When I was a little girl I used to love all animals, but mostly cats and dogs. At that time a few stray dogs and cats used to go around my neighborhood; I wanted to pat them, hold them, but my mom and grandmother would not let me even approach them. They explained to me why I should not get near them, but I could not understand. I wanted to cuddle and caress them, hold them in my arms and feed them. I wanted to love them but I could not do so.
Around that time, I used to play with my friend, a little girl my age who lived a few houses from my house who one day invited me to play at her place. As we were playing inside her grandmother told us not to play in the living room, but rather in the corral, a fenced-in outdoor area attached to the house. We were very happy to do so; we both were having a great time, when out of the blue a dog came out of nowhere a dog (my friend said it was her family pet) on a long rope. My friend told me not to worry, because the dog was restrained by a rope and would not reach or bother us.
Well, that was not what happened! The dog strained himself to the end of his leash, and when I was looking at my friend listening to her telling me about the game, suddenly, he reached forward and grabbed a piece of my buttocks. I screamed in pain, but the dog would not let go of me. Running out, my friend’s grandmother came quickly and had force the dog to let go. The grandmother took care of my wounds and sent me home. Since this happened my interest in dogs kind of disappeared and unfortunately it affected me from loving cats, too.
For years I could not bring myself to be near a dog. I was very scared, but my love for dogs and cats started to grow on me as soon as I met the love of my life, my husband! As we were dating he introduced me to his family. His mom and dad had not only two dogs, but several cats and kittens. I just went crazy about them; they were so warm, cute and adorable that I could not get away from them. It was amazing! I did not understand why I had harbored those scary feelings of being near those pets for so long.
I completely gave myself to the feelings of love. Since then, I had several dogs and cats as pets that I loved very dearly, but my dearest one is my 7 years old poodle. He is always ready to give me his unconditional love no matter what; he is always there for me.
I LOVE MY DOG!!!
-CS, New Hampshire
