Dee and I met in church. Over the years we’ve had occasional telephone calls, stolen moments between services, and random infrequent emails.

When I started blogging Dee was one of our first subscribers outside of my immediate family. She is a very busy lady; Minister, Grad Student, Professional Career, etc… To know that she was actively engaged in my blog posts humbled me. She took the time to keep up with our stories!

I was without words a few weeks ago when Dee informed me she had yet to meet them up close in the flesh and the fur! Surely this couldn’t be true – The Boys have been frequent attendees to numerous church events.

This terrible oversight had to be rectified immediately. I insisted she come over for dinner. I figured this way she could finally meet and play with The Boys.

She accepted, and our dinner date was set!

When the door bell rang the three of us went to the door. We all have our roles:

• I open the door
• Harley is the resident greeter, barking out a furrendly hello song
• Leo brings the toys to show how happy he is that you’ve come over to his house

Sometimes people are a little overwhelmed when they see ALL of us there at once, but they adjust. HOWEVER – this time it was I who was a little surprised when my good friend Dee sprang this one on me while standing on the other side of the glass door:

Well – no, I didn’t.

Not to worry: 1 – 2 – 3 REGROUP

Although she looked calm, she still held a death grip on my door handle. As I tried to push the door open, she adamantly kept it closed.

“They didn’t look this big on the website” she kept repeating as Harley continued his well rehearsed welcome and Leo waited with his toy dangling from his mouth.

I don’t have an enormous degree of experience with people who confess “I’m afraid of dogs” while standing at my front door. Little did I know I wouldn’t really need to do much, short of recognizing the fear was real and allowing Dee to proceed at her own pace. Harley was going to do the rest.

I waited until she was comfortable and ready to enter. As she stepped into the house I reassured her she was safe, and these two doodles would not harm her at all.

When any guest arrives and initially seems intimidated by their size, we introduce the Caesar Millan’s “no touch, no talk, no eye contact” technique. Harley is familiar with this exercise, and has learned to give our guests some “space.” This worked for Dee and once inside, she quickly sort safety at the kitchen counter…

I figured sitting up high would give her a sense of additional distance

We talked a little bit about her uneasiness around dogs, where she believed her fear came from, and then I quickly changed the subject. I wanted her to share but not fixate on the subject. I thought if we focused on something else, she would be able to relax a bit.

It worked! Before long Dee had moved to the couch, and we were lounging in the family room. I had to chuckle because she stopped in mid sentence when Harley moved over and laid down almost “on” her feet…

She looks like she’s stopped breathing doesn’t she?

Normally a person ALREADY uncomfortable with dogs would have passed out, but before I could say anything Dee told me “it’s, fine, I’m good.” Harley remained there until dinner was served. After our meal Dee (all by herself) took the initiative and bent down to talk to Harley.

When he looked up at her as if to say, “Hi there nice lady, happy to meet you” she was hooked. She couldn’t get over that one little move…

It’s those incredibly loving eyes Harley has…

I don’t think either one of us knew at that moment – with the help of a four legged furrend, Dee was working through her “dog issue” all by herself. Harley was teaching her not to be afraid of him…

No fear – you go girl

Next thing I knew (and I believe a total surprise to her), Dee did the unexpected, she started to pet Harley…

Harley doing that voodoo that he do so well…

Shortly after that, there really wasn’t any reason for me to even be in the room. Leo must have sensed she was ready because he wandered over and the three of them just had this “Doodle love fest” going on while I cleaned the kitchen (and snuck some photos!)…

“Love is in the air”

Needless to say by the end of the evening, Harley and Dee had become fast furry furrends – laughing, tail wagging buddies…

I just love these photos

We had a Doodletastic visit! Dee even called the next day. She said she couldnt’ stop thinking about how much fun she had and that she was coming back soon. She kept telling me: “I want some more play time with Harley & Leo” So I told her anytime, she was always welcome here in “Doodleville.”

We’ll leave the porch light on for her…

Harley & Leo are the BEST!

Thanks for reading. Have you ever helped convert someone with a fear of dogs? Have you had a similar experience? Do tell…