Braveheart wrote:Yes, probably one or two times. Normally people in bungalows own them. And also yes, I had a bad experience. I had developed a canine phobia after I was bitten a few times. I was also chased by wild dogs. Whenever I see dogs I start to avoid being friendly with them like the black plague. Because I was reminded of those uncomfortable incidents.
While it's true that there are many different dogs with various personalities, my mind tend to judge them far too quickly. Maybe it's just me. But I'm finding quite hard to get over it.
I'm so sorry to hear that. I couldn't imagine living like that, but then again, we've had two totally different experiences - I was raised with them and I've never known a life
without dogs. Because my career revolves around them, I've also had my fair-share of handling nastier dogs, and I will agree that it's frightening experience. Probably because you don't expect them to be nasty since they are supposed to be so domesticated. It's very easy to forget that domestication isn't just an automatic thing, these are still animals, but more often than not, it's not the dog's fault for being the way it is. It's a result of a poor upbringing. They're just like people in that regard, you get out of a dog what you put into it, and that should always be nourishment and love!
I will say, though, there
is a reason why dogs are used as therapy animals.
Most of the dogs I've met are pretty spectacular and I know that they calm my anxiety, even if they're just in the same room as me. There are dogs that are not only trained but
bred to be as biddable as possible. My own golden retriever is only 9 months, but you can handle her muzzle and open her mouth and stick your hand in.... and she'll do nothing at all. The other dogs we have wouldn't be so willing to do that as pups. So it definitely can depend on the breed if you're new to dogs and want to get a better first experience.
I think if you met a certain breed built for therapy work, you might slowly begin to lose this fear.
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Ugh, 30 minutes on the cross trainer today... can we not?
