Has any one ever had a fear of dogs?

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#1
Up until 2 years ago I was absolutely terrified of dogs, and now I love them! I must thank my boyfriends parents dog Monty the beagle for helping me overcome my fear, if it wasnt for him I wouldn't have got past my fear, and I wouldn't have got shadow. I suppose, once you're around a dog, from when they're a puppy you get used to them, monty was such a biter, and I suppose that was my fear, being bitten by a dog, once thats happened, theres less to be scared of I guess. The only way to get past your fear is to face it. I used to get so scared I'd have to look out of the window of my house to make sure there were no dogs out on my street before I left the house. Just the sound of a dog barking would put me into a panic, heart racing. I just cant get over the difference in myself. And I have my teacher, Monty the beagle to thank for that.
 
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#2
My Mom used to be terrified of German Shepherds. She began to get over the fear just a bit when my sister was a baby. Mom was taking a bike ride through the neighborhood with my sister in the baby seat on the back of the bike and she saw one of the neighbor's German Shepherds sitting in front of his house. She kept pedalling and told my sister to be very quiet, worried to death the dog was going to chase her. She lost sight of the dog, and turned to see if my sister was okay and was horrified to see the Shepherd trotting alongside the bike licking my sister's hand. :D

She got completely over it when we moved back east and her mother had a big Shepherd, Alpo, who was a sweetheart. We were staying with Nanny and Grandaddy while my Dad started his new job in North Carolina and found a place to stay. One day our cat, Gulliver, got out into the backyard and Alpo started trotting over toward him to check him out. It scared Mom - she thought poor 'Po was going to chase Gulliver - and she grabbed up the only thing handy (a dishcloth!) to chase Alpo away from Gully. He just sat down when she yelled, then ran from her when he saw her brandishing the dishcloth. It hit her then how ridiculous it was to be afraid and she fell in love . . . German Shepherds are still her favorite dog to this day.
 
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#3
Nope, I've never been afraid of dogs. There are certain times when I'm weary of certain dogs - ones that are acting aggressively - but I've never been really scared of dogs. It's great that Monty helped you :)!
 

Fran27

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#4
I've never been really scared, mostly I didn't trust the dogs not to be agressive. My parents had an old friend who had a lab mix when I was young, and that dog was a bit agressive, so I guess I got it from there. I still liked dogs, I was just careful, and that's why I didn't adopt a shelter dog the first time - lots of them want attention so much that it's overwhelming when you are a bit scared of them.
 
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#5
Probably the biggest reason I was never afraid of dogs comes from having a dog from the time I was two years old that scared everyone but me. Copper was a good sweet dog to me, but wouldn't tolerate anyone else . . . it undoubtedly made me feel like I had some kind of inside track with dogs, lol! Poor Copper. He was a real character. Just before I turned four one of the men who worked for my Uncle Miles took him to be a farm dog and he got to have quite a life. He and Copper got along just fine. It broke my heart though - I cried for days. I remember going to look at all sorts of dogs and just getting angry and telling my parents I didn't want another dog - I wanted Copper back.
 

nedim

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#6
I used to have a slight fear of large, playful dogs.Mostly german shepards to be exact. A family friend had an adult GSD named Rex. He would take Rex with him when he went fishing and that dog would be so hyper. Everytime someone would cast their line, Rex jumped into the water to try to retreive it, and he would always run around kicking up dirt and rocks on everyone who was trying to get some relaxation time. I know he would bark at me constantly and I was scared of his big, deep bark. Well, that all changed about 4 years ago when I went to visit my family for summer vacation. See, my grandparents in Europe had a sort of farm in the countryside and they had a lot of space for a dog. There's a field just to the front of their house where a lot of wolves roam. My cousin found a litter of baby wolves , and he thought that I would like a dog. Well, he was right. There were only two males, so he took one for himself and gave the other to me. Now this dog couldnt have been more than a month old, but he had the markings of a gsd. This lead me to believe that he is a wolf hybrid. I named him Medo, meaning little bear. Medo was the dog that stopped my fear of dogs and in one way or another, I guess I owe it to him, for erasing my fear of gsd's.
 

beagle_lovergirl

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#7
I used to be scared of Fila Brasileiros because I was attacked by one when I was younger but my neighbors have two Filas and I petsit for them every summer. They're big sweeties and that pretty much got me over my fear. I tried posting a pic of them.

 
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#8
Never, ever approach a Fila you do not know well! They have been bred for hundreds of years to have an aversion to strangers and to be defensive. Once they know you and accept you as their friend you couldn't ask for a more loving, loyal friend, but as you unfortunately know, if they don't know you they will become defensive. Fortunately, they were also bred to stop, not to maim or kill humans. The number of specialized traits in the Fila are really remarkable when you stop and think about it.

I'm glad you have become such good friends with your neighbor's Filas. They're wonderful - if they know you! ;)

Are your neighbor's dogs from working lines or show lines?
 

BigDog2191

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#9
Well, when I was smaller my brother had a dog... an American Eskimo Dog.

Beautiful dog but unfortunaetly, he got it from one of those "free dog to good home" ads in the paper. Extremely aggressive... I went to pet him (when I was younger) while he was eating and he took a chunk of my hand. I still have a scar there.

It was my brothers and at the time, he wasn't very educated about how to raise a dog... it was an outside dog--wal-mart food--not much attention except to be fed and whenever I would pet him.

So... that was a bad experience with dogs... had a couple other experiences like that but it never changed my view about dogs...
 

Richie12345

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#10
I don't think I was ever afraid of dogs... probably because my grandparents always had atleast two dogs. One of them was a Husky mix. He was big and clumsy and lovable. I think an early exposure to canines prevented me from developing a fear,
 

Barb04

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#11
I was always afraid of strange dogs since my neighbor's dogs weren't trained and on the vicious side. I also got bit by a large dog when I was little. Then when I was on my way home from school one day, a girl let her german sheperd out to go after some boys, but it came after me. I was able to stop a car coming by and the person took me home. I like the look of german shepherds, but I still have the fear. I'm getting better around dogs now that I've been exposed to so many different types of breeds and own a few myself.
 

beagle_lovergirl

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#12
I didn't approach the Fila, I was working at the shelter and it got away from its kennel. That one was kind of crazy though, thats why he attacked me ;). And they're from working lines but they dont do anything except be loved :D
 

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#13
Nope never ever had a fear of them though I do love Rotties and Labs I am cautiouse around both breeds as i have been attacked by both in the past.
 

Gustav

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#14
No no fear here!! My mum was severly attacked by a German Shepherd when she was young and had to have 40 stitches in her head and face, and she is wary of them now but she still likes them and is the first to point out what great dogs they are!
 

oriondw

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#15
I think most dog owners dont fear their own dogs...

I do see alot of people terrified of dogs on the street though.
 

Swiftwind

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#16
I have never been affraid of dogs... Up until I was attacked by a 'stray' dog when I was 9 years old.

My sister and I were out walking Harley when we were approached by a dog (it was a fairly big dog, probably had some kelpie in him). It was following us up the street and wanted to say hello to us and Harley. It actually seemed really friendly, and because it was still following us I went to slowly show it my hand and attempt to pat it. This was a huge mistake but I don't think anyone could have guessed what was going to happen next. It was like the dog's personality changed in a snap.

All of a sudden the dog lept up on me, dug it's claws into my arms and was about to bite me on the face!! I was SO terrified.. I was trying with all my might to push the dog off me but it was so heavy and wouldn't get off, and it's claws were digging into my arms so hard. I was crying so much and my sister couldn't do anything to help me, Harley was standing there barking and whimpering really loudly while all of this was going on. I seriously thought I was going to die.

Then, all of a sudden Harley lashed forwards toward the dog and bit the dog on his ankle! The dog jumped off me and ran a few strides away, but then turned around and started chasing my sister and I.. We were really terrified at this point. We both ran as fast as we could towards our house, but we didn't have time to close the gate. We got inside the house just in time. The dog ran up to our front door and waited out there for 2 hours!! :( It was like the dog was so intent on killing us.

I didn't know how bad my injuries were, but my sleave was torn in one place. My sister rang my mum straight away, and I looked at my arm and it was all bruised and bloody. It was where the dog's claw had cut my arm. It has been 9 years and I STILL have a scar from it. That's one day I will *never* forget, and I have learnt a serious lesson. NEVER pat a dog when the owner isn't around, or without the owner's permission! Even if it looks and acts friendly. I don't know what would have happened if Harley wasn't with us... He was my life saver.

Anyway, it turns out that the owner of the dog just let his dog wonder around the neighbourhood, and there had been a few accounts of this dog attack other dogs quite visioucly (in particular, one little dog in our street). This man (the owner) had been reported to the police many times but there was nothing they could really do about it! :rolleyes:

I am not scared of dogs anymore, unless their owner is not around and the dog comes up to me, I get quite tense.
 
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#17
beagle_lovergirl said:
I didn't approach the Fila, I was working at the shelter and it got away from its kennel. That one was kind of crazy though, thats why he attacked me ;). And they're from working lines but they dont do anything except be loved :D
Any Fila in a shelter is going to get a bit crazy. That's the worst possible place for one - they just don't comprehend being thrown away; it's totally foreign to their nature. The Brazillians have an old proverb: "Faithful as a Fila."

Show line Filas often tend to be more overtly friendly and gregarious than working Filas. Shiva's sire was a Brazillian show dog, but Kharma is from purely working lines, among them the de Campos and Jaguara, and the difference in the two dogs is remarkable.

I was talking to a girl from Miami one day who knew what Filas were - something rare outside the Hispanic community here - and she was laughing and telling me about how her Grandmother lived in a rougher section of Miami and how her home had been broken into a couple of times by one of the gangs there. The police wouldn't do anything about the gang that was terrorizing the neighborghood, but her Grand got a pair of male Fila littermates. Now the gang members who broke into her home cross to the other side of the street! :D
 

beagle_lovergirl

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#18
Yeah, my neighbors told me show Filas tend to be more friendly but her Filas we're EXTREMELY socialized when they we're young. They we're taught that gentle brought treats and rough brought a time-out. Also they are REALLY old, 15 years I think. They are in perfect health though, I think its amazing!
 
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#19
Filas tend to be longer-lived than many of the Giant breeds. I think part of it is that they aren't so highly bred and haven't had their hardiness spoiled.

I warn people who fall for Shiva that she may be the only Fila they will ever meet who will be as approachable as she is. After food, attention is the most important thing the world to Shiva-Diva, lol! Kharma is a whole 'nother dog though! She looks at you and decides whether or not you are worthy to approach her. She's also the most feminine female dog I've ever seen - every inch the femme fatale!
 

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