Tuesday, July 8, 2014

That's Why She's Afraid of Dogs

It is a well-established fact that Olivia is not a fan of animals. Dogs, in particular, freak her right out. She hates them because they’re usually big, almost always loud, and often try to get right in her face with their stinky, furry self.

For some reason, though she loathes them, animals love Olivia. They want her to lavish affection on them even as she’s trying her best to crawl up my body and perch on my head to avoid them.

At the Fourth of July parade last week, we were all settled in among the crowd. My mom and I were in chairs behind the kids, who were perched on the curb patiently awaiting candy thrown from various parade vehicles.

I saw movement to my right and looked to see an older couple arrive and join another group. This couple had a dog on a leash. It was a big dog; a Doberman to be exact.

I could tell at first glance that the couple had this dog completely under control. It appeared to be a perfectly nice dog.

Still, I braced myself for when Olivia noticed this monstrous thing right over her shoulder.

A bit later, Alyssa noticed the dog and pointed out to Jaxon, who was on her lap. Jaxon loves all dogs and was thrilled by this majestic creature. I whispered to Alyssa not to bring Olivia’s attention to it.

Too late. She looked over to see what had Jaxon enthralled. And she immediately cowered against my leg, trying to make herself even smaller than her four feet and fifty pounds.

The lady with the dog assured Olivia, “Oh Sweet, she won’t hurt you. She loves kids.”

I smiled and replied, “She doesn’t like any animals. She’s even scared of our cat. She’s never been around mean dogs, she has just never, ever liked them. She doesn’t even like stuffed animals. They confuse her.”

The lady smiled at me in understanding and pulled her dog to the other side of her, putting more distance between the dog and Olivia.

We made it through most of the parade without incident.

Then…here it came. A man in a yellow teddy bear costume came along the parade route, prancing and dancing and the dog lost her ever-loving mind. She barked her huge Doberman bark, pulling at her leash and wanting at the giant, dancing teddy bear.

Olivia shrieked at the first bark and wrapped herself around my head. She buried her head in my neck and shivered with hear.

And my mom snapped, “And that’s why she’s afraid of dogs!”

The couple quickly got up and left the area, taking their still-growling dog with them. I saw that there was another weirdly dressed parade coming up and was glad they’d taken the dog away before it saw the second anomaly.

I pried Olivia off my body and assured her that the dog was gone.

I felt a moment of pity for the couple with the dog. They’d just wanted to enjoy the parade too. But my mom reminded me that people really should leave their dogs at home. The dogs don’t enjoy the heat, they don’t enjoy the sirens or the cannon blasts. They obviously don’t enjoy seeing grown men dressed up at giant teddy bears. It’s kinder to the dogs to leave them at home.

It’s also kinder to my child, who has been assured over and over again that there are some very nice dogs in this world. She doesn’t care about these reassurances. Her fear of dogs is like my fear of worms, no matter what anyone else says, that fear isn’t going away. She doesn’t feel like her life is missing anything by not loving dogs. I definitely don’t feel like my life is missing anything by not loving worms.

Even an acquaintance of mine, who loves his dog like a member of his family agree with my mom that dogs should be left at home when people choose to go to parades or other events where the general public is invited.

I will respect the home and rights of a dog in his/her own home but my child shouldn’t be subjected to the growling bark of a large dog while out on a public street. She just shouldn’t. And seriously, after that incident, she’s more afraid of dogs than ever.

1 comment:

AiringMyLaundry said...

I'm not really a fan of dogs either. My son isn't as well. However, my daughter LOVES them.