I am never, ever going own a dog (unless it’s a service dog). This doesn’t mean I hate dogs – I like watching them goof around – run around and fetch balls/toys, playing in the water, lolling their tongues out of their heads when they’re riding around in cars. Dogs are pretty awesome – I admire them greatly (well, some of them – that yappy Westie who lived next door to us up until a few years ago was annoying AF), and I like the bond they develop with their humans. I think it’s pretty cool how they can be trained to do so many bad-ass things.

Though I like and admire dogs greatly – I’m much more of a “cat person.”

Though I’ve always been more of a “cat person,” my allergies pretty much preclude me from ever owning one! This is me when I was 3 – with our kitty “Tiger.”

Too many things have happened in my life to ensure I would never, ever want to own a dog. First off? Getting knocked down by our family dog Rosie (an Irish setter mix) when I was 3. It was actually quite frightening – I had been all dressed up to go visit relatives and had to change my clothes. A few years later, a neighborhood dog Julius knocked my friend Vicky off her bike while she was riding (I was riding with her).

A few years ago, I was walking home from the bar and a dog ran at me…barking loudly. I yelled at the dog as loud as I could (shrieked, really) and the dog ran back to its home. With all honesty, I can say that was the last time in my life I was truly scared for my life. Dogs are fully capable of killing people (or at least severely injuring them). They pack a lot of PSI power in their jaws and they can rip up things with their claws, too. My friend Brad has Scottish deerhounds, which would be more than capable of easily taking me down if they set their minds to it (they are very large dogs).  They have even killed neighbor cats, groundhogs, rabbits, etc.

Just last weekend, my husband and I watched a couple of goofy golden retrievers playing in the water at Brighton Recreation Area. We made the mistake of getting too close when the dogs wanted to shake off the water. This made me very, very uncomfortable…maybe I do have a slight fear of dogs?

Whatever fears I have of dogs pales in comparison to my discomfort/horror about…cannibalism. I’ve watched countless horror movies, horror TV series – but I had to cover my eyes during a scene in The Santa Clarita Diet last night (no specific spoilers but cannibalism was occurring). I just…couldn’t watch. After watching a few episodes, I had to ask that we switch to something a bit more “lighthearted” to watch before I went to bed (I didn’t want to have nightmares)…

We all have a “scared little kid” inside of us. But we all have different “triggers” for bringing out that scared little kid! Aggressive dogs – and cannibalism – both bring out my scared little kid! And furries….(shudder)!