So! Sunday was sunny and warm (Forty-eight degrees! Heat wave!), and I went for a nice long walk in the hills around my house. I walked holes in my socks. There was still a lot of snow on the ground, so I stuck to the roads. And I picked out one road, which circled around and came back to another road, and started walking up it. And I walked, and walked, and walked, passing fields and woods and occasionally a house, and then I headed down a hill toward a farmhouse.
And I heard a dog barking.
No big deal. Lots of people keep dogs. And dogs bark. I hear dogs barking all the time when I'm walking.
But this dog sounded like a BIG dog. And then he came out from around the side of the farmhouse, and he WAS a big dog. A great big Rottweiler. Big. With huge big muscles and a great big neck that I swear looked bigger around than his head.
And I froze. I was still up the road, about thirty yards away. I could see the dog clearly, but I couldn't see if he was on a chain, or loose. And there was a truck in the farmhouse driveway, but that doesn't mean that somebody is home.
And I really, really wanted to continue down that road, to see what I could see, but I didn't. I could not walk past that dog. I turned around and went back the way I came.
The truth? I am scared of dogs. Barking dogs frighten me in an awful, visceral way that I can barely describe. When I saw that Rottie coming around the corner of the farmhouse, barking his head off, I just wanted to rewind time to back before it happened, because I wanted to die, I was so damn scared.
And here's where somebody says, "Oh, that dog's probably a big old sweetie! You could've walked right up to that cutie-pie and he would've rolled on his back for a tummy rub! Rottweilers are great big babies!"
And maybe that's true.
But it could ALSO be true that the dog in the yard had escaped from his pen and was not friendly AT ALL and was having a BAD DAY and maybe also had rabies like that dog in Cujo and maybe he was going to charge at me and rip my damn throat out and .......
I turned around.
I am scared of barking dogs.
That's my little confession for the day.
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4 comments:
I would have done the same thing. I trust dogs to be dogs -- which is to say, they are territorial animals who protect their pack and their area. Therefore, I don't mess with the pack or the area of a dog that I don't know without some human member of the dog's pack clearly in evidence. The bigger the dog, the firmer the rule.
I don't think that makes you a chicken. I think that makes you smart.
I, on the other hand, am stupidly trusting of dogs :) I always expect them to be friendly. So, death by dog just might end up on my tombstone one day. I'd say your fear is a healthy one.
I'm immobilized by tiny, eight-legged creatures, so there's no need for you to feel embarrassed.
My word verification is "stain."
"He who turns and runs away" and all that jazz. Heh. Thanks for turning "chicken" into "smart", Bridge! :)
Kate, have you ever been bit? Just curious.
Hey if it doesn't feel right, then it was the best move.
Dogs can sense your fear and most dogs don't like fear.
I had some rotties in my time and most are very friendly, but it also depends on how they were raised. Good parents or bad, it is best to follow your gut.
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