

But I will no longer fight against self-righteous assholes. Good luck in butchering wikipedia. The article is off my watchlist. `'Míkka 16:50, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Uh. Okay man. Sorry you feel that way. mceder (u t c) 17:48, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

If anyone wishes to discuss this issue civilly, then go right ahead, we are listening. ((1 == 2) ? (('Stop') : ('Go')) 18:01, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

As an exercise in anti-Howtoism I suggest you to decimate Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing or Organization of emergency medical assistance. `'Míkka 21:51, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

This article should be expanded

Fear of dogs is common, I suffer from it really bad. Dogs terrify me. It's an interesting subject and should have much more stuff in it. Knowitall (talk) 09:07, 24 May 2008 (UTC)

Me too--Spongefrog (talk) 20:22, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

?

I've been wondering for a while... are cynophobes also afraid of wolves? They're obviously very doglike in appearance and manner. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.177.203.38 (talk) 23:42, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

I'm afraid of dogs, but not wolves. Then again, I've never encountered a wolf in the wild. I'm also not afraid of guide dogs for the blind either, but any other dog does scare me. 79.69.37.71 (talk) 17:24, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

I am. But the only reason I'm not scared of blind dogs is because they are normally on leads and sit very still and dont come anywhere near you. Actually im scared of just about any four-legged decient sized creature.--Spongefrog (talk) 19:13, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Indeed, it's hardly irrational to be afraid of an animal that can do you serious harm, and dogs definitely fall into that category. Honestly, what's so special about fear of dogs that it gets its own entry? Why not fear of mosquitoes? --88.109.2.238 (talk) 19:58, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

Start it if you want. You'll have to get an account though. Maybe there are less occurences of fear of mosquitoes because they do not directly harm you, there is no basic instinct that you can get diseased. I've not explained this very well, I know --Spongefrog (talk) 20:21, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

I have an intense dislike of crazy canines (Wolves included.) 4DJONG (talk) 19:17, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

I personally have what could be considered an "irrational" fear of dogs, but I have no specific fear of wolves. Wolves are, however, extremely dangerous in the wild. I certainly wouldn't like to be locked in a room with one, but I wouldn't call that an irrational fear. I'm not really sure how you would have an "irrational" fear of wolves short of suspecting that there'll be one waiting for you when you leave your home. --Giftiger wunsch (talk) 23:46, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

Title

Shouldn't the article be called Cynophobia. The name is more of a description of Cynophobia if you know what I mean--Spongefrog (talk) 19:27, 8 April 2009 (UTC).

more common in women

In my experience I have never met a woman with a fear of dogs and I a Male am occasionaly so afraid of them I wil go ages out of my way to avoid it. Even if women get more animal fears I do not believe it to be true of dogs specificly and unless its dogs I do not feel it warrant inclusion in this artcile. --71.131.27.5 (talk) 16:12, 7 June 2009 (UTC) |as long as it can be backed up by a source or evidence then yes :)

Lead paragraph

The lead paragraph doesn't even say cynophobia is the fear of dogs. It can be only inferred through the explanation of the etymology. JIP | Talk 19:18, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

Is it hereditary?

I have cynophobia, and my brother has it too. My father is not afraid of dogs, but he does not like them. Does anyone know whether it is hereditary? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.50.36.229 (talk) 13:52, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

I've never heard any evidence of cynophobia being genetic; phobias generally develop due to environmental factors rather than genetic ones, as far as I am aware. -Giftiger wunsch (talk) 12:06, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Merge Fear of dogs with Cynophobia

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.

The result of this discussion was to merge the articles Triacylglyceride (talk) 06:52, 16 February 2011 (UTC)

---

Fear of dogs is just an informal term for Cynophobia, so why hasn't it been merged already? I also note that the discussion page for fear of dogs redirects to the Cynophobia discussion page anyway. Sorry if I haven't proposed the merge properly, I don't often edit. --Giftiger wunsch (talk) 23:51, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

• Merge I second the nomination - its about the same topic. Miyagawa (talk) 13:11, 11 June 2010 (UTC)

I move against the proposed idea. I myself am a cynophobe, and I can tell you that the two are very different ideas entirely. A fear is classified as rational (e.g. you fear a dog growling and baring its teeth at you), whereas in a phobia, the afflicted person is aware that the fear is irrational, and is aware that there is no danger. RedFox^QCC? 05:34, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

• Merge the two topics are very similar. It's just a waste of Wikipedia server space keeping the two closely interrelated subjects in opposite articles rather than a whole.--Editor510 ^{drop us a line, mate} 22:36, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Merge It's been well over a week with no discussion, a rough majority in favour of merging, and the movement against being that cynophobia and fear of dogs are different. While this is true, I don't feel that "fear of dogs" really needs an article any more than "desire for ice cream." There are one-and-a-half lines of non-cynophobia content in this article, and they're unencyclopaedic. Finally, the cynophobia article makes it clear that cynophobia ≠ fear of dogs. I'm going to go ahead and merge. Triacylglyceride (talk) 06:48, 16 February 2011 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Fear of Certain Breeds of Dogs

The topics should be combined - and called "Fear of Dogs (Can.....)” I would welcome the expansion of this topic to include a discussion of fear of specific breeds of dogs. I have a fear, based upon experience, of certain small dog breeds. I find them aggressive and generally nasty. At the same time I have to cope with other peoples' fear of my dogs - male and female German Shepherds. I believe if the the truth were told there are far more bites from some nasty small breeds, than the larger breeds. But people don't call the cops when they are bitten by a miniature poodle - perhaps because it doesn't hurt as much as a bite by a German Shepherd. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.71.238.209 (talk) 01:44, 20 November 2010 (UTC)

Interesting

I'm afraid of dogs, it only started recently though, about a week ago, but it was random, my friends have a dog which I used to think was adorable. Now when I see it I want to leave. It might be because dogs are normally used for defensive purposes and if I see a dog then I assume it's going to protect its owner and basically trample me. Plus being around a dog long enough I learned dogs like to tear up things like fabric and cloth. It frightens me how much ease they do this with because a dog could easily injure somebody like me. Also I find dogs freaking insane sometimes, they like to jump on stuff and run around on it and not even the dog's owners seem to stop it. If I owned a dog I would feel different, and I'm not afraid of small dogs or puppies, but more so the super deadly ones like Pitbulls. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.252.27.118 (talk) 03:28, 8 January 2014 (UTC)

Videos are for fear IN dogs

The videos show a happy dog and a scared dog. This article is about fear OF dogs, not how dogs feel fear. 71.126.53.8 (talk) 17:31, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

Yes, the video of the dog standing alone at the door was of no value. It has been removed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.66.8.188 (talk) 04:26, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Images and Videos of Dogs should not be shown on the page

This phobia, a specific phobia, can be quite severe. Presenting pictures and videos of dogs here would be expected to cause readers with the phobia to react with panic, to a degree consistent with the level of suffering they, the afflicted, bear.

Forcing the reader to confront the fear by visiting the page is not reasonable. Offering the reader images and videos is reasonable, provided that an adequate disclaimer is acknowledged by the reader before the presentation occurs. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.66.8.188 (talk) 04:25, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Cynophobia from culture

Wikipedia article Cynophobia says Cynophobia is also very common among the Malays in Singapore. Malays in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Indonesia and Philipines are Muslims. Islam teach some rules about dogs like if lick by dog must wash hand few times. Many hundred years Malay culture become very scared dogs more than the Islam teaches. Same for Muslims cultures in other countrys. Question is cynophobia correct word for this dog fear in Muslim cultures but not Islam teaches? If yes then the article need to say more about it. --Curious Cat On Her Last Life (talk) 01:13, 17 January 2017 (UTC)

This article is based on narrow-minded Western psychologists who view everything from a WEIRD (Western, educated, and from industrialized, rich, and democratic countries) perspective. Obviously, throughout the Global South, dogs are generally unpredictable semi-feral animals that simply co-exist with humans as scavengers, and are usually not well socialized to be non-aggressive with humans. "Cynophobia" is a rational fear that is the norm throughout most of the Global South (for example, India), where dog attacks cause thousands of annual deaths. — Stevey7788 (talk) 11:52, 22 September 2018 (UTC)

Murder all dogs

Im scared murder them, the dogs 81.231.248.105 (talk) 13:17, 3 July 2022 (UTC)

Pixie

My freind has a dog and he tried to k1ll me 81.231.248.105 (talk) 13:18, 3 July 2022 (UTC)

This is why i am a cat person

The dogs chase me and f***ing try to mürder me 91.130.15.186 (talk) 13:51, 3 July 2022 (UTC)