Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

smile I finally found a secret to tell y'all...

stare Stop drooling all over your keyboard. It's disgusting and it makes you look like a dog. *shivers*

About dogs.
Yes. That's right. The fur-footed tongue-lolling tail-wagging monsters that look up at you with heart soulful eyes heart that make you want to pity them and give you that bit of bacon you were savoring.

The secret is...*drum roll*
I'm terrified of them.

I mean, really terrified. There's a park down the hill from my house about a block, and I love walking there but if I see more than three cars in the parking lot I turn around and go home, because chances are somebody has their dog with them. If a person with a dog is walking towards me, I turn around and walk in the other direction. If there are dogs on both sides...I freak. stressed gonk crying If a dog is walking quickly towards me, I whimper and try to back away or to the side towards the center of the field where there are more ways to run. If it's running towards me, I freeze, too scared to move, and when it gets within about 4 feet of me I shriek and back away quickly until the owner manages to calm the dog (or me) down. If it's barking, growling, or running very fast, I scream, and if it gets within the same distance, I back away. If it gets too close, I freeze again, too scared now to even think about anything but the fear and the dog coming at me and praying (but not believing) that it won't bite me. I'm still screaming, though. After an encounter of that last kind with a dog, I walk away quickly, crying and whimpering uncontrollably, jumping and shrieking at the slightest movement or sound (especially jewelry jingling, because it sounds like the tag on a dog's collar). This can last anywhere from half an hour to two hours. Afterwards I am still very jumpy, and for at least two days any kind of growling, barking, or howling sound, or even the mention of dogs, with send me into my room so no one sees me whimpering and crying "for no reason". I hate this fear of dogs, especially since there really isn't any good reason for it: the only "violent" encounter I have ever had with a dog was once when I was less than 2 years old and a friends dog chased me across the yard barking and growling and yanked my diaper off. I don't know what to do; it feels like there's a rock in my chest every time this happens because people wouldn't be walking these dogs in the park if they weren't "safe". Even puppies scare me. redface