Personal Narrative: The Fear Of A Dog

Ever since I can remember I’ve wanted a dog. Never did I think that dogs would end up being by biggest fear. I was just a little kid around 6 years old when it happened. I was walking home from my friend’s house when I saw a stray dog, it was in the middle of the street blocking my way, I decided to walk past it, while I was walking it started growling at me, I hesitated but still kept trying to walk then suddenly it got up and started barking empathically towards me. I was terrified, my first initial reaction being a 6 year old kid was to scare it away, I was ignorant. I picked up a rock and threw it at the dog thinking it’ll get scared and run away. I was wrong. The dog had enough it made a whimpering noise then started barking even louder

The fear only came when I was around dogs and saw a dog in person, not only that but I began to realize I was also scared of most animals. I wasn’t necessarily scared by seeing them but scared in a sense of getting near any animals or touching them or them touching me. Finding someone that doesn’t have a pet is hard, I learned that the hard way growing up. Most if not all of my friends had dogs growing up which meant I usually couldn’t go over or they had to be put outside and precautions had to be taken before I could go over. When I usually did go over I always heard the same things over and over again “he doesn’t bite” “he’s harmless” “he’s more scared of you than you are of him” these statements would make me feel uncomfortable, no one would really understand what I went through, there were times when I would enter a house not knowing a dog was around only to find out after I heard barks coming towards me which usually led to me running out the house in tears. My fear made life a little

I know that I will eventually have to get past it, but that seems a dream as of now. I wish I could go back to when I dearly wanted dogs. I still do. I just don’t trust myself not to be scared. I’ve let what happened to me as a kid define me and change my thoughts on dogs and animals as a whole, I really would love to get past this. I want to be able to go to a friend’s house and not ask “do you have a dog?” I also know that one day I am going to have my own family and kids and they might was a pet like every little kid does. I know that I’m willing to try and move past my fears and that’s what matters the