I grew up in a small town in Michigan. I was the daughter of a businessman and a stay at home mom who took good care of us and baked cookies.
I was like most Midwest kids that grew up in the fifties and sixties. We roamed are neighborhood freely. In the summer time, we went home when the streetlights came on, we played in the vacant lots and made forts and staged plays in our neighbor’s garage. My dad had hunting dogs, Springer Spaniels and a Beagle, but I didn’t interact with them much. They were hunting dogs and not to be played with.
Early Experiences
Surprisingly, my earliest dog memory was the day the neighbor’s dog bit me. Fortunately I was bitten on my hand and it wasn’t severe. Equally fortunate, another neighbor witnessed the entire series of events leading up to the bite. Initially, I was frightened because the bite was so unexpected. I knew this dog, I visited and petted him often and he was on my short list of things I did regularly. But suddenly, he had changed and now hated me, which confused and frightened me.
Now For The Rest of The Story
My neighbor explained that another group of kids had been teasing this dog right before I came along. He was still in an agitated state and didn’t recognize me as being different from the kids that were tormenting him.
I have a dim memory of him barking at me as I approached him, but being young, I didn’t recognize the warnings that I’m sure he was giving me. Fortunately, I had my hand out to pet him and he had the restraint to only bite once and to regulate his bite. It could have been much worse because I was frightened more than hurt and I was very little.
Understanding Is The Key
I lost my fear of him once I understood what happened and why his dog behavior changed. The understanding took the fear away. My relationship with him was cautious after that, and I suspect it was clandestine as well. I’m sure my parents forbid me to go near that dog, but well, kids don’t always behave and I’ve always been a bit, shall we say, self determined.
Natural Born Dog Lover
If I hadn’t had a natural affinity for dogs, or given the opportunity to understand what had happened, I probably wouldn’t have gotten over that event. I would have been like many others that have been bitten – fearful.
On one hand, it seems funny that a dog bite could lead to a lifetime of loving dogs. But it turned out that the important part was the understanding that I’d gained. I decided that in many ways, dogs are a lot like us. Their dog behavior is a natural consequence of what had happens to them, and this dog was a victim. He was reacting to his circumstances in the only way he knew.
A Lucky Life
I was lucky to get this understanding at a very early age and I’m still lucky today. I’m lucky to have dogs in my life, I’m lucky to be able to share my love and my understanding with my students and I’m lucky to have people in my life who care about their dogs and their relationships with them. And finally I’m really lucky because I have the opportunity to share all this with you.