Dogs as they say are man's best friends. When I was younger, we had 2 dogs as pets. I used to like dogs then. But after some close encounters and almost getting bit by dogs, having dogs viciously bark at me and when a dog with rabies attacked someone I know, I am now totally afraid of dogs. Whenever I hear a dog bark, no matter how small, I almost jump out of my skin. The stories below will illustrate why.
Man's Best Friend
Sometimes when I walk home from school I would pass by a friends house. They had 2 dogs and the German shepherd would usually be in front of the house on the road. I always pat the dog on the head because I "liked" dogs then. The dog never seemed to mind this and as if it expects me to pat it anytime I pass by. Then one day as I was passing by, I reached out to touch the dogs head but my reflexes took over as my hand was swiftly pulled upwards away from the dog. It tried to bite. I actually felt it's breath on my fingers as I pulled it away. Luckily, his sister was around there and saw the whole thing and immediately scolded the dog and it left me alone. It could have taken a second gnawing at me and I may have been eaten (actually bitten) if she had not intervened.
A Pack of Dogs
Four of us went to look for a friend's house based on the directions he gave us. We should have realized we had left the neighborhood when we stopped seeing houses on both sides of the road. Then we came to the junction to the next neighborhood and decided to go left. As we made it up the street a dog started barking at us. We kept moving trying to ignore it. Then a second dog started barking, then a third and before we could say "Scooby-doo, where are you" all the dogs on the street were barking. It seems there was at least on dog per house. The dogs started approaching us one by one. One of us suggested we shouldn't run because then they would just chase us and may even bite us. A second dog approached, then a third. I lost count of how many dogs were behind us after the fourth dog but we still kept moving at a slow regular pace. I don't have to tell you that my heart was pounding and most likely was louder than the barking from all the dogs put together.
My head was down all the while looking down and forward as I kept moving escorted by a pack of angry, loud barking dogs. I thought I heard one of us starting to sob but I was too afraid to even look because the dogs may interpret that as sudden movement and go in for the kill. I don't know how it happened but I sort of glanced right and noticed all the people in all the houses were starring at this spectacle; several boys walking slowly and totally scared trailing a pack of angry dogs. No one was doing anything; it felt like we were going for an execution or something walking up a street we don't know where it leads. A lady came to our rescue though and chased the dogs away. We thanked her and got on our way, but not without getting someone to provide safe passage for us out of the street; the "street of dogs".
