Woof

I do not like dogs. Do not like them. Hardly at all.

This is surprising to my family as I grew up with dogs. We had two wonderful golden retrievers whom I adored. Shannon and Abby weren't dogs, they were members of the family. My family.

But things happen. You grow up and you start to be more cautious and afraid of things. For instance, I cannot enjoy roller coasters like I did as a child. I still go on them (most of them), but I spend the first few minutes going, "I shouldn't be here. This is insane. I am going to die. I am going to orphan my poor little child who is sitting down there in her stroller waiting for me." I get off at the end saying, "That was fun, but I'm glad it's over."

When I was a child, I got bit by a dog. It wasn't fun, as you can imagine, nor were the shots afterwards (both the one I had to get in my rear end and the one the dog got from my dad's gun). I don't know who owned the dog, but I remember clearly everything about that day, including the abject terror I felt as I was attacked. It was a big dog, and it was vicious.

Because I was a child, and because we owned pets, I got over my fear pretty quickly and rebounded as children tend to do.

But I'm not a child any more, and large, barking dogs terrify me, probably because of what happened to me as a child. I'm okay when the owners are around, or it's a small dog, or a dog I know well. But when they come running around the corner of the house with no warning, as one did this morning as I was carrying Zoe to her grandma's, I freeze. I panic. I forget all rational thought. And I freak out.

And let me just say that it doesn't help when people say, "You grew up with dogs! You're a dog person!"

I am most definitely not a dog person. I am a pet person. I like my pets and the pets of my family members. I do not like all dogs, nor should I be expected to just because I grew up with dogs as pets.

I have related this morning's story to three people, and all of them have told me to either a.) get over it so I don't instill a fear of dogs in my child or b.) that it was a harmless dog simply because it was a golden retriever.

Can anyone guarantee me that a golden retriever has never, ever bitten someone? I didn't think so.

I refuse to believe that I'm supposed to simply swallow my fear and let a crazed, barking dog I don't know jump all over me and my child, because "dogs are innately good." They are not. Many are, but not all. How in the hell am I supposed to know the difference? If a dog is charging me, and barking, I'm going to take the route of self-defense every time.

I am standing up for all of us non-dog people and saying, "It's okay to not be a dog person. It's okay."

So all you dog people can get off my back and quit trying to convince me that there's something wrong with someone who doesn't love all dogs.

Mocha, you are, of course, excluded from above rant. You are right up there with Shannon and Abby. Except you gotta learn to control that tail. That thing hurts!

Grrrr. Woof woof!