*Stands up from his chair* My name is Ellert (at least on these forums) and I have a mild phobia of dogs, thank you for having me. *Sits back down and waits for the next person in the circle to make his confession to the good doctor and his other patients*

So anyway, this phobia of mine if you could call it that is getting in my way, there are three parts to this story before I can reach the conclusion, my weird phobia, the dog and his owner, and the story. Let′s start with chapter one.

My weird phobia (if you could call it that): The reason I call it weird is because I know my fear of dogs is irrational and my body acts up (faster heartbeat, sweating, heavier breathing such stuff around dogs) which would fit the definition except that I don't really 'freak out' like most people seem to do. I've seen videos of people with real phobias and I still haven't seen myself freak out on such a level. I suppose the source of my fear of dogs may be that I was pretty much only actively around aggressive and growling dogs up until the age of 7 but I don't really know if that still matters now that I′m just about fully grown up. So with that in mind let′s go to chapter two.

The dog and his owner: My friend has a Rough Collie, and she doesn't like me. In fact every single time I come face to face with that dog she starts to bare her teeth growling at me generally showing all the general signs of an aggressive dog. My friend already knew before the first time I met his dog that I have a rather un-manly (and un-womanly if you don't like gender stereotypes) fear of dogs, so it's always been the routine that he'd lock the dog up in a specific room when I came to visit. The dog doesn't growl at him quite possibly since the dog should be looking at him as the "alpha of the pack" if you will, but I've always been that intruder that doesn't face her, at least I would imagine that to be the thought of the dog. Now at this point most people would ask why my friend doesn't just scold the dog into not growling. Well the answer to that is that he doesn't really seem to know how. His parents were neglectful about training the dog as she was growing up and my friend has never really known how to do that. Heck if he wants her to move somewhere that she doesn't want to go he has to physically push her there... so let's get onto chapter three.

The story: So I was visiting my friend again not so long ago but I was feeling rather childish about always giving into fear and just making him move the dog away before entering so when he asked as usual as we were approaching his house "so you just wait for now while I get the dog away" I decided to respond "nah I wanna see what happens if I try to cross it" and after him asking me a few times if I was sure about it and me responding positively to that it came to opening the door. Of course the dog was there waiting per usual, I stood there just looking at it for a short while and I found my heart starting to pound faster, my breath getting heavier and I generally started showing those signs of fears I always do, despite not really 'freaking out', staring at that dog with its teeth bared at me making a deep growling noise I found what little courage I thought I had waning until I stepped back and said "[censored] this, she′s yours".

Obviously I'm no expert on dogs but I wouldn't be surprised if it had went for me if I had gone closer, but what I want to ask here is if that is actually something that would have been a possibility or if I'm just being a coward in the face of something unlikely to actually attack. I know each dog has his or her own personality but generally speaking would it be a be a bad idea to chance it to be around a Rough Collie that′s being aggressive or are they more bark than bite ? And also if her owner can't get her to behave is there anything I can personally try to get that dog to stop growling and being aggressive ? I can't help all those small hints of fear I give away with my heart pounding and the heavier breathing (get this suffocating feeling almost) and such but if there's something bigger in general I can do then I'd be willing to give it a try. Honestly I′m not gonna lie here it can be pretty humiliating to always be such a scaredy cat around dogs, especially when you're fine around all other sorts of stuff. Spiders, heights, snakes, the dark... all fine, but a mere dog and I'm suddenly cowering before something three times smaller than myself.

Basically the question is this, do I swallow my pride and just wait for him to move the dog every single time I visit or is there anything I can do about this ?

If you showed the dog an emotion other than fear, it might warm up to you.

Spend some time around nice dogs, most dogs are pretty chill if you give them attention. They can also sense fear, I'm no dog expert but that might be why your friends dog is so hostile towards you.

A friend of mine has a similar phobia with large dogs. I have a large German Shepherd who is normally quite friendly with new people, but if a dog detects fear, they seem to read that as someone who isn't supposed to be there, and they go into "territorial" mode. It's similar with my friend and my dog, although he doesn't bare his teeth, just growls a bit. The best advice I can give you is to do your best not to outwardly show any fear. Unless you feel the dog is going to bite or something, just don't acknowledge it at all and it'll usually calm down.

EDIT: partially ninjaed by Nami

The only thing I can promise is what I do in large body movements, the breathing and pounding heartbeats and those small things I have no control over. I obviously can't command my heart to beat at a certain pace and I can't make that heavy feeling go away any more than I can order my kidneys around.

So with that in mind is it still a good idea to try and just sit it out with the dog. Any chances she would bite despite me not making any large movements to display fear as long as those small indicators are there or would it be more normal for a dog with such behaviors only to bite if I did something big ?

I always just try to be friendly towards pets, and they usually warm up to you. Just remember you can probably beat up the dog in one on one combat!

Get down on your hands and knees and growl back at it. But really, I'm afraid to give much in the way of advice, especially anything involving approaching it. It may bite, it may not, I don't know. I honestly have no idea why a dog would growl at somebody who's afraid of them, but I don't know why dogs do some of the things they do.

It would certainly help if you approached the dog in a confident manner, but it really is your friend's fault for not acting like a pack leader and keeping his dog in a calm and submissive state.

I feel like a Mexican dog trainer now.

One thing about dogs, they love food!
Bring some doggy treats with you each time you visit, preferably treats that give off a strong scent.

The dog won't be best friends with you after the first treat you give him (or throw at him if you like to keep your distance. Just try not to hit the dog with your throw )), but after a while he will get to know you as that guy with the treats.

Dogs love guys with treats.

Oh and make your friend put a leash on the dog and go out for a walk together. Relaxed way to get to know eachother.

I don't know if treats are the best idea. Some of the people I've talked to say that it might make the dog associate that kind of behavior with a reward, which would actually make the problem worse.

Yeah, best way is to show the dog the treat and not give it to him until he calms down a bit.

I used to react the same way around dogs when i was younger. All dogs, big or small, allthough for some reason I got along better with a massive rottweiler than I did with a tiny dog whose race I don't know what to call. Anyway, not the point. In short, I know exactly where you're coming from, I've been there.

Now, I have a dog, which I love. I don't know what I can say to help really as I don't know what changed, over time I just got over it. It was prevalent around the age of 10-12 for me, I am now 21. All I can say is, take a hold of yourself and try forcing yourself to be calm. Dogs can tell when you're edgy around them and it makes them edgy as well, it's suspicious to them as far as I understand (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm by no means an expert on dogs, only speaking frome experience), if you're calm more often than not the dog will be too.

Whenever a new person comes to our house, my dog barks like mad, but if that person showes him/herself as someone who is not a threat to the family she calms down and is very nice, though still very eager. She's a very excitable dog and any visitors will make her bark and wag her tail to the point where I expect liftoff at any moment But still, anyone acts threatening and she'll let them know it won't fly with her. I'm willing to bet your friends dog feels suspicious about you.