For most children, their number one wish is to get a dog. For me, it is exactly the opposite. I never liked dogs as a child, and I still don’t today. My fear of dogs is the result of an experience I had when I was little.

I was two years old when a big dog jumped on me and knocked me over. I barely remember it happening. My parents have told me about it, though, when I asked them where my fear of dogs came from. I don’t know what it was like, but it must have been traumatizing, because I am still scared to death of dogs even to this day.

The fact that I was scared of dogs was never understood by other people. They didn’t know what went through my head every time I saw one. It’s funny, I don’t even know what goes through my head when I see one. Since the experience happened when I was so young, I don’t know why I am frightened of them. There were people that would say, “you have to face your fears,” when I would try to cross the street to avoid a dog. Others probably thought, “Why is she scared? There’s nothing to be afraid of.” Or, there was the classic, “Oh, don’t worry, honey. He’s a nice dog.” People seemed to think that how nice he was changed the fact that he was a dog at all. I didn’t care how nice a dog was, he was still a dog. It amazed me how many people just couldn’t get that fact through their heads.

Of course, I have gotten better over time. When I was in third grade, my family moved to a town where it seemed like every three out of four people had a dog. It took me a long time to get used to it. There were dogs everywhere. I had to learn to get used to them. Over the years, I have gotten a little bit better. I’m used to some of my friend’s dogs, and I’m only frightened of really big or really hyper dogs. But you won’t see me begging my parents for a dog any time soon.