Princess Fairy Toes suggested I get a dog. Sounds like a good idea, but for once the rational and the irrational side of me both agree. It's not a good idea for me. It's not that I dislike dogs. I think they are great companions. There were dogs at home as long as I can remember. I just don't think it would be fair to have a dog only for it to be locke in all day while I am at work and not even get a proper run in the vening. We ldon't live near a vast open space and the local parks close at dusk which means before I get home from October to April. It would be a dog's life for the animal. There is also the question of who would look after it when we go away. Pet passeport may be a great improvement on quarantine but they still involve a lot of hassle. Let's face it it would not be easy to fit in a trip to the vet on a quick week-end visit to France to see my parents. And there is also the one little detail: I am scared of dogs. Not just a little scared. More like totally irrational fear (like some people are scared of spiders. Examples of irrational dog fear induced behaviour are: running accross a busy street without looking to put space between me and a dog barking from its front garden and grabbing a total stranger in a park to shelter behind his back because a dog on an extensible leash was trying to smell me. The owner thought it was funny, I didn't. And I think the stranger was having trouble deciding if I was a scared as I looked or just totaly insane (both obviously). I am normally ok with my friends' and my parents' dogs but I can't say I am ever 100% comfortable. I suppose I would be fine with my own dog. Then again, what happens the day my own dog scares me ? Do I just put it away in some rescue centre ? How fair would that be on the animal ? I was not always scared of dogs. This is how I became scared of them. Hold on I hear you say. This is not a dog. I know it's not a dog, it's a horse and no I cannot remember it's name. When we were little, my parents took us on a horse drawn caravan holiday in the Lot department. The idea is simple. The show you how to look after the horse and handle it. Then you are handed a circuit with recommended routes (remote and quiet roads for obvious reasons), fields where you can stop and a list of farms which sell supplies and which will be happy to show the children the working of the farm and the livestock (Lot is a veal producing area). It's a lovely way to spend a holiday with children and I would like to do it with The Boy one day despite what happened. Anyway I digress. One afternoon we stopped in the designated field and made our way to the farm to get eggs and milk. My brother and I were walking ahead while my mum and sister followed. My fatrer had stayed behind to feed the horse. We soon saw a german shepherd running towards us. We did as we had been taught to do when faced with an unknown animal. We stopped and stayed still. The farmer shouted at us to not move and started running after the dog. The dog walked around us, sniffed me carefully then moved on to my brother and started growling an getting ready to pounce. He started to jump and despite the farmer grabbing its collar a few seconds after it had started to attack, it was too late. The next thing I remember is the farmer chaining the dog, my brother's face covered in blood, the farmer screaming something along the lines of "It got his eye, oh my god it got his eye", my mother handing me my little sister and asking me to take her back to the camp and tell my dad what had happened and that she and the farmer were taking my brother to the hospital. The dog had not got my brother's eye but his bottom lip had been split in two and had to be stitched back together, so had his left nostril and the lacerations on his nose. There are still scars but the surgeon did a good job so they are quite faint now. The funny thing is, my brother is NOT scared of dogs. My brother loves dogs. He also makes fun of my fears. He says there is something weird about being scared because of a trauma which happened to somebody else. He says that one bad owner shouldn't make me weiry of all dogs. Maybe he is right. Still, if you have a dog and want to introduce him/her to me, be gentle and remember that however friendly his/her jumping on me is likely to make me a teensy bit uneasy. Iam working on it. Honest.
Getting a dog
5.3.04 01:02
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(5.3.04 19:26) If you are so scared of dogs it's probably NOT a good idea to get one. Also you could end up doing THIS! |
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(6.3.04 11:34) The training class sound like fun if you fancy being humiliated by your pet(I actually went to a few with a friend who was trying to show me that most dog owners actually have control over their pets - it did help). Imagine his pride when the dog masters the job and the teacher gives an admiring yet incredulous look. |
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(6.3.04 18:51) I think it makes perfect sense that you have developed a dog phobia, considering what you witnessed as a child. I saw a very nasty accident involving a bicyclist and two cars and I have never ridden a bike since (motorcycles are a different matter in my mind!). |
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(8.3.04 13:21) It takes a lot to get me on a motorbike. I never learned to ride them so I have to rely entirely on the driver and it involves a high level of trust. |
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Lisa (9.3.04 12:03) There are very few (if any) breeds of dogs that you can leave alone for an entire day. Puppies must be fed three times a day until they are around 5 months old, and they simply don't have the "control" to go without a loo break for more than a few hours. They are a lot of work and require a lot of care, even as adults. Well, that and it doesn't help if you are afraid of them. 
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