Before you reach for a definition, the point is made. If not, not. Then each day he or she would move closer while maintaining the same calm until he or she was finally up close to the dog and calm at the same time. Intensity of phobia, duration of difficulty, even size of dog are secondary to the structural features of the difficulty which allow it to basically be treated with distance. NLP co-developer John Grinder was once asked what the difference was between the NLP Phobia Relief Method and Systematic Desensitization.
Experience has a Structure.
With NLP, the internal map of the experience is changed directly. Rearrangement of the structure of this stimulus-experience nexus becomes the domain of a successful therapy.